NICOSIA – The future of the Republic of Cyprus is being addressed on a number of fronts this week as gas exploration moves forward and the European Commission “has placed the `Task Force for the Turkish Cypriot Community` under the direct management of Commission President Jean Claude Juncker and Vice-President Dombrovskis,” according to CNA.
With the UN talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots at the community leader level as a background, the Technical Committee on Criminal Affairs this week organized a bicommunal seminar titled “Policing a federal country: challenges and benefits in which four experts from the USA, Britain and Australia, participated according to statements to CNA by the Greek Cypriot co-chair of the Commission, Andros Kapardis.
Andros Kapardis informed that two of the experts are American, one from Britain and one from Australia. They made presentations based on their experience with the members of the Technical Committee and the staff of the Contact Office in the UN-controlled buffer zone of Nicosia where the seminar was held.
The EU Commission’s decision takes immediate effect and is considered an indication of its support for the peace process. Task force is “the Commission`s team in charge of the application of the EU Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot Community and of assisting the Turkish Cypriot to prepare for the reunification of Cyprus, to the Secretariat General`s Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS) which will coordinate all the Commission`s efforts in facilitating the process for the reunification of Cyprus,” CAN noted.