By Jean Christou
President Nicos Anastasiades on Thursday welcomed the agreement in principle between the EU and the UK for Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc, and the protocol contained in the deal on the status of the British bases in Cyprus.
According to the protocol in the 585-page Brexit deal, the interests of some 11,000 Cypriots who live or work on the bases, have been protected and their rights as EU citizens secured. The protocol relating to the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus will apply as from the end of the Brexit transition period in 2020.
“Since the arrangements applicable to relations between the Union and the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus will continue to be defined within the context of the Republic of Cyprus’ membership of the Union, appropriate arrangements have been determined to achieve, after the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union, the objectives of the arrangements set out in Protocol 3 to the Act of Accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the Union 147,” the agreement states.
“Those arrangements should ensure the proper implementation of the applicable Union law in relation to the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union.”
As outlined in the Joint Statement of 19 June 2018, both the EU and the UK committed to establishing appropriate arrangements for the Sovereign Base Areas, “in particular with the aim to protect the interests of Cypriots who live and work in the SBAs following the UK’s withdrawal from the Union, in full respect of the rights and obligations under the Treaty of Establishment.”
The aim of the protocol is to ensure that EU law, in the areas stipulated in Protocol 3 to Cyprus’s Act of Accession, will continue to apply in the Sovereign Base Areas, with no disruption or loss of rights for the Cypriot civilians living and working in the areas of the SBAs. This applies to a number of policy areas such as taxation, goods, agriculture, fisheries and veterinary and phytosanitary rules.
The protocol confers responsibility on the Republic of Cyprus for the implementation and enforcement of Union law in relation to most of the areas covered, with the exception of security and military affairs.
Anastasiades, in his statement said the protocol in the withdrawal agreement as regards the bases was a result of several months of negotiations between the Republic of Cyprus, supported by the European Commission and the UK.