President Christodoulides to address the EPP Congress in Bucharest

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides will on 7 March address the European People's Party (EPP) Congress taking place in Bucharest, Romania.

According to a Presidency press release, President Christodoulides will focus on topics including the Future of Europe and the European elections.

"On the sidelines of the EPP proceedings, the President is expected to hold meetings with leaders of EU member states participating in the EPP and with representatives of EU institutions," the press release added.

President Christodoulides will return to Cyprus in the afternoon of 7 March.

Meanwhile, the European People’s Party (EPP) underlined in its pre-election manifesto which was approved on the afternoon of 6 March during its congress in Bucharest, Romania, that the European Union should assume “a more active role in trying to overcome the deadlock and resume the negotiations” to solve the Cyprus problem.

The EPP also points out that Europe and the international community will never accept Turkey’s “unacceptable partitionist rhetoric” in favour of a two state solution.

The EPP manifesto, which was the result of a long process of negotiation among member parties, also proposes the creation of the status of “safe third countries” where asylum seekers can be processed, as well as the creation of an EU “foreign minister” and of a European Security Council with the participation of European countries outside the EU.

The paragraph on Cyprus is included in a section titled “Our Europe speaks with one voice in the world“ which focuses on the need for a more active role for the EU on the world stage.

In the paragraph on Cyprus, the manifesto states that the “EPP remains fully committed to supporting the negotiation process for a just, sustainable and viable solution to the benefit of all the people of Cyprus, without the presence of foreign troops and the anachronistic system of guarantees and intervention rights of any foreign state”,

“The EU should send a strong message of solidarity to Cyprus by assuming a more active role in trying to overcome the deadlock and resume the negotiations to end the 50-year-long occupation of Cyprus by Turkey and reunify the island on the basis of a bizonal bicommunal federation, with political equality, in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, EU principles and the acquis,” the manifesto adds. 

“The unacceptable partitionist rhetoric of Turkey for a two-state solution will never be accepted by Europe and the international community” the EPP underlines.

(Source: CNA)