EU Reproach for Customs Union with TRNC

The agreement was signed in Girne at a Partnership Council meeting in the presence of TRNC Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu and Ministers of State and Deputy Prime Ministers Abdullatif Sener and Serdar Denktas, both of whom are co-presidents of the Partnership Council. The 13-article agreement aims at economic cooperation and integration of the TRNC economy into the international economy within the EU framework. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Denktas said, "We are taking an important step for the growth of our economy and its integration into the world economy." Sener said the agreement would contribute to a permanent reconciliation on the island and transform the Mediterranean into a free-trade zone, a target of the EU. A report issued at the end of the meeting emphasized that the people of the TRNC had been isolated by 40 years of embargoes, that the solution to the Cyprus issue must not be a one-sided effort, and that proposals from the Turkish side have to be considered by all parties concerned.

EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer, in a statement to Reuters news agency, said, "We believe that before signing this agreement, we should have been consulted. We will evaluate the agreement within the frame work of the present customs union agreement between Turkey and the EU, and within all other agreements related to the EU." Reuters commented that the agreement might be perceived as ‘sabotaging the UN’s Cyprus unification plan’ by the EU Commission.