GREEK CYPRIOTS DROP EU ASSISTANCE LAWSUITS

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000426 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE, EUR/ERA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2023 TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID ECON CY TU SUBJECT: GREEK CYPRIOTS DROP EU ASSISTANCE LAWSUITS Classified By: Ambassador Ronald Schlicher, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Citing its satisfaction with a compromise reached days earlier, the Republic of Cyprus on June 3 announced the withdrawal of eight appeals to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over tenders originating in the European Union's 259-million euro financial aid package for Turkish Cypriots. In thw waning weeks of the Tassos Papadopoulos administration, the RoC had filed the suits over perceived "TRNC" recognition issues; the legal campaign had angered T/Cs and was threatening the improving bi-communal climate that accompanied RoC President Demetris Christofias's February election. Government officials claim the RoC now will endeavor to see the assistance program swiftly and fully implemented, and T/C reactions to the G/C move generally sounded gracious and mild. Two factors likely underpinned the RoC decision to end the appeals: the realization the cases were weak and doomed to fail, and the associated desire to regain the high road via a "gesture of goodwill." Christofias might have generated even greater goodwill by withdrawing the cases earlier, but domestic political considerations likely kept him from moving too fast. END SUMMARY -------------- Calling off the Dogs -------------- ¶2. (U) Government Spokesman Stephanos Stephanou announced on June 3 that the RoC had dropped ECJ proceedings against eight tenders totaling 10 million euro, part of the EU's 259-million euro "Financial Aid Regulation to the Turkish Cypriot Community." Six cases were initially brought during the final month of the Tassos Papadopoulos administration -- and two more filed after Christofias took office -- because of G/Cs' objection to wording in the tenders and the necessity of interacting with T/C "customs authorities" in ensuring duty-free import of project goods and services. In his statement, Stephanou asserted that the European Commission had deleted all textual references that equated the T/C community to a "third country" eligible for financial aid. He also noted that the amended text clarified that the Turkish Cypriot-administered area was treated as sovereign RoC territory under Cyprus's 2003 EU accession treaty. -------------- -------------- Aid Program Long a Source of Inter-Communal Friction -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In April 2004, shortly before the island joined the European Union, the Commission proposed an assistance package for Turkish Cypriots featuring trade and financial aid elements. Greek Cypriot rejection of "direct trade" on recognition grounds forced Brussels to de-couple trade from aid, and the former has gone nowhere owing to G/Cs' continued opposition. Nicosia similarly blocked the 259 million euro aid package for nearly two years, until deciding in February 2006 to renege, with caveats (infrastructure projects are especially difficult, since approximately 80 percent of land in the T/C community is Greek-owned.) In the two years since, the tendering and awarding of contracts has proceeded at a glacial pace, however, and most aid experts believe the Commission will not succeed in spending fully the allotted funds. ¶4. (C) Alain Botherel, who heads the Commission's assistance office in north Nicosia, hinted at upcoming troubles in a January 30 meeting with Embassy officers. He revealed how then-RoC Foreign Minister Erato Marcoullis had just sent him a harshly-worded letter that focused on the Commission's tenders referring to the T/C-administered area as a "third country;" she urged the office not to proceed. "We need to be more cautious," Botherel admitted, adding that his staff would rework the wording slightly. On February 4, however, the RoC filed the first of several tenders-related suits at the ECJ; the last two were lodged in mid-March, after the pro-solution Christofias had succeeded the hard-line Papadopoulos. News of the lawsuits generated little reaction with G/Cs but spawned great anger amongst Turkish Cypriots. "We thought there would be no more cases after the change in administration in the 'south,' but now there are two new cases," growled "TRNC Prime Minister" Ferdi Soyer on March 27. -------------- Success at Slowing the Process -------------- ¶5. (C) Bothorel, in a follow-up meeting May 19, again raised the Commission's willingness to address RoC concerns, noting it had already changed text objectionable to Greek Cypriots. That said, he was certain the RoC would not win the ECJ cases, and was not surprised the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on April 12 had rejected an RoC motion to stop work on the tenders