The reference in the joint communique of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to one state with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship undoubtedly is a positive development, particularly if one takes into account the point in time this takes place.

Since there is a tendency to create a wrong impression that this is the first time such a reference has been made, we consider it useful to recall that in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Cyprus and the United Kingdom signed on 5th June 2008 the following, inter alia, are included: “The settlement (Note: of the Cyprus problem) must be based on a single sovereignty, international personality and a single citizenship (…) The United Kingdom will continue fully to respect existing UN resolutions on Cyprus, including the UN Security Council Resolutions 541 and 550. Therefore the UK will not support any moves towards the partition of the island or the recognition or upgrading of any separate political entity on the island”.

We hope the reference of the Anastasiades-Cameron joint communique to a single sovereignty, international personality and a single citizenship will function in a supportive way towards the conclusion of a joint communique between the leaders of the two communities, which at this moment in time is the primary issue right now. We reiterate that the continuing impasse is not a choice because it consolidates the unacceptable partitionist status quo.