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European Council: 14-15 December 2006

My Lords, can I press the Minister a little more on a point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Howell of Guildford? What assurances or guarantees did the Government receive from the Government of Cyprus that, on the 27 chapters of the Turkish negotiation which are not frozen, negotiations can now go ahead unhindered and not be blocked by the Cypriots as they have been hitherto? If they did not receive any guarantees or assurances on that point I am not sure that it was worth a great deal. As I understand it, the eight chapters that have been frozen in the Turkish succession negotiations have been so as a consequence of the unwillingness of the Turkish Government to accept a set of proposals from the Finnish presidency on the implementation of the extension of the EU-Turkey customs union agreement to cover the new member states and on the freeing-up of trade between the north of Cyprus and the EU. What penalty is being imposed on the Government of Cyprus, who also rejected precisely those same proposals? If the answer is none, is not that an unfair and unjustified discrimination?