The heads and members of delegations of Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Portugal, who took part in the Interparliamentary Conference on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), on Wednesday, in Nicosia, have expressed in a joint statement their full support to the efforts to resume negotiations and to reach a comprehensive and viable solution to the Cyprus problem.
The joint statement which was issued today participants in the conference emphasizes, among other things, that “any conflicts in and around the Mediterranean region need to be solved with respect to international law and human rights.”
“Any conflicts in and around the Mediterranean region need to be solved with respect to international law and human rights.”
The “Group Med” parliamentarians express “full support to the efforts to resume negotiations and to reach a comprehensive and viable solution to the Cyprus problem, in line with international law, relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and the acquis communautaire, to the benefit of the whole people of Cyprus.”
“Echoing the Council Conclusions and Decisions on the matter,” they condemn “the illegal activities of Turkish naval forces in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus, which constitute a violation of its sovereignty and sovereign rights to exploit its natural resources, as well as a negative impact to regional stability and prosperity and to European energy security,” their joint statement reads.
“Echoing the Council Conclusions and Decisions on the matter they condemn the illegal activities of Turkish naval forces in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus.”
They also reiterate their “support to all EU efforts and decisions for peace and a durable solution, in agreement with the UN Resolutions, in Libya.”
The joint statement also stresses that heads and members of the delegations of the “Group Med” countries “support to the European Council Conclusions of December 2019 on the Turkey-Libya Memorandum of Understanding on the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions in the Mediterranean Sea, which infringes upon the sovereign rights of third States, does not comply with the Law of the Sea and cannot produce any legal consequences for third States.”
It further, welcomes “anew the added value of the cooperation established between the Governments of the South EU countries within the EU framework and reiterating their intention to contribute to this effort from a parliamentary perspective.”
The joint statement continues, underlining “the importance of their Ad Hoc meetings, as well as their regular meetings during each Interparliamentary Conference on the CFSP and CSDP.”
It reiterates the parliamentarians “commitment to the continuation of their cooperation and coordination within the framework of the Interparliamentary Conference on the CFSP and CSDP, aiming at exchanging views on matters of common concern and formulating joint positions when deemed necessary.”
“The Mediterranean dimension of EU external policies needs to remain on the agenda.”
According to the joint statement “state that the Mediterranean dimension of EU external policies needs to remain on the agenda of the Interparliamentary Conference on the CFSP and CSDP and that security concerns related to the area must be treated with due attention, even more so as the situation in the Mediterranean and beyond is alarming and threatening, not only for the region itself, but also for the European Union.”
The heads and members of the parliamentary delegations also “agree, in view of the above, to propose that the issue of Libya be discussed in the next Interparliamentary Conference on the CFSP and the CSDP, in Zagreb, under the “Urgency debate” item on the agenda.”
They will reconvene during the upcoming Interparliamentary Conference on the CFSP and CSDP, in Zagreb, on 2 March 2020.
