LONDON - A second article in the Financial Times in a few days suggests that European leaders to use financial aid to Cyprus as leverage for Nicosia to make progress in the Cyprus issue.
The European affairs editor of the newspaper, Tony Barber writes that whatever bailout method is chosen the situation offers best chance to overcome the division of the island.
"The outline of the arrangement is clear: a bi-zonal federation with common citizenship and the territorial compromises and the property," says the author, adding that such an agreement under the United Nations seemed achievable in 2004 when the Turkish Cypriots approved the Annan plan but Greek Cypriots rejected it, knowing they would join the EU anyway.
According to the writer: "European leaders now have the opportunity to tell the Greek Cypriots, in a friendly but firm way, that economic progress requires assistance on a diplomatic settlement."