NICOSIA, 5 April 2004 — Cyprus aims to meet EU economic convergence criteria in 2007 but a widening public deficit is hampering efforts to meet the target date for euro zone membership. “The target is still realistic but the government needs to take bold measures by freezing state sector salaries and seeking to privatize public services,” analyst Pambos Papageorgiou told AFP. During European Union accession negotiations, Cyprus was best placed among the 10 prospective members to meet the convergence criteria and be among the first to adopt the euro.