“It is time for decisions on all issues”, Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides, said on Thursday morning upon his arrival at the last European Council before the Cyprus EU Presidency, noting that Ukraine is the issue that will dominate the discussion. He also expressed the hope that “tonight we will emerge even more united.”

President Christodoulides said that Cyprus was fully prepared to assume the EU Presidency, in the first half of 2026, referring to the three main objectives: strategic autonomy, the EU’s rapprochement with the wider Middle East and for the Union to provide answers to the most important challenges facing citizens.

The aim is to strengthen the strategic autonomy of the European Union, he said. “All these issues that will be discussed today at the European Council are issues that we will inherit during the Cyprus Presidency and are precisely aimed at strengthening its strategic autonomy,” he noted.

“Secondly, we will bring the European Union substantially closer to the countries of the region, in the wider Middle East. And thirdly, we will provide answers to the major challenges that European citizens face every day, such as housing issues, energy costs and all that affects their daily lives,” he pointed out.

President Christodoulides said that the Council’s discussions would dominate the “necessary” economic support for Ukraine, so that “it can cope with the challenges of the Russian invasion and occupation”. “We want to ensure,” he said, that any financial assistance from the EU, especially for the defence and security issues of Ukraine, will not be spent on countries that have European territory under occupation or threaten EU member states. The President noted that this issue was also discussed earlier in the day at the European People’s Party Summit.

Regarding the conclusions on Turkey, he said that “the references to the basis of the solution to the Cyprus problem are important. The reference to the resolutions is important, especially on the fenced-off area of Famagusta. It gives us a basis so that we can push the need even further, especially on the issue of the Famagusta fenced area,” he noted.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.