Cyprus

Abstract

On April 22, 2004, 78 per cent of Greek Cypriots voted against the UN’s federal plan for Cyprus, and on May 1, 2004, the EU granted membership to a divided Cyprus — in practice, to Greek Cyprus. Unlike the Northern Ireland case, Cyprus represents a case where the EU and UN’s roles became uniquely intertwined in 2004 and where despite such interlinkage, as well as pressure from the US, the UK, Germany and Russia, resolution of the underlying conflict did not occur. In the aftermath of the referendum, both the EU and the UN were blamed: the EU for not making Cyprus’ membership of the EU conditional on acceptance of the federal plan and the UN for including elements in the plan that were never going to be accepted by Greek Cypriots and for not engaging adequately with public opinion. However, while many accounts describe EU and UN policy in 2004 and criticize it, few accounts analyse the decision-making processes that led to those policies.