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Cyprus is prepared to go against the grain in Europe to ensure tougher EU sanctions are imposed against Ankara next week over its refusal to unconditionally open its ports to Cypriot traffic.
The European Union faces a looming crisis as it attempts to censure Turkey over its reluctance to normalise relations with member state Cyprus.
Differences in approach towards Turkey and its EU membership talks are causing a rift within the bloc which could come to a head during top-level meetings next week.
A new offer from Turkey to ease the trade dispute with Cyprus does not go far enough to stop the EU discussing a freeze on the talks, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen whose country holds the EU presidency said Friday.
EU foreign ministers will meet Monday to try to agree a common stand, taking the European Commission's recommendations of a partial freeze into account, before heads of state and government tackle the issue at a December 14-15 summit.
“I would be amazed if there is agreement on Monday,” Intercollege international law professor Tim Potier told AFP.
“It will go to the wire … There's going to be a very bad atmosphere at the summit and there's no guarantee a compromise will be found,” he added.
And the message from Nicosia is that the 25-member bloc will have a fight on its hands if it fails to take Cyprus's concerns seriously.
“If the 25 reach conclusions that caress Turkey, and there is no control mechanism, Nicosia prefers for there to be no conclusions at all,” said Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas.
He said the lack of any EU consensus would technically allow Cyprus to block the opening of any chapter in Turkey's accession course, a policy which Nicosia has adopted since September.
Nicosia is insisting on full implementation of the customs accord by Turkey and wants the EU to set a framework in which Ankara will be assessed on its obligations towards Cyprus, by 2009 at the latest.
Cyprus threatens to derail Turkey's accession course if the EU does not set an assessment timetable as proposed by France and Germany. Nevertheless, it does not advocate cutting off negotiations with Turkey completely.
In a last-ditch move Thursday, Turkey, aiming to avoid a suspension of its European Union accession, offered to ease a trade ban on Cyprus, but its proposals were swiftly rejected by Nicosia.
Ankara said it was ready to open one seaport and one airport to Cyprus for a year, but expects a solution to the 32-year division of Cyprus during that period.
In return, Turkey requests Tymbou (Ercan) airport and the port of Famagusta, in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) — recognized only by Ankara — to be opened to international traffic and trade.
Cyprus dismissed the offer as making a “mockery of the European Union”, arguing that under a customs accord signed last year, Turkey is honour-bound to open all its ports to EU member states, including Cypriot ships and aircraft.
The EU has been threatening to suspend Turkey's accession talks, started in October 2005, over its failure to grant access to craft from Cyprus, whose government Ankara does not recognise.
Last week, the European Commission recommended slowing down Turkey's accession process by freezing eight of the 35 negotiating chapters EU hopefuls must complete before joining.
Ankara's refusal to acknowledge the internationally-recognised Cyprus government — which it terms the “Greek Cypriot administration in the south” — remains at the core of a dispute that goes beyond commerce.
Turkey refuses to lift the embargo on Cyprus-registered ships and open its airspace to Cypriot planes until the EU keeps its promise to ease the TRNC's international isolation.
This has an impact on Cyprus shipping register, the third largest in the EU, and its lucrative ship management sector.
Shipping generates nearly half a billion dollars a year for the Cyprus economy, and the authorities complain that the ban is stunting the fleet from expanding.
Peace talks in Cyprus have remain dormant since April 2004, when a UN reunification plan was voted down by the Greek Cypriots, although Turkish Cypriots gave it overwhelming support.
The outcome ensured the Greek Cypriots alone joined the EU in May of that year. The EU promised at the time to ease the TRNC's economic isolation as a reward for its “yes” vote.
