Zyperns Beitritt zur Europäischen Union: Risiko für neue Instabilität der EU?
Cyprus Accession to the European Union: A New Risk of Instability within the EU?

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the European Union’s perspectives on Cyprus accession and the problems posed by the current reunification talks. The prospect of European membership does not have sufficient allure for Turkish leaders. They have argued that their breakaway state in the North should be accepted as an independent and sovereign country but the Greek Cypriots want to ensure the compromise-solution of the 1977 and 1979 High-Level Agreements: A single federated state made up of two regions, one being Greek and the other one Turkish. The EU has to decide by the end of this year when it will enlarge the Union. Cyprus is a front runner for membership but if a settlement is not reached before then, it could effectively cast the island’s partition in concrete and will import instability into the EU. The crucial question of the paper is that Cyprus can join the European Union, even if it remains divided because the key source of tension is not the form of reunification but the interest that the parties consider as vital. Neither party would expect the other one to give in on its vital concern. Major issues: (1.) Territory in the north will have to go back to the Greeks, (2.) a common state representing both communities of the island must be established and (3.) security arrangements must be taken care of.

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