President Nikos Christodoulides said he is ready to take part in a new expanded meeting on the Cyprus issue.
He was responding to questions about an opinion piece by María Ángela Holguín, the UN Secretary‑General’s personal envoy, who wrote that the island’s leaders should continue their contacts with the aim of restarting negotiations from July.
Holguín said the coming months should be used to build a “different model of interaction,” giving time for ideas to mature and for internal political processes to unfold.
She noted that parliamentary elections and Cyprus’ upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union on one side, and the consolidation of new leadership on the other, were factors to consider.
Christodoulides said neither the parliamentary elections nor the EU Council presidency pose any obstacle to his participation in a new expanded conference convened by the UN Secretary‑General. If there is willingness from the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot sides, he said, progress can be made.
He dismissed concerns about the elections affecting the process. “I’m sorry, it’s a ridiculous argument,” he said, adding that the outcome or conduct of the vote has no bearing on his readiness to engage.
