The president of the European Council Donald Tusk has related the progress of the talks about the situation in Cyprus to the development of the deal between the EU and Turkey over the refugee crisis
Only a few hours before the commence of the EuroSummit the leading European official stated that “Any deal between EU-Cyprus is applicable only through the support of the talks in Cyprus from the Turkish side”.
One of the Turkish requests, in exchange for its' cooperation in the resolution of the refugee crisis, is the acceleration of the negotiations towards its' acceptance in the European Union.
Cyprus is opposed to Turkey becoming an EU member and has vetoed talks about a possible participation of Turkey in the EU five times