Tag: Cypriot EU presidency

A two-day EU summit ended today (14 December) without major decisions, but with a feeling of gradual return to normal after the worst of the crisis. It also provided an occasion for leaders to congratulate Cyprus on its success in what appears to have been a productive presidency.

In snappy terms, the European Commission rejected yesterday (30 October) the first proposals containing concrete figures for the EU's 2014-2020 budget presented hours earlier by the Cypriot presidency. The Parliament slammed the proposal for slashing spending on growth and jobs, while Sweden said much bigger cuts were needed.

Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu said yesterday (25 September) he would present a new plan to the UN secretary-general for gas explorations surrounding the divided island, resources that could change its economic landscape.

EU foreign ministers seek to impose tougher sanctions on the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad as soon as next month, acknowledging that the actions taken so far have had little effect on the regime.

Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency, is set to exceed its fiscal deficit target this year unless measures are taken to improve its finances, a government spokesman said today (23 August).

Politicians and intellectuals from Northern Cyprus, divided from the South since 1974, called on France and Germany to push the island toward reunification, which would open the door to full EU membership benefits and avoid Turkish assimilation.

Cyprus President Demetris Christofias said today (5 July) that his country, which has just taken over the rotating EU presidency, would seek financial assistance from both the European Union and Russia. While EU conditions were harsh, Moscow’s help was “not forbidden by EU law” and has no strings attached, he said. EurActiv.com reports from Nicosia.

Hundreds of people from Northern Cyprus are expected today (27 June) to dress as ghosts to protest what they say is the indifference of the European Union to the division of their island and the hardships in the Turkish region.

With days to go before taking over the EU’s rotating presidency, Cyprus yesterday (25 June) became the fifth eurozone country to turn to Brussels for emergency funding. The move came just hours after Spain submitted a formal request to bail out its banks.

Ten days before it takes over the rotating EU presidency, Cyprus said it would “put on the back burner” the long-standing reunification talks with Turkey to focus instead on a complex Union agenda. Meanwhile, EU Commissioner for enlargement Štefan Füle urged Nicosia to proceed on both tracks.

Turkey has indicated its intention to veto the EU's participation in the upcoming NATO summit in an apparent sign of growing disenchantment with the Union before the rotating EU presidency is taken up by Cyprus, a country that Turkey refuses to recognise.

In recent months, many project Cyprus' upcoming EU presidency as a deadline (and catalyst) for the resolution of the Cyprus problem, the dispute between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots over the fate of their island. But in reality, this is nothing but empty rhetoric and the EU remains powerless in resolving the dispute, writes George Kyris.