Breakthrough?

摘要

The UN'S secretary-general, Kofi Annan, sounded doggedly hopeful after visiting the divided island of Cyprus last week. Its Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders could still, he insisted, meet their self-imposed deadline of June 30th for agreeing to the main points of a deal that would remove the barbed wire that now separates their communities. Mr Annan acknowledged that Glafcos derides and Rauf Denktash, the island's Greek and Turkish leaders, still had to jump some big hurdles-over methods of governing the island, security, territory and property. But if they succeed, lawyers would then fill in the details of an accord to be signed before the EU'S grand summit at the end of this year, when the club's current members have to decide which countries should be let in, perhaps as soon as 2004. If a deal is struck, Cyprus will be in. If not, it is conceivable that the Greek-run part would join anyway. But many EU countries would rather it did not, because a bitter quarrel would then erupt with Turkey, a strategically vital NATO member and itself a candidate to join the EU in the long run.