The United Nations envoy for Cyprus has urged the island's two leaders to start substantive negotiations by tackling the hardest question first: whether a reunified Cyprus should have a rotating presidency. María Ángela Holguín told the Cyprus Mail that talks should begin without preconditions, "but with the compromise that you are going to do it, the first point is that one".

The question has long divided the two sides. The Turkish Cypriot side has insisted the principle must be accepted before negotiations begin, while the Greek Cypriot side says it should be settled during the talks. Holguín said the two leaders would "have to sit with each other and discuss" the issue, "because this is one thing which can block any effort. This is fundamental".

She warned that if the current initiative collapses, "there is going to be huge damage", and questioned whether the United Nations would mount a similar effort again. Secretary-General António Guterres, she said, does not want another enlarged "five-plus-one" meeting unless properly prepared, after the last one in New York divided the sides further.

Holguín meets President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Monday 9 November at 11am. She said she would count it a success if they agree a package of confidence-building measures, with four new crossing points and demining reported to be on the table. She also revealed Christodoulides never gave her a written version of his much-discussed 19 proposals: "Do you know, he never just gave us a paper?"

A University of Cyprus survey found more than three quarters of Greek Cypriots now accept or tolerate a federal solution, while an April survey found 78.5 per cent of Turkish Cypriots backed a bicommunal, bizonal federation.