High hopes for Finland’s Cyprus plan are dying. The plan is seen as something of a last chance to resolve the deadlock over Cyprus in Turkey’s European Union accession talks. Though the EU could outline another set of recommendations for Cyprus on Dec. 6, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja spoke for the first time about the Finnish plan’s possibility of falling short.  No one can guarantee success; but we will continue our efforts” Tuomioja said.

Some diplomats predict that the EU Commission’s Cyprus recommendations could come in two or three weeks, while EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, on the other hand, avoided giving a certain date and merely commented that they would make their recommendations before the EU Summit on Dec. 14-15. EU foreign ministers came together yesterday to work on finalizing a date for the awaited recommendations and gave pessimistic messages regarding Turkey’s membership process.

While Finland’s foreign minister admitted that their plan could fail to solve the crisis, French EU Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna stated that the plan’s chances for success were below 50 percent.  Officials from Greece and Greek Cyprus noted that they had not expected anything from the Finnish plan.

Tuomioja’s pessimistic message came following his meetings in Brussels with Dora Bakoyanni, the Greek foreign minister and Yorgo Lilikas, Greek Cypriot foreign minister.

Schedule Coming to Light

Although Rehn did not verify the date, French Minister Colonna said that the Commission would make its recommendations by Dec. 6 at the latest. Countries like France, Austria, Greek Cyprus and Greece are eager to find out what the recommendations will be despite Rehn’s insistence on avoiding a specific date. Sources close to Rehn claim that there was time right up until the first day of the summit. EU leaders are hoping to avoid turning December’s summit into a Turkey summit over Cyprus.

Finnish FM Erkki Tuomioja along with other ministers have requested that the Commission make its recommendations by Dec. 6 at the latest in order to prevent the summit from ending up as a meeting exclusively on Turkey.