site.btaCyprus Understands Ukraine Best as EU’s Only Occupied State - President Christodoulides

Cyprus is the only European Union country under foreign occupation, which is why it understands Ukraine better than anyone else, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told European journalists at a meeting in Nicosia.

He noted that the country had been preparing for two years for the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU, which began in early January. Among the Presidency’s leading priorities until the end of June is the continuation of support for Kyiv.

Cyprus has a clear pro-Western orientation and, unlike during its first EU Council Presidency in 2012, is no longer a country focused on a single issue, with its previous practice of seeking EU intervention mainly on matters related to Turkiye now a thing of the past, the President noted. He added that a Presidency held by a small country is an advantage, as it is easier to set aside issues of purely national importance. Cyprus’s accession to the EU in 2004 is the most important event for the country since 1960 and the founding of the Republic of Cyprus, Christodoulides summarized.

According to him, for the first time since 2011 Cyprus has returned to Category A with all international credit rating agencies. Migration was the main topic during the 2023 presidential election campaign, he recalled. Christodoulides said that this issue is no longer on the agenda for the country. He specified that Cyprus has recorded over an 80% drop in arriving irregular migrants and an increase of more than 60% in returns of third-country nationals without the right of residence.