July 1, 2012, was a historic day for the Republic of Cyprus, as it took over the rotating presidency of the EU for the next six months. It is the first time that we have faced such a challenge since joining the EU in 2004.
Europe is enduring a tough time, especially with in terms of its economy, and Cyprus will be trying to find ways out of the crisis and also to establish common ground between member states. This will amount to a difficult task for a small island with no specific experience and limited capacity.
That said, in the past a lack of experience and the small size of some of the states which have occupied this role, have not prevented them from achieving successful EU presidencies. And we should also bear in mind that the EU provides a number of support mechanisms to facilitate the presidency.
Turkish boycott
In preparing to take on this role, Cyprus also had to cope with Turkish threats and insinuations. Turkey, which occupies the northern part of the island, has decided to boycott the Cypriot Presidency and suspend high-level talks with the EU for six months.
However, Turkey’s attitude will remain a manageable problem if Nicosia continues to benefit from the support of its partners and all of Europe’s institutions.
Perhaps even more critically, the presidency has come just at the moment when we have had to request assistance from the European bailout fund.
Clearly there was no worse time to have to demand help. It is not that we are intent on demonising the aid mechanism, nor do we believe that this situation amounts to the end of the world, but it was a mistake to have to call on the bailout fund just a few days ahead of taking over the EU presidency, because attention will now be focused on this financial issue and many of the benefits that could have come from a term at the head of the EU will be lost.
That is why we believe that the government should have sought help earlier if it realised that recourse to the bailout mechanism was inevitable.
Acting like Europeans
Above and beyond all of these considerations, we still believe that the Republic of Cyprus has the capacity to take advantage of the opportunity represented by the EU presidency.
We believe that shrewd management of the presidency agenda and the themes that will come to the fore in the next six months could do much to improve the political climate. We simply have to demonstrate a determination to address critical issues, and perhaps more importantly to show our concern for European problems.
In this regard and also with regard to the Cypriot problem, we must be careful to adopt a non-partisan approach.
Remaining focused on internal issues during the course of the EU Presidency would be a fatal mistake, and would project a very unflattering image. To avoid this eventuality, we will have to take our responsibility seriously and more importantly act like Europeans. In any case, no progress will be possible if we fail to do this.
Today, the Republic of Cyprus is spreading its wings for a short and extremely important journey. It has the ability to fly very high, and it is our sincere wish that it does so.
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