EU and opportunity
One can either regard the Annan proposal as the «ultimate» opportunity for Cyprus and Greek-Turkish relations or as a disaster. What we Greeks share is that we view it through the prism of our national interests and not from the viewpoint of a pro-Union European. Such a stance is reasonable and almost inevitable when it comes to such a sensitive issue. However, it is «deficient» in its failure to consider the best approach to the Annan plan, and tying any settlement of the Cyprus problem to Turkey’s accession to the EU. The approach to tackling these two crucial matters largely depends on one’s outlook on the development of the European Union and, more specifically, on one’s opinion of the EU’s prospects as a political unity (rather than as an expensive, bureaucratic machine only concerned with endangered wildlife and rubbish bins) positioned opposite the USA and Asian forces. The UN’s proposal for Cyprus, evidently penned in Anglo-Saxon ink, contains plenty of suggestions on significant matters which it «requests» be included in the agreement for Cyprus’s EU accession… Whether the plan constitutes an opportunity for Cyprus or not, it is difficult to accept that the European Union, with its dreams of becoming a superpower, could compromise its acquis communautaire to satisfy the demands of the Annan plan or Washington’s plans for Turkey…
