(BRUSSELS) - EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn hailed the planned opening on Thursday of a symbolic crossing through the UN-controlled buffer zone in Nicosia, the world's last divided capital.
"Finally we have some light at the end of the tunnel as regard the prospect of the reunification of Cyprus," Rehn told the European parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels on Wednesday.
He said he himself had hoped to take the "historic step" but that the area was "not yet clear of landmines so the opening was postponed and will take place tomorrow instead," when he will be unable to attend.
The opening of the Ledra Street crossing, in the heart of Nicosia's old town, is a significant move for EU member Cyprus, which has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey seized its northern third.
That invasion was a response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.
A UN plan to reunite the island failed in 2004 when the Greek Cypriots voted against it in a referendum, although the Turkish Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favour.
But the February election of Communist President Demetris Christofias sparked a renewed drive for peace after several years of stalemate under his predecessor Tassos Papadopoulos.
The move was agreed at a breakthrough meeting last month between the newly elected Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, who also agreed to resume reunification talks in June.
However Rehn stressed that major challenges lay ahead for Cyprus.
"We shouldn't have too high expectations in the beginning but certainly now there is going to be a serious effort for the resumption of negotiations for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem," he said.
Rehn, promising juridic, financial and political support from Europe, said the EU had an interest in helping solve the problem of the divided island so that "we don't have this scar anymore in the EU".
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