13-14 March General Affairs Informal

EU FOREIGN ministers defused a row over whether Cyprus should attend accession negotiations without Turkish representatives, after France dropped objections to holding talks with a divided island and Greece withdrew its threats to block the entire enlargement process. Nonetheless, the EU agreed that the European Commission should closely monitor the situation on the island. "We have certainly avoided any deadlock on this," said UK Foreign Minister Robin Cook after a breakfast discussion on the issue. Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides had earlier offered Turkish Cypriots full participation in the talks, without them having to recognise the legality of the Greek Cypriot government's bid for Union membership. Greece also came under pressure to stop blocking 375 million ecu in EU grants to Turkey, in the hope that this might encourage Ankara to give Turkish Cypriots the green light to join talks.