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- Ελληνικά
I welcome you to the Nicosia Municipal Theatre to celebrate the extremely important anniversary of the twentieth anniversary of our country's accession to the European Union (EU) and the 74th birthday of the European Union.
As I have repeatedly mentioned, ladies and gentlemen, our accession in 2004 to the European family is the most important success of the Republic of Cyprus since its foundation in 1960. It was the culmination of many years of strategic pursuit along a path in which all Governments made painstaking and persistent efforts, always, and we must acknowledge this. I would also like to welcome the presence of the Vice President of the Greek Parliament, with the valuable assistance, cooperation and substantial support of the Hellenic Republic.
But I would like to underline that this very important course for our country would not have been possible without the sacrifices of our people.
Allow me to begin by referring to some milestone dates in this historic course, thus honouring all my predecessors who contributed to this special success for our country. The first step was undoubtedly the signing of the Association Agreement between the Republic of Cyprus and the then European Economic Community in 1972, under the presidency of Archbishop Makarios.
In 1987, under the presidency of Spyros Kyprianou, the Protocol of the Customs Union was signed, while in the summer of 1990, under the presidency of George Vassiliou, the application for membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) was submitted. In 1993, when the EEC had become the EU, Cyprus was considered eligible for membership.
A few months later, in June 1994, during the Greek Presidency, at the Corfu European Council, chaired by Glafkos Clerides, it was decided that Cyprus should be included in the next round of EU enlargement. In this context, in March 1995, the timetable for our accession negotiations was set, which started in 1998.
In December 1999, at the Helsinki European Council, it was decided that the resolution of the Cyprus problem was not a precondition for Cyprus' accession, while three years later, the Copenhagen European Council decided that Cyprus should join the EU.
The Copenhagen decision was ratified by the European Parliament in April 2003 and a few days later, President Tassos Papadopoulos signed the Treaty of Accession of Cyprus to the EU in Athens. This long process was completed with the formal accession on 1 May 2004.
On that day, Cyprus became an equal, full and integral member of a strong and united group of states. A group of states with which we share common values and principles, upholding democracy, the rule of law and pluralism.
The fifth and largest enlargement of the EU in 2004 brought us together with nine other countries in our common European home. An entire continent was celebrating, from the Baltic and Eastern European countries, which until a few years earlier had been on the other side of the Iron Curtain, to the Mediterranean.
It is, I believe, an indisputable fact - no one, but no one can deny it - that the added value that the EU edifice brings with it is the most important collective achievement of humanity on the Old Continent since the Enlightenment.
74 years ago today, Robert Schuman, inspired by the strategic thinking and brilliant political planning of Jean Monnet, made his famous Declaration in Paris, which was to change the course of European history and the lives of European citizens.
The creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952 was the beginning of a general economic unification, in the first phase, which would in future form the core of the European Federation.
We rightly commemorate the Schuman Declaration today, 9 May, throughout the EU, because it marked the beginning of European political integration and economic integration, leading to what we all know and are proud of today, the EU.
Our country's accession to the EU brought drastic, positive changes in all aspects of our daily lives. Perhaps the most important change is our strengthened position, diplomatically and politically, resulting from the fact that we now belong to a large and powerful family of 27 Member States and almost half a billion citizens. This enhanced position is clearly important for every EU member, but let us consider how much more important it is for a geographically very small and occupied country like ours.
At the same time - and beyond the diplomatic dimension - as an EU member state we have managed, together with our partners, to successfully deal with major crises such as the economic collapse of the last decade and more recently the coronavirus pandemic. Just think how much more difficult it would have been for little Cyprus if it had been outside the European family to emerge from the financial crisis on its own or to secure the vaccines needed to deal with the pandemic, but also how much the EU's historic joint borrowing helped all Member States in the midst of the unprecedented pandemic.
The EU, then, is unquestionably the place that offers us the opportunity to challenge and meet any challenges, always in a spirit of compromise and cooperation, for the common good, the good of the Union and its citizens. At the same time, we are realistic enough to understand the limits, constraints and interests that also exist within the EU.
With that said, I am not claiming that the EU is a society of angels, nor that the voice and role of some Member States is not clearly more powerful. I am under no illusions. I do, however, have a clear position, a strong conviction that addressing challenges from small states, especially under occupation, such as our country, would be clearly more difficult, perhaps impossible, outside the EU.
Since my time as Foreign Minister, I have often criticised - publicly, in fact - the general tendency of some Member State governments to adopt in an absolute manner the successes of the EU as their own national successes, won after a hard fought battle in Brussels, while blaming Brussels, the faceless bureaucrats of the institutions, the Commissioners, the circumstances that unfortunately did not allow them to adopt their own positions, for any difficult decisions that involve political costs.
It is this kind of behaviour by Europe's political leaders that in the long run - and I say in many cases unwittingly - helps to foster Euroscepticism, pouring water into the mill of Europhobic and populist forces in Europe. This is very dangerous, especially in the current context of multiple challenges and in view of the very important 9 June elections for members of the European Parliament.
