Beleaguered UN envoy Espen Barth Eide will come back to the island next week to say goodbye, informed sources told the Cyprus Weekly earlier this week.
“He is running for MP in his country’s elections, he can’t have it all, he is coming back for a farewell, there is nothing planned as far as the (UN-brokered reunification) talks are concerned,” an insider said on Thursday.
“Not much should be expected before February’s presidential elections, and certainly not much before Eide is out of the picture,” added the source.
Earlier in the week, the Norwegian envoy was publicly slammed by President Nicos Anastasiades over “non-objective” comments he made about Turkey’s position during the Conference on Cyprus in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
The President went as far as to threaten to controversially publicise the minutes of the crucial working dinner but decided to back down after a request from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
“Responding to the plea by the UN Secretary General, whose constructive approach to the Cyprus problem I have deeply appreciated, and respecting the diplomatic virtues, I have decided – at this current stage – to not make public the minutes of the dinner of July 6 at Crans-Montana,” said a statement from President Anastasiades.
“But – instead – to make them public to the members of the UN Security Council and to the heads of the European Council and European Commission,” he added.
The negotiations between Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci broke down in the Swiss resort after the United Nations failed to broker a compromise deal on a new security arrangement for a post-solution Cyprus.
