§ The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Jack Straw)There has been very substantial progress on agreeing the relationship between the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) and the EU after Cyprus' accession. Our hope is that the final agreement will be in line with the policy set out in Baroness Symons' answer of 5 December 2001, that the SBAs should remain outside the EU but with some technical adjustments to ensure the continued smooth functioning of the relationship between Cyprus and the SBAs. To that end, a clearly defined and limited part of the acquis would apply to the SBAs. These arrangements would be compatible with the 1960 treaty of establishment and with the undertakings which we made at that time in relation to the SBAs. In order to give effect to these arrangements we intend to sign two memoranda of understanding, on implementation and on co-operation on asylum seekers.
The final agreement should take the form of a protocol which will be part of the terms of Cyprus' accession. A Bill will be introduced to enable ratification of the enlargement accession treaty.