The Greek Cypriot side has vetoed the declaration that was prepared by the EU Term Presidency regarding the financial aid regulation for North Cyprus and which was expected to be approved and published in November.

COREPER (EU Committee of Permanent Representatives) sources verified that the Greek Cypriot side vetoed the declaration and requested that the issue be discussed by the EU Council in its forthcoming meeting in the first half of December. Meanwhile, the EU Term President the U.K is engaging in intensive diplomatic efforts to publish the declaration that calls for the lifting of the isolations.

The Financial Aid Regulation was prepared and approved following the 24 April 2004 referendum and envisages giving 259 million Euro in financial aid to the TRNC. Although the regulation has been on the agenda for more than one year, it has been stated that in order to implement it a declaration must be approved and published by all EU members.

If the Financial Aid Regulation will not be approved by 31 December the Turkish Cypriot side will lose out on the first payment of 120 million Euro from the 259 million aid package.

Meanwhile, President Mehmet Ali Talat stressed that as long as the Greek Cypriot side's stance was tolerated the EU Financial Aid Regulation would not be implemented.

He said the Greek Cypriot administration was creating obstacles so that the TRNC economy wouldn't benefit from the Financial Aid Regulation and was trying to ensure that the regulation was implemented in line with its own permission.

President Talat said this was why the Greek Cypriot side rejected and created various obstacles because it wanted to prevent any mechanism that would include the Turkish Cypriots participation. He added that this latest incident was one example of these obstacles.

It was for this reason therefore that a financial aid package that didn't include direct trade would still be rejected by the Greek Cypriot side because it wanted to prevent the TRNC economy from further developing and reaching a certain level of prosperity, said President Talat.