In contrast to all these negative approaches to the EU, but also as a way of countering them, I would like to state tonight that as a Government we are in favour of an even stronger and more integrated Europe. I sincerely believe that the EU will have even more added value if it goes further in its institutional deepening, if it acquires even more common policies, if we Member States cede even more of our national sovereignty to supranational institutions. I am in favour of an evolutionary path towards building an EU with purely federal characteristics, just as Schuman and Monnet envisioned a Federal Europe on 9 May 1950, but also many other European personalities.
Building a federal EU is, in my view, something that is in our collective interest in today's difficult and ever-changing international context and something that will clearly make the EU more effective. As Member States, only if we are together, united in our diversity, sharing our common principles and values, on which our European edifice is firmly founded, can we not only survive but also play a leading role in today's international context of intense geopolitical competition, instability and almost daily challenges. Strength through unity, then, is the element that should guide us and is the legacy that should determine our decisions on the future of Europe.
Beyond the difficult situations that I have mentioned and that we have successfully faced as members of the great European family, think about today's challenges. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the consequences for all of us. Let us think about the challenges of the twin transitions, green and digital, migration, the need to strengthen our competitiveness, the investments that need to be made in research and technology. All the things I have mentioned clearly highlight the need for more Europe, since they can be achieved much more quickly and appropriately through our further institutional cooperation. Exactly the same applies to the strategic autonomy of the Union in areas such as defence, security and energy.
At the same time, all this and much more can clearly be successfully addressed, especially for a small state like the Republic of Cyprus, by being an active and meaningful member of the EU.
As a Government, therefore, which firmly believes in the positive catalytic role played by the EU, but also in the further deepening of the Union, we know at the same time that within our capabilities we must in turn contribute to our partners and to the strengthening of the Union. Our aim, which is already being implemented, is not to be unilateral in our interventions and not to monopolise our interest in Brussels with the Cyprus and/or Euro-Turkish issues.
In this context, initiatives such as "Amalthea" for a maritime humanitarian corridor to the suffering population of Gaza, the initiative, together with other states, for substantial EU support to Egypt and Lebanon and our joint visits with the President of the Commission highlight the added value that small Cyprus brings to the large EU family, making use of its geographical location, its excellent relations with all neighbouring states and its highly capable human resources.
I spoke about a Member State with a voice and a role in the EU. In this context, a very important milestone is the holding of the Presidency of the Council of the EU by our country in the first half of 2026. Having personally been blessed to actively participate in the first Cyprus Presidency in the second half of 2012, I understand first-hand the utmost importance of the institution of the Presidency, as our country will have a unique opportunity, among other things, to contribute in an absolutely positive way, as an honest broker, to ensure institutional coherence and to promote as many legislative dossiers as possible, which will broaden the added value of the European integration process.
The appointment months ago of the Deputy Minister of State for European Affairs effectively marked the beginning of the procedures for the preparation of this great national effort and I am confident that the results that will emerge will be positive.
Our credibility, therefore, the credibility of the Republic of Cyprus as a partner, is important and we are constantly working to strengthen it even more. I sincerely believe that such a development will also strengthen our efforts to achieve our number one priority, the resolution of the Cyprus problem, where this year, unfortunately, we have the tragic anniversary of 50 years, half a century, since the Turkish invasion of 1974. After all, the occupation of our homeland, the occupation of European territory, is an open wound in the body of the entire EU. The Cyprus problem is an eminently European issue and the EU has every interest and obligation to contribute actively, through a leading role, to its final settlement, using all the political and economic instruments and tools at its disposal in the context of Euro-Turkish relations. It is precisely in this context that we are investing politically in Europe's substantial support for the new initiative that we have succeeded in launching through our own actions, with the appointment of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN).
It is precisely in this context that we are investing politically in Europe's substantial support for the new initiative that we have succeeded in launching through our own actions, with the appointment of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN). In the same context, at the extraordinary European Council in April, we have managed, together with our partners, through the relevant Conclusions, to link possible progress on the Euro-Turkish issue with substantial developments on the Cyprus problem, always within the agreed framework.
We are therefore investing in the role of Europe, because - in addition to what I said about Euro-Turkey - I am absolutely convinced that the acquis can serve as the basis on which we will build our common future in a reunited Cyprus, but also because the EU, through the acquis, its principles and values, is the best insurance policy for the implementation of a possible solution to the Cyprus problem. For a Cyprus where all its legal residents, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins, can fully enjoy their rights as European citizens in a reunited Cyprus. A project that was created out of the ruins of two world wars, with the aim of establishing peace, security and cooperation and which has today managed to develop into one of the strongest economies on the planet, with a profoundly strong value system and an indisputable geostrategic footprint.
In this successful peace project we are also investing in ending the occupation and reunifying our homeland. And, yes, the EU is our main support in the effort to achieve peace in our land and to consolidate a sense of security and cooperation in the troubled region of the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.
We celebrate and commemorate this year's 20th anniversary of our accession and 74 years since the founding of the EU with feelings of pride, optimism, but also with a sense of our duty and responsibility towards our young people, who are the future of our Cyprus and Europe.
After all, it is for our young people that we are working, with the sole aim of achieving an EU that is even stronger, even more resilient, even more competitive.
(PM/GC/NZ)
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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