Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-07-04-Speech-3-015-000"
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"en.20120704.3.3-015-000"2
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".
Mr President, as part of our visit to Cyprus with the Conference of Presidents to prepare for the presidency, I spent a day of my own time in Nicosia with the aim of looking around this city which I did not know. On the one hand, I visited the archaeological museum and was struck by the beauty of the island’s cultural heritage. On the other hand, I returned to reality and crossed the border in the old quarter of Nicosia at several of the crossing points and was really shocked by this confrontation and the form it takes in Cyprus today.
I am not as presumptuous as Mr Watson and I will not try to tell you what you should do in the next six months. However, I would like to repeat the wish expressed by many fellow Members in the meetings in Nicosia. The presidency will mean that the eyes of Europe are on Cyprus. We must all work together to help overcome this undignified confrontation which is actually a thing of the past. This is in the interest of all the people of Cyprus, both Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
However, I do, of course, know that the presidency is starting out in a very difficult position. The debate or dispute about the outcome of the summit is still going on and I do not remember a summit during this crisis whose results have had such a short half-life on the market as the most recent one. Interest rates are rising and the burden of interest payments for the crisis countries is higher than it was before the summit. We need to look closely at this.
You are taking over the presidency at a time when the representatives of the Council obviously forget as soon as they return to their own countries that the European Union can only function as a community of responsibility. Many Heads of State or Government and many people who are more like party politicians than Europeans when they are at home are evidently not really aware of this responsibility. I know that you are faced with the major challenge of bringing this back together.
I believe that the disagreements within the Council must be resolved by the time the troika presents its latest report on Greece, which is also an existential moment for Cyprus, for your country, in this crisis. I am very concerned about the influence of this new report and the decisions which will have to be made on the basis of what was decided on thin ice, so to speak, at the last summit. The European Parliament resolution that we will vote on today gives a good indication of what urgently needs to be done during the course of the summer.
I would like to make one last point, Mr Christofias, because I understand that for you, both as a politician and as a person, fairness is a major concern. I believe that in Cyprus, although I am very familiar with the structural problems relating to the large banking and finance sector, work needs to be done in the areas of fair taxation, tax havens, tax evasion and tax avoidance. You will only be able to make good progress in your presidency if you deal with these areas, despite your own problems."@en1
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