Cyprus faces Europe's big moment - Nicosia tasked with running EU affairs
Starting in January, one of Europe's smallest countries will be responsible for steering political power to tackle some of the bloc's biggest problems in decades.
The European Union will “hand over” the keys to its Council to Cyprus on January 1, giving the small, militarily neutral state the task of leading diplomatic talks on hot-button issues, from responding to Russian aggression to rescuing struggling critical industries, drafting the EU’s long-term budget and reforming large swaths of a body of laws that its executive is seeking to cut.
The scale of the challenges facing Nicosia is unprecedented, and this task falls on one of the bloc's smallest member states and the most geographically distant from Brussels.
Just weeks before its presidency was to begin, Cyprus initiated a cabinet reshuffle, postponing an official presidency launch event to December 21, just days before Christmas.
Cyprus is one of only four EU countries that is not a member of NATO and has historically cultivated close ties with Moscow. But now the country is determined to prove it is on the same side as its Western allies. Cyprus has been eager to show it is making progress by revoking hundreds of citizenships granted to Russians under a “golden passport” scheme that it scrapped in 2020.
Its centrist ruling coalition wants to use the Council's six-month rotating presidency to restore its reputation on the international stage.
The Cypriot presidency follows that of Poland and Denmark, two big players on hot issues like defense and competitiveness, each of which was attended by a wide group of diplomats. Nicosia's diplomatic footprint has historically been smaller and its outreach to foreign capitals has been focused on its ongoing conflict with Turkey.
However, the war between Israel and Hamas, and the ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, have put the country at the center of international diplomacy. Nicosia has been drafted in to support EU and US efforts to bring aid to the besieged territory, and has even proposed a comprehensive peace plan to end the fighting. These efforts have helped put the island on the radar of even senior politicians in Washington.
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