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22 April, 2002
Foreign ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis reminded on Sunday that on completion of accession negotiations ''the Republic of Cyprus will join the European Union as a whole and de jure, while the implementation of the EU acquis communautaire will cover its free areas de facto, if, in the meantime, no solution is reached on the political problem'' of the island republic.
Beglitis was referring to an interview given to the Sunday newspaper ''Vima tis Kyriakis'' by EU Foreign and Security Policy High Representative Javier Solana.
''In any case, the European Commission and its relevant services are working in this direction. The European acquis communautaire is absolutely binding for all and in no way should conditions for misinterpretations be created or mistaken messages be sent,'' he added.
Beglitis also said that Greece possesses all the institutional possibilities to secure the Republic of Cyprus's unimpeded accession in accordance with the EU's collective decisions.
''As is known, the United Nations and the European Union recognizes the Republic of Cyprus as the only legitimate expression of the whole of the Cypriot state. On the basis of this international recognition, the European Union accepted Cyprus' application for accession and decided on the start of accession negotiations while at the Helsinki European Council it did not link accession with a previous settlement of the political problem, confirming yet again the international legality of the Cyprus Republic,'' Beglitis added.
Solana says Greek-Cypriot part of Cyprus will join EU if settlement not reached:
In his interview, Solana said that ''if there is no agreement on the Cyprus issue, the Greek-Cypriot part will join the European Union.''
Asked whether half of Cyprus will join the EU, Solana reiterated that ''the part which is ready will join.''
To another question whether the German model - where there was from the start the forecast for the future accession of then Eastern Germany- could be implemented in Cyprus, he noted that ''all these ideas will be examined with an open and creative spirit, but all these matters must be settled before the moment of accession.''
To an observation that the EU Helsinki summit had referred to the whole of Cyprus and not a part of the island republic, Solana said that ''we cannot predetermine the wishes of all. Only if it concerns a country the unity of which is settled. The northern part of Cyprus has not negotiated at all with the EU, therefore it does not fulfill the criteria.''
On the issue of the European army, Solana reiterated the need for a settlement of NATO-EU relations "as soon as possible." As for the impending replacement of the NATO forces by European ones in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), he stated that "those who will not allow us to reach a permanent agreement will also undertake the responsibility for the weakness of the EU to implement this mission."
Source: Athens News Agency
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