The EU takes into account the Cypriot positions and will not proceed to an agreement with Turkey on the issue of aviation if Cyprus concerns are not addressed, assured the EU Transport Commissioner Violetta Bulc speaking at the joint session of the House Foreign Affairs and Transport Committees.

“It is very clear and all the time on the table that we cannot proceed and successfully complete these negotiations without taking onboard all the concerns of Cyprus. Until these concerns are addressed and resolved we will not sign the agreement”, she said.

She stressed that this agreement is important for Turkey because it means an increase in arrivals in the country by 60% or 70%, while Turkey competes with Gulf and Asian countries to take a central role in the air transport network.

She also assured that Cyprus’ positions are represented in the negotiating team and attention is being paid to the terminology that will be used to avoid any mistakes.

Regarding the issue of Turkey’s non-cooperation with Cypriot authorities on air traffic, she said that this is a security issue and a subject that is also being discussed with Turkey.

However, she stressed that the EU needs to focus on a positive agenda with Turkey to keep Turkey’s-EU relation alive and that would also benefit Cyprus.

The EU, she added, must proceed in a transparent and open way on this important issue as well as on shipping issues affecting Cyprus and pointed out, that Turkey, an EU candidate country, should treat all EU member-states equally and indiscriminately.

Speaking on the issues of her portfolio she said that the focus in now on digitalisation, decarbonization, solutions that can be applied globally, policies to benefit people and investments on innovation.

She also said that Cyprus can play an important role to help Commission to achieve its goals because of its important role in European and global shipping.

At the same time, she called on the country to take advantage of Junker Plan and the “blending tool” developed and tested in other cohesion countries which helps to decrease the risk factor by using EU guarantees.
As she noted, while Cyprus is very active on European network programme, has not yet use Junker Plan which can have multiple benefits for the economy especially in the field of transport.