The President’s verbal declarations that he is ready to continue the talks from where they had remained are not in line with his regression on effective participation
AKEL on the President’s statements regarding effective participation
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 4 April 2019, Nicosia
President Anastasiades’ insistence on systematically giving a distorted picture and engaging in scaremongering around the issue of effective participation is sending out erroneous messages in every direction. It undeniably confirms the Turkish Cypriot community’s worst fears that the President of the Republic does not in practice accept political equality.
How is the President’s stand consistent with the verbal declarations about his readiness for a resumption of the negotiations from precisely where they had remained at Crans Montana? Does Mr. Anastasiades perhaps disagree with the finding of the UN Secretary General himself in the Report he submitted in September 2017, that “By the time the Conference closed, the sides had essentially solved the key issue of effective participation” (Paragraph 27)?
The UN Secretary General’s position is correct. There was indeed a convergence recorded that all the Cabinet’s decisions be taken with a majority vote which should include at least one positive vote by a Turkish Cypriot Minister. With regards bodies dealing with low politics, the Guterres framework adopts the Greek Cypriot position that a positive vote will only be demanded in some and not in all bodies.
Mr. Anastasiades is wondering in which constitution of any other country of either the UN or the EU is there the right of a community or constituent state to take decisions on the fate of the rest of the country. Apart from the many examples of numerous variations of political equality applied in states, both federal and non-federal, we recall that in the European Union itself, which the President cites as an example, Cyprus represents just 0.16% of the EU’s population, whilst Germany 16%. And yet, in the European Parliament, Cyprus has 1 seat per 125,000 citizens, while Germany – 1 seat per 854,000. As far as the European Council is concerned, there is equal participation and key decisions are taken through unanimity or qualified majorities.
It is evident that the President’s verbal declarations that he is ready to continue the talks from where they had remained are not in line, inter alia, with his regression with regards effective participation. We should recall that the one positive vote replaced the vetoes enshrined in the Zurich agreements, which the President brought back (to the table) for reasons we naturally cannot understand, while he subsequently went to the other extreme by rejecting even the one positive vote. With such regressions it is extremely difficult to arrive at a conclusion on the terms of reference which regrettably, for which the President himself is responsible, are now a precondition for resuming the negotiation procedure.
