WRITTEN QUESTION E-1912/00

by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE) and Giovanni Procacci (ELDR) to the Commission

(16 June 2000)

Subject: Restriction on the movement of European Union citizens on Cypriot territory

Last April a group of Italian citizens went to the Republic of Cyprus on a sightseeing and religious trip. The programme was supposed to include visits to both the north and south parts of the island.

Despite prior authorisation issued by the Cypriot authorities at the Italian Embassy in Nicosia for transit to the north, the group was refused permission, without prior notice and without any reasons being given, to cross the green line separating Cyprus from the Turkish-occupied sector.

Can the Commission say whether it knows of any similar cases affecting European Union citizens and whether it considers that such a practice is compatible with normal pre-accession partnership relations?

Can it also say whether, in view of Cyprus's accession to the European Union, it considers such restrictions on the movement of Community citizens compatible with the principle of free movement of persons?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(27 July 2000)

The Commission is informed of the incident mentioned by the Honourable Members. It has asked for details both from its delegation in Nicosia and the Italian Embassy in Cyprus. It has also asked for an explanation from the Cypriot Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry has replied as follows:

When the Italian Ambassador applied to the Cyprus Police (not to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for permission to the said Group to visit holy places, including the St. Barnabas Monastery, in the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus, the Cyprus Police implemented the policy of the Government for access of persons to the occupied part. Basic element of this policy is to secure the protection of the rights of the Cypriot State in relation to antiquities and of the Church of Cyprus in relation to holy places belonging to the latter. Authorization for access to these places is according to Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights an exclusive right and responsibility of their owners. The Cyprus Government cannot behave in a manner which could be interpreted as violating these rights.

It is worth noting that at no point of time approval was granted by the Cyprus Police or any other Cypriot authority for the visit of the Group to the occupied part of Cyprus.

The sensitivities of the Cypriot citizens who are denied access to the occupied part of Cyprus by the illegal regime simply because they are not Turks, Turkish-Cypriots or foreigners should also be taken into consideration. This is of course most relevant for the case of the historic Monastery of St Barnabas the founder of the Church of Cyprus.

As the Honourable Members are aware, the result of the de facto division of the island into two strictly separated parts is that the fundamental freedoms laid down by the Treaties and in particular freedom of movement of goods, people, services and capital, right of establishment and the universally recognized political, economic, social and cultural rights, cannot today be exercised over the entirety of the island's territory. These freedoms and rights would have to be guaranteed as part of a comprehensive settlement restoring constitutional arrangements covering the whole of the Republic of Cyprus.