Estonia, Sweden show strong front against S.Cyprus requests
Güncelleme Tarihi:
At Monday's meeting of EU foreign ministers, Sweden and Estonia reportedly signalled to fellow EU members that they were prepared to open up representative bureaus in Northern Cyprus, and begin offering direct flights to the northern part of the island.
And in an additional move to chastise Southern Cyprus for its stance, Sweden, Estonia, and Belgium all registered tough fronts in response to South Cypriot diplomacy while backing a separate document that would open up the path to direct trade with Northern Cyprus.
At the 8 hour meeting of EU foreign ministers, South Cyprus met with a tough front after requesting that a higher number of Turkey's EU accession topics be shelved, and that Turkey be forced to open its air and sea ports unconditionally. Both Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt asserted that Turkey's new efforts on Cyprus should be taken into account, reminding fellow EU foreign ministers of the promises made to Turkey in 2004 that isolationary measures against Northern Cyprus would be lifted.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after the meeting "We have been set the task of starting up direct trade with Northern Cyprus. We will complete this task during our own term presidency," a statement indicating that the Southern Cypriots wishes on blocking trade with their northern counterparts may in fact be blocked by EU concerns.