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The text does not, though, state that parliaments could force the Commission to make changes, something Britain will try to tighten up.Less welcome for London was a rejection from M. Giscard of attempts to purge the draft text of a passage saying that certain powers should be exercised “on a federal basis” M. Giscard said the balance of opinion was that “this wording should be maintained”.. The death knell sounded for a forgotten corner of the British Empire yesterday as the United Nations deadline for a peace deal in Cyprus passed with neither side giving ground. The only positive move in the stalled peace talks is that Britain, the island’s third stakeholder, will cede territory, having unexpectedly offered this week to sacrifice half the 100sq miles of its two long-held military bases. Pig-tailed girls in oversized riding hats atop plump gymkhana ponies sounds as English as Thelwell’s A Leg at Each Corner.

The damp green grass looks like the Home Counties and the saddle club across the lane is abuzz with plummy voices.Welcome to the unofficial holiday home of the British armed forces. The two huge military bases on the Mediterranean island were Britain’s price for granting Cyprus independence in 1960, a windswept corner with more hours of sunshine in a week than some postings see in a season.On the radio, a DJ with a Midlands twang is reading out birthday messages for listeners. “Happy birthday then to Mike in Kuwait, next up we have Dave. Dave is turning 30 today, so all the best to Dave in Kosovo.” Just another morning on British Forces Broadcasting Service. Jim Guy, a chief constable with the bases’ miniature police force, took active retirement four years ago, swapping the stress of the Glasgow city centre for the quaint charms of the east coast Dhekelia garrison.”It’s like a little English village,” he says.

“All of your basic needs are covered and you need never set foot outside it. In my last weekend in Glasgow we had between 200 and 300 incidents of which at least two dozen were very serious. In my first here, there were five, the most serious of which was an offensive slogan painted on a fencepost.”For long-suffering military families who follow their nomadic spouses to some of the most far-flung and unwelcoming places on earth, Cyprus is pay-back time There is no malaria, no hostile RUF, KLA or IRA. Apart from periodic exercises, work is mostly restricted to mornings, with afternoons and nights free.”Soldiers serving elsewhere are obviously jealous of all this,” one major says. “But we’re only here for a couple of years and then it could be off to Bosnia. With the climate and the set-up here you’d be a fool not take advantage of it.”Military installations cover less than 20 per cent of the area of the bases.