EU Proposes New Set of Measures for TRNC
By Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Monday 24, 2005
zaman.com
The European Union (EU) Commission has reportedly put forth a new package of measures to provide financial support to Turkish Cypriots.
Fileleftheros Newspaper, published in Southern Cyprus, carried a leading article yesterday (January 23), which said "suggestions in line with the article that establishes the status of the Green Line bylaw have a political aspect" and "the purpose is to construct provisions of the two founder states as the Annan Plan envisaged. The Commission took the commercial relationships between the Turkish and Greek sides in Cyprus as the basis of regulations mentioned in the 866th article regarding the Green Line bylaw. The newspaper article said that Brussels prepared a package of measures aiming at improving the Cypriot Turkish economy accordingly. The article went on to say that along the same lines, Brussels is attempting to attribute the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) with third world status by creating two separate and autonomous entities in Cyprus. The package includes the following articles:
Ability to purchase products worth 175 euros from Turkish Cypriot regions: the newspaper article stressed that the amount determined is the total which can be spent on goods which can be exempted from customs by EU citizens when they visit third world countries outside of the EU.
General opportunity to purchase products from Turkish Cypriots: the newspaper article notes that this opportunity is provided only to non-EU citizens, but says the EU Commission is inclined toward generalizing for everyone visiting the TRNC via the Green Line.
Movement of open list products from the Green Line: the newspaper wrote that the EU Commission offered to construct a committee that would decide on products that will be added in movement with the majority of the ballots and that would consist of representatives of 25 EU member countries. In addition, the Commission's offer tries to ignore any intent by the Greek government to object to the movement of a product and aims to deprive them of using their veto power.
The Greek administration, meanwhile, is prepared to make a legal regulation that will permit the arrest of Turkish Cypriots, Britons, Germans, and other EU member country citizens holding old Greek goods in hand. The Greek press reported that the law draft was presented to the Greek Parliament. The President of the Greek Parliament Judicial Committee, Yonan Nikolaos, said, "The draft will include every situation of the 'illegal possession' of goods belonging to Greek Cypriots."