EU treaty ratified in Cyprus

On July 3rd the Cypriot parliament ratified the EU Reform Treaty with a clear majority. Ionas Nikolaou, vice-president of the centre-right party DISI, comments in the Cypriot daily on the position of the 17 members of parliament for the communist ruling party AKEL who voted against ratification. "These negative votes from within the ruling party ... are proof of the low priority EU membership prospects have for the government. The question is: how strong are the negative arguments that led AKEL to vote against the EU treaty? From which perspective did it look at the treaty and decide that it would not bolster our political position? ... The notion that it is not a perfect treaty and therefore should be rejected is a blow for our country and also for the idea of European integration."

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