The European Union remains hopeful a deal to reunite incoming EU state Cyprus can be struck in UN-led talks set to resume next week, even if Turkish Cypriots appear deeply skeptical, a key official said Friday.

Speaking after talks with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of Turkey -- which the EU wants to put pressure on Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash -- EU enlargement chief Guenter Verheugen expressed guarded optimism about a solution in time for Cyprus to join the expanding bloc as a united island on May 1.

"My view is that the resumption of talks means that both parties have basically already agreed that there will be a settlement," the commissioner told reporters in Brussels.

"Kofi Annan's conditions are very clear and my understanding was that he would not resume talks without sufficient guarantees of both parties that his conditions are met," Verheugen added.

Annan this week wrote to the leaders of the two sides of the Cyprus divide proposing a resumption of talks in New York next Tuesday.

Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos has indicated he is ready to accept the invitation. His government meets Saturday to decide on its participation.

The veteran Denktash, blamed for the suspension of talks last year, has appeared reluctant. But on Friday he signalled he will after all attend the talks -- but maintained his objections to a renewed rush for a deal.

"We are going to reply in writing to the secretary general today or tomorrow. If the news coming from Turkey is positive, we'll probably leave for New York on Sunday," Denktash said on his return to Cyprus from Ankara.

But he added in a new swipe at the peace drive: "There have never been such negotiations on the planet."

Cyprus, which lies south of Turkey's Mediterranean coast, has been divided since 1974 when Ankara sent troops into the north in response to an Athens-engineered military coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

The island is among 10 countries, including eight ex-communist states, due to join the 15-member EU in May. If there is no reunification deal, only the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot south of the island will join.

Annan said during a stopover in Brussels last week that the talks would have to be completed by the end of March in order for referenda to be held on both sides of the island before the May 1 EU enlargement.

The EU has been pushing Turkey hard to put pressure on Denktash to come back to the negotiating table -- warning that failure to resolve the Cyprus issue would cloud Ankara's own hopes of winning a green light to start EU entry talks.

The Turkish minister stressed Friday that his government has done its part.

"We pushed everything to start the negotiations," he said, adding: "It's our intention to finish everything before May."

Verheugen -- who said that the European Commission will send a team to New York to stand ready to help the talks -- was also upbeat after his meeting with Gul.

"My optimism is increasing. We are now very very close... It would be a fantastic signal (if resumed talks) finally lead to a successful solution of a conflict that is decades old and absolutely outdated in Europe," he said.

But he warned that the EU will not accept an accord at any price.

Cyprus "has to be a member state that is able to speak with one voice in our institutions and will not block the decision-making procedures and mechanisms because it has internal problems with decision making," he said.

"That must be clear."