Borrell: EU will never accept a two-state Cyprus solution

Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side must stay away from two-state solution rhetoric, because such a form of a settlement will never be accepted by the EU, the bloc’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said Friday after meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades in Nicosia.

Borrell expressed his full agreement with President Anastasiades' position that the EU must be present at the informal five-party meeting on Cyprus, which the UN Secretary-General has scheduled for next month in Geneva, as well as at any other conferences on Cyprus.

Moreover, he assured that the European Council’s decision to appoint an EU envoy to the UNSG’s good offices mission team will be implemented, since Cyprus’ EU membership predicates that the EU takes an active role in the settlement of the Cyprus Problem.

Borrell said he also informed Nicosia that the European Commission’s report on progress in EU-Turkish relations will be submitted to the European Council to convene on March 25-26, and noted that the EU is concerned over the migration issue and Turkey’s involvement in that, reiterating that any progress in EU-Turkish relations depend on Turkey`s general attitude as regards the European principles and values.