Greek Cypriot Leader Tasos Papadopulos said that they were ready to commence negotiations on the Cyprus issue without any preconditions if UN Secretary General Kofi Annan invited. Papadopulos said that they hoped that a united Cyprus became a member of EU on May 1 and that the Turkish side would show the same political willingness.

Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Papadopulos said; For our part, whenever we are invited by the UN Secretary General without any preconditions, we will be there for talks. Papadopulos stated that after the talks under the monitoring of UN in Hague failed in 2003, Greek Cyprus had argued that negotiations should be resumed on the basis of the Annan Plan to solve the Cyprus issue before May 1, 2004. According to him, these efforts of the Greek side failed because of the stance of the Turkish side.