AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightUnder such an uncertain environment, both communities prefer to stick to their wellestablished negotiation positions, rendering a breakthrough a remote possibility.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
It is contended in this paper that the European Union, through the dynamics of the membership accession process, has the potential to contribute to peace and security in and around the island of Cyprus, provided some conditions are met. However, unless the current approach of the EU is changed, the ongoing accession process between the EU and the Greek Cypriots on behalf of the whole of Cyprus will lead only to further securitisation in the region. Up to now, the EU has been faced with an impasse whose sources lie in five inter-linked developments. The first stems from the ambiguous strategy of the EU pertaining to the accession of the island. It is one thing to say that the lack of an a priori political settlement on the island would not constitute a precondition for the membership of the Greek Cypriots in the EU as representing the whole island. It is another thing to announce that the EU would approve of whatever a deal the Turkish and Greek Cypriots cut during their inter-communal talks. Due to the ambiguity over the details of the EU’s Cyprus policy, neither community on the island could truly assess the model through which such a membership would come about. Under such an uncertain environment, both communities prefer to stick to their wellestablished negotiation positions, rendering a breakthrough a remote possibility.