[autom.vertaling] De V.N. leggen plan voor een regeling van Cyprus voor (en)
The United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan has presented a plan for a Cyprus settlement aimed at providing a "basis for agreement" to the island's 28-year division. This 150-page document, presented to the Greek Cypriot leader, Glafcos Clerides, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, comes exactly a month ahead of the Copenhagen summit, where the EU leaders will decide whether Cyprus should join the EU as a whole or only the Greek Cypriot part. Mr Annan asked the two sides to give their reactions to the text by 18 November.
Swiss model
The plan calls for a state in the form of an "indissoluble partnership", with a "common state" government and two equal "component states", drawing on Switzerland as the model, the FT said. "There is a single Cypriot citizenship," a summary of the document states, but it adds: "All Cypriot citizens shall also enjoy internal component state citizen status. Like the status of the European Union, this status shall complement and not replace Cypriot citizenship."
The plan also outlines a six-member presidential council, proportional to the population of the two states, with a 10-month rotating presidency and vice-presidency. It calls for a two-chamber parliament composed of 48 members each and a Supreme Court composed of nine judges: three from each component state and three non-Cypriots.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, gained broad support for the plan from the UN Security Council after a meeting during which he briefed the 15-member group
The plan appears to leave room for diplomatic bargaining only on two major aspects of the Cyprus issue - the problem of refugees whose homes were left behind enemy lines following the Turkish invasion, and the question of how the two communities would share Cyprus's territory, the BBC reported.
Pressure for an agreement before the end of the year
"I think the parties know what I have put before them and they are going to study it," the secretary-general said. "I think they realise we have a limited opportunity as we move forward, that there is a unique time in the possibility of getting a united Cyprus into the European Union," he said.
Lack of agreement on the island before enlargement would mean that only the Greek Cypriot part, making up of two-thirds of the island, would accede the EU. This move risks creating a rift between the EU and Turkey, which is also a candidate for EU membership. Turkey is against a Greek Cypriot accession, saying that there should first be an agreement, where it had also threatened to annex the northern part of the island should such a case happen.
Greece, on the other hand, had threatened to veto the whole enlargement if Cyprus does not join the EU. The EU is at the moment bound with the Helsinki declaration, which states that a solution on the island is not a precondition for EU accession.
"We've had to look at many issues and many different possible options and I believe I've put before them what I consider a sound and optimal proposal," said Mr. Annan, who did not rule out the need for future meetings with the parties.
A week to consider proposals
Mr Annan has asked the two Cypriot leaders not to take a formal public position on what he has submitted to them but instead to take some time to consider them.
The Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said he is going to evaluate the proposals in a constructive manner, warning third parties that they should allow him time to examine the proposals. In a statement issued in New York, Mr Denktash said ''the two leaders should have the opportunity and the time for free deliberations.''
The Greek Premier Costas Simits described the plan as a ''starting point for further negotiations,'' stressing that any final solution must adhere to the EU acquis. Mr Simitis is expected to meet with the Cypriot President Galfcos Clerides next Saturday to discuss the plan in detail.