until the ECJ had heard the cases, purportedly in 2009. The lawsuits had resulted in the Commission losing two-and-a-half months of valuable time, however. "If the G/C intention was to slow down the process, they have done it," Bothorel complained. On a brighter note, his office had been able to launch tenders worth 100 million euro, and 45 million in projects had been signed. While hoping to award the full 259 million by the end of 2008, Botherel acknowledged that continuing property concerns would make that nigh-impossible. ¶6. (C) In May, several signs pointed to a compromise that would allow the EU tendering process to continue. First and foremost, both communities were hailing the progress of the working group on EU matters, calling it -- along with the Economic WG -- the star performer. Constantinos Lycourgos, the head of the European Union section in the Attorney General's office, informed us May 5 that Cyprus had reached "an understanding" with the Commission on revising the tenders language. Finally, the Embassy's UNFICYP contacts surmise that Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat likely raised the matter with Christofias during the tete-a-tete portion of their May 23 meeting, receiving the answer he had wanted. -------------- No Brownie Points, No Grudges -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The Republic intended to work closely with its Commission counterparts to ensure the EU assistance program was implemented quickly and fully, claimed Andrea Petranyi in the MFA's Cyprus Question division on June 4. The "brief" delay the lawsuits had caused seemed easily overcome, she ventured. Petranyi revealed that President Christofias himself had ordered the cases' termination as a goodwill offer to Turkish Cypriots, once the MFA had chopped on the Commission's amended tender language. Asked why, if Christofias had hoped to curry T/C favor, there were two new cases filed in March, Petranyi echoed the explanation that lawyer Lycourgos offered us the same day; had Cyprus not opened the new cases -- "for consistency's sake" -- their legal arguments before the ECJ would have been weakened. ¶8. (U) Turkish Cypriots generally have responded positively to the G/C decision. "TRNC Presidential Spokesman" Hasan Ercakica saw nothing disturbing for the T/C side in the amended Commission-RoC text, while "PM" Soyer, who earlier had claimed the cases fanned enmity between the communities, called their withdrawal a "belated, positive step." Pro-solution daily "Kibris," the north's leading daily, on June 4 trumpeted "FROM THE SOUTH, A GESTURE OF GOOD WILL." The other two influential dailies, nationalist "Halkin Sesi" and CTP party mouthpiece "Yeni Duzen," were silent. ¶9. (C) Close Embassy contact Erhan Ercin had a different take on G/C motives, however. The T/Cs' European Union Coordination Center chief and head of their EU working group, Ercin told us June 4 that the RoC had pulled the cases not for altruistic/goodwill reasons, but because they had lost in the lower court in April. In the meantime, the vitally needed projects had suffered a long delay. He dismissed the G/C decision as a "showy face-saving attempt." -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) Forgive us our Cyprus Problem cynicism, but unilateral goodwill gestures come less often than leap years. More likely, the Republic's army of lawyers arrived at the same conclusion as EU chief Botherel had, especially after the Court of First Instance's interim decision in April: the cases were unwinnable. Since Christofias and FM Markos Kyprianou had been broadly hinting from their first days in office that they wanted a face-saving way to make the cases disappear, the adverse interim verdict may have created a domestic political momement wherein Christofias could reach an acceptable compromise over text and sensibly declare victory. Had the President pulled the cases too early in his tenure, before the working group/technical committee process had gotten underway, he likely would have received immediate criticism from the nationalists for giving without getting. Regardless of motives or timing, however, Christofias made the right choice. And the T/C response, while not exactly magnanimous, avoided the unproductive, "they should have done this long ago" refrains we often hear. ¶11. (SBU) The EU program on Cyprus represents Brussels's highest per capita assistance package (1000 euro/resident) and, like the USG effort, aims to reduce the costs to Greek Cypriots of a final settlement. With the tenders compromise reached, the Commission can begin work on some essential infrastructure upgrades (such as removal of asbestos pipes in city water systems) and the studies necessary to begin tackling the island's many environmental issues. The Commission's next challenge will be overcoming Turkish Cypriot demands for preferential treatment in the awarding of the actual tenders, and likely T/C bellyaching that the aid amounts aren't enough. SCHLICHER