AKEL Leader Criticises Christodoulides Over Lack of Progress on Cyprus Issue

According to Haravgi, Stefanou made the remarks during an interview with a radio station, arguing that statements about a settlement plan being presented by the UN Secretary-General and a multilateral conference being convened had failed to produce results.

Instead, he said, the Cyprus issue had remained in a prolonged deadlock since negotiations collapsed in 2017.

Stefanou said it was a mistake not to defend more firmly the position that negotiations should resume from where they had left off. He also stressed the need to preserve the gains achieved in negotiations as UN Secretary-General António Guterres approaches the end of his term.

He said AKEL had submitted a specific roadmap proposal both verbally and in writing to the National Council.

The proposal envisages recording the areas of agreement with the participation of both sides, Stefanou said, adding that this process was necessary to prevent the loss of previous negotiating work and to ensure that the next UN Secretary-General could continue the efforts.

Stefanou also disagreed with the approach of UN Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguín, who has indicated that the areas of agreement would be handed to both sides when negotiations resume.

Regarding the 19 proposals put forward by Christodoulides, Stefanou said most concerned confidence-building measures (CBMs). Although he considered the proposals useful, he did not believe they would generate momentum for substantive negotiations. He added that sufficient agreement had not been reached on the proposals.

Stefanou said the outstanding issues in the negotiations were limited in number and related particularly to security, guarantees and property.

He stressed that the ultimate objective must remain reaching an agreed settlement to the Cyprus problem.