The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed the EU’s commitment to the reunification of Cyprus, ahead of the plenary session in the informal meeting on the Cyprus issue in New York.

In a post in X, Von der Leyen noted that “the EU remains steadfastly committed to the reunification of Cyprus, fully in line with UN Security Council resolutions and principles, values and legislation of the EU”.

She added that “we strongly support the efforts of the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy to resume negotiations”, highlighting that EU has an important role to play.

“We stand ready to actively contribute and step up its efforts to support the UN led process, including through the active engagement of its Special Envoy, Johannes Hahn”, she concluded.

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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

UN Secretary General announced that an informal meeting on Cyprus in a broader format will be held at the end of July, following a similar meeting in Geneva, on March 17-18. The two sides agreed to proceed with a number of initiatives, involving the opening of crossing points, the creation of a Technical Committee on Youth and other initiatives in the buffer zone and throughout the island.

The informal meeting in New York was agreed upon during the previous informal meeting held in Geneva last March. The two leaders had at the time agreed on initiatives to build trust between the two sides. Namely, the opening of four new crossing points, the creation of a technical committee on youth, demining, initiatives on the environment and climate change, including the impacts on mining areas, the production of solar energy in the buffer zone and the restoration of cemeteries. Guterres also announced that they had agreed to hold a further meeting, in the same format, at the end of July, and that he would appoint a personal envoy to prepare the next steps.

Last May, Guterres announced the appointment of Maria Angela Holguin as his Personal Envoy for Cyprus, tasked with reengaging with the parties to work on the next steps on the Cyprus issue and advise him.