Turkey, Cyprus and final accession deal on European Liberal Leaders' agenda, says ELDR Leader

At a pre-Summit meeting of Liberal Prime Ministers and Leaders in Copenhagen on Wednesday, European Liberal Democrat Leader Graham Watson MEP intends to raise the issues of Turkey, Cyprus and the final accession deal to be proposed to candidate countries.

Speaking from Vilnius where he is meeting Liberal leaders and Lithuanian parliamentarians to prepare the Copenhagen summit, Mr Watson said:

"The enlargement jigsaw has been slow to complete, but only a few pieces remain to be fitted in. At our traditional pre-summit meeting of European Liberal Democrat Prime Ministers and Leaders, I plan to raise some of these key issues with my colleagues. Concerning Turkey, I will be urging the Liberal Leaders to support a review date in mid-2003, when EU governments could check whether the Copenhagen criteria are fulfilled and a date for accession negotiations can therefore be set. "

"I believe that this solution could open the way for another piece of the jigsaw to fall into place, and that is Cyprus. I hope that by giving a positive signal of intent to Turkey, the Turkish government would be better able to use their good offices, along with those of the Greek government, to bring the two communities together to enable Cyprus, united on the basis of the UN plan, to join the EU in 2004. Bringing in a divided island would store up further problems for the future."

"Last but not least, I will be urging the Liberal Prime Ministers and Foreign Affairs Ministers to back the efforts of President-in Office Anders Fogh Rasmussen to conclude an agreement with the applicant countries which is sufficiently generous that they can sell it to their own voters in referenda next year. Whatever agreement is found, we will remain within the Berlin spending limits, so it is now just a question of political will."

The ELDR summit press conference will take place on Wednesday 11 December at 18:00 at the Hotel d'Angleterre, Gallerisalen Pompei, Kongens Nytorv 34 DK-1021 Copenhagen K. Participants at the press conference are Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Pat Cox, Siim Kallas, Janez Drnovsek, Graham Watson and Werner Hoyer.

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