The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, Ioannis Kasoulides, expressed his utmost satisfaction with the paragraph incorporated in the Brexit Process Guidelines concerning the British military bases in Cyprus, during the works of the Extraordinary General Affairs Council held in Luxembourg today. The Minister, during his intervention, noted that any bilateral arrangements between the Republic of Cyprus and the United Kingdom should be in accordance with European law in order to fully safeguard the rights and interests of Cypriot and European citizens living and Working in the British Bases.

During the Meeting, the ministers were solely concerned with the preparation of the European Council to be held this Saturday, April 29th, exclusively on the Brexit guidelines. The Foreign Minister, during his speech  stressed the importance of maintaining the unity of the 27 Member States during the negotiations with the United Kingdom, but also the wish that, despite their complexity and the difficulties that are expected to emerge, talks should be conducted bona fide and reach an agreement on the smooth withdrawal of the UK from the EU,

In his speech, the Foreign Minister stated that the working text is balanced and coherent, covering a wide range of issues to be raised during the negotiations and underlined the importance that through the Retirement Agreement legal certainty should be ensured for the benefit of both European citizens, as well as the business world.

Yesterday, the Foreign Minister was in Brussels where he attended  a working lunch with EU Commissioner for Immigration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Mr. Dimitris Avramopoulos. The subject of their meeting was the European citizens` visas for the US in line with the recent European Parliament decision as well as wider issues of migration.