George Vassiliou on Cyprus’ EU accession – Europe's future

George Vassiliou, former President of Cyprus and chief negotiator for the country’s accession says nobody said it was going to be a bed of roses for Cyprus, in fact the country often had to walk a tightrope because of the political situation on the island and an enormous effort was always underway to convince future partners in Europe that the Republic of Cyprus deserved a place among them.

In an interview with CNA, to mark 50 years since the EU was established in Rome by six European nations as an economic community, Vassiliou reminiscences the good and the bad times of a long and arduous task he was assigned by former President Glafcos Clerides, who secured Cyprus’ EU membership, in spite of the pending solution of the question of Cyprus.

“The Cyprus problem was the issue that accompanied the government of Cyprus at all stages of the accession course, from the time it submitted its application 17 years ago until the day it joined on 1 May 2004,” Vassiliou says, but hastens to add that this did not deter either him or others who believed in the country’s European future.

On the EU’s 50th birthday and the way ahead, Vassiliou had this to say: “nobody can claim that the EU at the age of 50 is facing a mid life crisis. Perhaps there now less impressive moves on the European continent but there are surely small and firm steps that need to be made. Europe continues to play an important role for its citizens and for the world stage.”

The chief negotiator singles out two developments throughout this period that stand out as very important landmarks: the invitation extended to the Turkish Cypriot community by the then President Clerides to nominate its own representatives to the Cypriot negotiating team that would deal with Brussels to safeguard the interests of the people of Cyprus. Rauf Denktash, leader of the Turkish Cypriot community at the time, declined the invitation, which EU circles had described as “courageous” and forthcoming, as he reiterated his long-standing claims of non recognition of the legal government of the Republic.

The second landmark, according to Vassiliou, was the EU summit in Copenhagen in December 2002 when the Republic of Cyprus secured its accession, together with another nine candidate countries, without any impediments, especially with regard to the absence of a political settlement for which combined UN-US-EU attempts were underway in earnest.

At the time, Vassiliou says, these attempts were very pressing because the international community perceived a juncture they could exploit to bring about a political settlement.

“I remember those days were some of the most difficult and strenuous days, not so much with regard to membership talks but in relation to the concerted effort to solve the question of Cyprus,” he has told CNA.

Walking down memory lane of the past two decades, Vassiliou notes that since his election to the presidency in 1988 he was trying to determine the most opportune moment to submit Cyprus’ application for accession. This, he notes, came when Rauf Denktash withdrew from the ongoing UN-sponsored talks for a solution and they were interrupted in the summer of 1989.

This, he remembers, actually pushed the application forward and notes that “had we applied while we were engaged in peace talks, Denktash would have exploited such a move to claim that the Greek Cypriot side had no wish to find a solution, something that would have surely reverberated very badly in the UN and the EU circles.”

“The first obstacle we had to overcome, once the application was submitted, was to convince that this move was not counterproductive for the peace talks and that out objective was not to delay or obstruct the solution prospects. On the contrary we had to increase and press on with our effort to find a settlement, lest we were accused by some quarters in Europe of bypassing the peace process,” Vassiliou points out.

At the time Cyprus, he stresses, could not afford to give any excuse to anybody to raise obstacles in our accession course.The man who negotiated the terms of Cyprus’ EU membership dismisses criticism that he had delayed submitting the application because of pressure from the left-wing AKEL party, that brought him to power, and other political considerations. “AKEL had never tried to deter me from submitting an application for EU membership, even though we did not see eye to eye on this score,” he says.

“Upon my election to the presidency in 1988, I embarked on a fact finding mission to sound out our European partners with regard to submitting an application for membership, only to find out that at the time even Greece was not in favour of such a move,” he says, noting that the then German Foreign Minister was also apprehensive, warning Nicosia that Brussels could not possibly be positive towards Cyprus when Turkey’s own application was pending.

The minister explained then that Brussels was going to give a polite but negative response to Ankara’s application and subsequently it would have been impossible to turn round and approve Nicosia’s application, Vassiliou says.

Responding to questions, he says that a lot of people toiled for endless days and nights, spent hours traveling for meetings all over Europe and beyond to persuade friend and foe alike that Cyprus was serious and responsible in its wish to join the EU and more importantly in its determination to find a negotiated settlement and reunite the country, which was divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.

Once Brussels gave Cyprus the green light to being accession negotiations, the then President Clerides appointed Vassiliou, who had run as his presidential opponent in 1993, chief negotiator.

“I felt I could contribute to a process I firmly believed in and which I thought could have provided a prospect for a political settlement,” Vassiliou told CNA about his personal motives in undertaking such a capital post.

He says that there was hardly any moment when the political situation on the island did not come up in the negotiations or in his meetings with Brussels officials.“This was an uphill struggle to maintain our credibility and make sure that the solution of the question of Cyprus was not linked with our bid to join the Union,” he remarked and remembers that a foreign ambassador in Nicosia had warned him that Cyprus would not be able to accede without a prior political settlement.

“I explained to him that this was not up us and stressed our strong desire for a solution. Furthermore I pointed out that Cyprus should not be held hostage to Turkey, which continues to occupy the island’s northern areas, adding that punishing Cyprus by excluding it from the EU would essentially vindicate Ankara,” Vassiliou says.

He says when Greece lifted its veto on Turkey’s accession, Cyprus was given the right to join without a prior solution, a decision taken in December 1999 in Helsinki.

“However, at no stage of the negotiations did I feel that membership had been under lock and safe. On the other hand, I was never under the impression that our accession course was at risk either,” he says and likened the situation to a football match in which nobody is assured of victory until the end of the game.

Shipping, justice and internal affairs and agriculture were some of the negotiating chapters in which Cyprus had to fight hard to secure some advantages and eventually close these chapters.

“It was all worth it though, we had believed in the catalytic effect our accession course would have had on the peace effort and failing that the worst case scenario would have been, in the absence of a solution, to safeguard the security of the country,” he concludes.