Search

The article examines the role the European Union has played in the Cyprus Problem since the EU accession of the Republic of Cyprus in 2004. Its main thesis is that six years of EU membership [and the accession process) are - with respect to the Cyprus Question - littered with false hopes, miscalculations and misperceptions by all main actors. The paper focuses on two aspects that have dominated the relations between the EU and Cyprus: Firstly, it reconstructs the failed attempts of powerful actors within the European Union to overcome Greek Cypriot resistance in its efforts to implement the EU pledge from 2004 to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. Secondly, it examines the repeated attempts of the Greek Cypriots to utilise their EU membership as well as the Turkish aspirations to join the Union in order to press Ankara for concession in the Cyprus Question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]