The EU membership of a loosely centralised 'federal' Cyprus: a strategy of cooperation and conflict-mitigation

Abstract

As the time approaches for the European Union to decide on the membership of the Island, the current ambiguous approach of the EU does not seem to offer to parties credible incentives to come to settlement. Instead, performances of the all interested parties so far have demonstrated that the 'cooperation-promoting, conflict-mitigating' character of the EU's accession process has not yielded the expected result. This paper argues that if the EU's current Cyprus policy leads to an early membership of the Greek Cypriot part of the Island as representing the whole Island, the risks to security and stability in the region would escalate. It further suggests that the EU needs to reconsider its current approach and needs to advocate the EU membership of a loosely centralised federal Cyprus.