The Diplomat
The Secretary of State for the European Union, Juan González-Barba, received yesterday in Madrid the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, Kornelios Korneliou, with whom he held political consultations and discussed the internal conflict on the island.
During the meeting, González Barba told Korneliou that, in Spain’s opinion, the solution to the Cypriot conflict must be based on the parameters of the United Nations (which advocates a unification of the island as a bizonal and bicommunal state) and that, in any case, the solution reached must be to the benefit of the members of the two communities. For this reason, the Secretary of State continued, it is urgent that confidence-building measures be adopted which do not prejudge the final solution and which even allow for a further strengthening of relations between Turkey and the EU.
In this regard, the Secretary of State expressed his hope that during the next European Council progress could be made towards the creation of a greater climate of trust between all parties and stressed the importance of the reopening of the crossing points between the north and the south. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 between a self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which has only been recognized by Turkey, and the Republic of Cyprus, a majority Greek-Cypriot entity with its capital in Nicosia, which does have international recognition and is even listed as a member state of the EU.
During the meeting, González-Barba and Kornelios Korneliou (who met last February in Nicosia as part of a tour by the Secretary of State to Greece and Cyprus to try to mediate in the maritime conflict of these two countries with the Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over its hydrocarbon prospecting in Eastern Mediterranean waters whose jurisdiction is claimed by the other two countries) reviewed current issues on the European agenda, such as coordination in the response to COVID-19, the Conference on the Future of Europe, the Recovery Fund, the Migration Pact, the Southern Neighborhood, the EU-Mercosur Agreement, the Eastern Mediterranean and EU-UK relations.
They also discussed the good state of bilateral relations, highlighted the growing cooperation on gender equality and stressed the importance that the establishment of direct air links would have for bilateral relations.
