“The Next EU Enlargement and ‘The Cyprus Problem’”

Nugent, Neill. (1999) “The Next EU Enlargement and ‘The Cyprus Problem’”. In: UNSPECIFIED, Pittsburgh, PA. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

In March 1998 the EU opened accession negotiations with six applicant states: five Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs)-the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia-and Cyprus. Most academic attention has focused on the CEECs, but EU practitioners regard the Cyprus application as being the most difficult. This is because of the so-called “Cyprus problem;” that is, the division of the island into Greek and Turkish zones and the political ramifications and security tensions that are associated with the division. This paper examines the Cypriot application and places it in the context of the enlargement process as a whole. The paper is organised into five sections: the background to the current enlargement round; the nature of the Cyprus problem; the difficulties for the EU with Cyprus’s application; the handling and progression of the application; and the possible scenarios for Cyprus and the enlargement process if the Cyprus problem is not resolved before accession negotiations conclude.

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