*By Loukas Fourlas

• MEP, DISY & EPP

The upcoming visit of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to Cyprus is a development of particular political and diplomatic significance.

His personal involvement, at a time when efforts are being made to resume the negotiation process, demonstrates that the Cyprus issue remains on the international community’s agenda.

Any initiative that can create prospects for dialogue and break the status quo must be taken seriously.

Cyprus needs a solution that will stand the test of time, create security and stability, and offer prospects for future generations.

The sole guiding principle of any negotiation must be a functional and sustainable solution.

A solution that will ensure a truly modern European state, free from political deadlocks, free from decision-making dysfunctions, and free from mechanisms that would lead to ongoing crises and dependencies. 

A solution that is in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

Experience has taught us that hasty compromises do not bring stability; they only create problems.

As a member state of the European Union, the Republic of Cyprus cannot accept a solution that deviates from the European acquis.  On the contrary, the European Union must play a substantive—not merely symbolic—role in the negotiation process.  The appointment of the new European Union Special Representative for Cyprus, Raffaele Fito, reasonably raises the expectation that the European dimension of the Cyprus issue will be decisively strengthened.

His mission cannot be limited to seeking compromises that satisfy exclusively Ankara’s demands, in exchange for progress in EU-Turkey relations.

The European Union must make it clear that progress on the Cyprus issue cannot be built on compromises that undermine its fundamental principles.

Sovereignty, territorial integrity, the rule of law, human rights, and the European acquis are non-negotiable. 

Equally non-negotiable is the issue of security.  There can be no truly independent and sovereign Republic of Cyprus as long as occupation forces and anachronistic guarantee systems remain in place. In a 21st-century European Union, there is no place for occupying forces, unilateral rights of intervention, or arrangements that hark back to a bygone era.

The abolition of the guarantees and the complete withdrawal of the occupying forces are necessary prerequisites for a truly sustainable solution.

At the same time, we must safeguard the continuity of Hellenism in Cyprus.  Not as a slogan or an expression of national sentiment, but as a self-evident obligation toward the history, culture, and future of our homeland.  The solution must ensure that Hellenism continues to thrive, create, and progress in its homeland, under conditions of peace, security, and democracy, with full respect for the rights of all lawful residents of Cyprus.

The Secretary-General’s visit may present a new opportunity. Its success, however, will not be judged by photographs, dinners, or meaningless statements.

It will be judged by whether it leads to a process that upholds the right principles, upon which the desired outcome—a sustainable and workable solution—can be built.