BRUSSELS, May 2: The European Commission said on Friday it was finalising a 15-million-euro development package for Turkish Cyprus to reinforce peace moves on the divided island.

The announcement came amid a rapprochement between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots, with thousands of people crossing the UN-patrolled Green Line dividing the island and the rival administrations easing decades-old restrictions.

“We welcome any measure that seeks to bring the two communities closer together,” a spokesman for the European Union’s executive arm, Jean-Christophe Filori, told reporters.

“The Commission, for its part, is preparing a package seeking to encourage the economic rapprochement of the northern part of Cyprus with the rest of Cyprus,” he said. The package, worth 15 million euros, will be presented on May 21, he said.

Brussels would also take measures “to encourage trade with northern Cyprus” by the EU, Filori said, adding details of the package were still being ironed out. The internationally recognised Greek-Cypriot government is preparing to join the EU in May next year, leaving the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the cold.—AFP