DIKO leader Marios Garoyian won the latest round last night in his ongoing struggle to rein in those senior members of his party who regularly and very publicly disagree with President Demetris Christofias policies, especially regarding the Cyprus problem and the economy.

Party spokesman Fotis Fotiou said last night that Garoyian used a five-hour meeting of DIKO’s Executive Bureau and parliamentary group yesterday to insist that government partner DIKO must speak with “a single political voice in order to restore the party’s credibility and image”.

Fotiou said that as part of a discussion that had begun “in a spirit of mutual respect and mutual understanding”, Garoyian had proposed that all of DIKO’s collective bodies will be convened in September in order to finally resolve the issue, “but we should realise that the primary duty of all members is to behave maturely, like a serious political force, especially in these crucial times.”

Fotiou said that in his own view, DIKO has a crucial part to play, especially regarding the Cyprus issue, but “the current situation and the image we are projecting right now does us no credit”.

“We must set aside confrontations, we must forget introversion, but above all we must have a single political voice and respect for the decisions of the party’s collective bodies”, he added.

Yesterday’s meeting, which began at around 4.30pm, spent the first few hours thrashing out a common position on the Christofias’ latest proposals for the ongoing talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, ahead of the next meeting of the National Council on Tuesday, August 3.

In a speech he made on July 15, the President outlined three elements to be addressed in the talks: the return of occupied Varosha in exchange for allowing the north to have direct trade with the EU under UN control; holding an international conference to deal with international agreements and treaties relating to Cyprus, including the Treaty of Guarantee, which allows Greece, Turkey and Britain to intervene militarily on the island; and linking the property issue (with its permutations of compensation, exchange and restitution) to the issues of territory and settlers from Turkey.

Fotiou said that after an in-depth discussion during which almost all Executive Bureau members had given their view, a proposal by Garoyian to treat these proposals “as the basis for us to collectively formulate a new assertive strategy in the National Council” was passed by a majority, with 18 votes in favour.

DIKO had no problem with the first element, Fotiou said, as “for the most part” it had already been the party’s position under the previous Papadopoulos presidency. However, he added, Garoyian had been mandated to seek clarification of certain “problematic” aspects at the next National Council meeting.

Fotiou said that “the crystal-clear view of the majority members of the Executive Bureau” regarding the second element was that “such an international conference was justified when all the aspects of the Cyprus problem are agreed, except for security matters.”

He emphasised that “only then would an international conference be justified, and that is DIKO’s unambiguous position”, which it will take up at the next National Council meeting.