Spain will take an initiative to restart the stalled Cyprus peace negotiations when it takes up the rotating six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union(EU)on July 1, the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said during his working visit here on Tuesday.
At a joint press conference with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, Sanchez said that Spain’s initiative would focus on a solution provided for by numerous United Nations (UN) resolutions and on international law.
“Cyprus can rely on us on this issue. We’ll take an initiative for the restart of the dialogue between the parties,” said Sanchez.
Christodoulides said he was pleased with Sanchez’s statements and that he looked forward to a positive result, as Spain has a good relationship with Türkiye.
He said that they also discussed the Spanish EU Council Presidency’s other priorities, which include energy, immigration, the Ukraine crisis, the fiscal crisis EU countries are faced with and the bloc’s strategic autonomy.
Cyprus was partitioned when Türkiye sent troops to intervene in the island’s northern part in 1974 in response to a coup staged by the military rulers of Greece at the time. Several United Nations (UN)-led efforts to negotiate an agreement for the divided island have been inconclusive to date. ■
