Senior MEP brands exclusion from EU of northern Cyprus a 'scandal'

ALDE deputy Andrew Duff has branded the continued exclusion of northern Cyprus from the EU as a "scandal".

His comments come as talks continue in the long-running efforts to reunify the divided island.

The northern, Turkish-run, part of the island is not allowed to join the EU, a policy that has been strongly criticised in Ankara and elsewhere.

Earlier this week, he European commission approved €26.5m of funding for the Turkish Cypriot community.

These funds will focus on measures to promote reconciliation and confidence building. Beneficiaries will include civil society organisations, schools, farmers and villages.

Even so, Duff, who is president of the Union of European Federalists, criticised the continued exclusion of northern Cyprus from the EU.

He was speaking after returning from a special mission to Cyprus this week to speak to political leaders and civil society organisations on both sides of the partition about prospects for reunification of the island.

Duff said, "The continuing frozen conflict in Cyprus does great damage to the stability of the whole region and to the European Union's attempts to build common foreign and security policy.

"The fact that the benefits of EU membership do not yet apply to the citizens of the north of Cyprus is an ongoing scandal."

During his visit, Duff met the president of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, as well as with other government and opposition leaders from the north and south.

He said, "There is a chance, following recent elections, that Turkey and Cyprus will be able to make mutually supportive moves which will address in the first instance the main security issues. As the UN urges, with powers shared between Greeks and Turks in a united democracy."

Duff has a long-standing interest in the Cyprus problem and is a member of the EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee