7. Welcomes the agreement of the G20 Group that banks should be required to retain some portion of the loans they repackage and sell as asset-backed securities, but criticises strongly the fact that the capital the banks hold to cover positions will probably only be doubled and the new rules will not be applied any earlier than by the end of next year; regrets that the G20 only wants the Basel Committee to draft rules by the end of the year for a ‘minimum global liquidity standard’, which is a very vaguely designed formula; points out that comprehensive regulation can only take place on the basis of independently verifiable public info ...[+++]rmation and cannot rely on information that is private to the regulated entity; insists that the capital adequacy of the first pillar of Basel II must be overhauled radically, as its risk-weighting of assets relies in part on internal bank models that are private to the banks;

38. Stresses the need to arrive at a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus question; welcomes the agreement reached by the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus on 21 March 2008 and calls on both parties to use the current window of opportunity with a view to achieving a comprehensive settlement within the UN framework, based on the principles on which the EU is founded; in this regard, recalls its previous resolutions stating that the withdrawal of Turkish forces would facilitate the negotiation of a settlement;

41. Stresses the need to arrive at a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus question; welcomes the agreement reached by the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus on 21 March 2008 and calls on both parties to use the current window of opportunity with a view to achieving a comprehensive settlement within the UN framework, based on the principles on which the EU is founded; in this regard, recalls its previous resolutions stating that the withdrawal of Turkish forces would facilitate the negotiation of a settlement;

23. Regrets that no substantial progress has been made in reaching a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus question; reiterates its call on both parties to adopt a constructive attitude for a comprehensive settlement within the UN framework, based on the principles upon which the EU is founded; in this regard, recalls its previous resolutions stating that the withdrawal of Turkish forces would facilitate the negotiation of a settlement;

24. Regrets that no substantial progress has been made in reaching a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus question; reiterates its call on both parties to adopt a constructive attitude with a view to achieving a comprehensive settlement within the UN framework, based on the principles upon which the EU is founded; in this regard, recalls its previous resolutions stating that the withdrawal of Turkish forces would facilitate the negotiation of a settlement;

Of the three alternatives presented in the July 2003 communication, the strategy paper concludes that the one that best responds to needs is the option of creating a single new regulation to govern a Neighbourhood Instrument to fund activities both inside and outside the Union.