Macron invites Christodoulides to Paris to discuss EU role in Cyprob talks

Macron invites Christodoulides to Paris to discuss EU role in Cyprob talks

The EU’s involvement in Cyprus problem negotiations will be the focus of President Nikos Christodoulides’ trip to Paris at the end of the month where he will meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

The meeting is expected to take place after the next European Council towards the end of the month.

Macron invited Christodoulides to visit France to discuss the latter’s proposal for more active involvement of the EU in the efforts to find a Cyprus settlement, under UN auspices, the Cyprus News Agency reported.

The invitation was extended on Monday evening during a telephone conversation between the two presidents’ offices with a view to arrange the bilateral meeting.

Christodoulides and Macron will meet on the sidelines of the European Council, that will take place in Brussels on March 23 and 24. He is then scheduled to travel to Paris.

The issue of the EU’s more active involvement in the Cyprus problem was also addressed on Monday during the meeting between Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis said.

Christodoulides will meet President of the European Council Charles Michel on March 22 in addition to President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the new president will meet the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo to prepare for the bilateral contacts he will have at the European Council next week.

The purpose of his contacts is “to develop his proposal in detail and to prepare the ground so that in the very near future we can be ready for the resumption of negotiations through EU involvement,” the government spokesman said.