Commission ‘fully supports’ Cyprus joining Schengen zone

The European Commission “fully” supports Cyprus joining the continent’s open-border Schengen zone, Internal Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner said on Thursday night.

“We fully support Cyprus in joining the Schengen area. Cyprus’ participation would have a positive impact on the entire area,” he said, flanked by Cypriot Justice Minister Costas Fitiris and Migration Deputy Minister Nicholas Ioannides at a press conference following the day’s informal European justice and home affairs (JHA) council summit in Nicosia.

While he did not set a timetable for Cyprus’ joining of the zone, he said that “many improvements have been made in recent months”, and that a new evaluation report on Cyprus’ progress towards joining is expected to be published “soon”.

“We are doing everything we can to support Cyprus on its path towards Schengen,” he said.

He also made reference to the Green Line which separates the island in two, and said that while the issue is “a challenge”, and that this is “something we all know”, he is “optimistic that we can find a solution for the Green Line, of course, but also for Cyprus as a whole”.

To this end, he said that when considering Cyprus’ potential joining of the Schengen zone, he said that “the specific situation of Cyprus will be taken into account, while ensuring a high level of security for the Schengen area as a whole”.

Later during the press conference, Ioannides was asked whether Cypriot accession to the Schengen zone would consolidate the island’s division, and stressed that “the Green Line is not a border and will never become a border”.

He added that the issue is “explicitly enshrined in the Green Line regulation”.

“The regulation allows the Republic of Cyprus to conduct checks along the line. It is not a border, but we have the right to conduct checks based on a specific legal framework,” he said.

While Brunner on Thursday stopped short of laying out a timetable for Cypriot accession, President Nikos Christodoulides has stated that it is his aim for the island to join the zone this year.

During a visit to Paris last month, he said Cyprus’ joining of the Schengen zone would be “a strategic decision, a development, for both the Republic of Cyprus and the European Union”.

Earlier, he had said that joining the Schengen zone this year is “our goal”, and that he and his government are working “with the aim of 2026, precisely, for the Republic of Cyprus to join the Schengen zone”.

Cyprus is one of just two EU member states left outside the Schengen zone, following the accession of Bulgaria and Romania at the beginning of this year, Ireland the only other EU member on the outside. Four non-EU members – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – are also Schengen members.

Reports published last year set out the likely requirements Cyprus must fulfil to be able to join the Schengen zone, with the country said to have been tasked with “strengthening [its] border controls”.

Particular attention on this front has been paid to the Green Line, which, while not de jure an external border, is said to “require strict controls” and is not exempt from EU frontier standards.

However, former Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator Ozdil Nami warned last month that the situation at the crossing points which connect the island’s two sides “will not be easier” than it is today if and when Cyprus joins the Schengen zone.

“I do not know what kind of problems will arise because of Schengen, because how the Greek Cypriots will proceed in this regard is also important. However, it is certain that things will not be easier than they are today,” he said.

He added that this “is not just about the speed of crossing”, but that “much stricter rules may be introduced” regarding who is allowed to cross, and that joining the Schengen area “may also have dimensions which affect trade” across the Green Line.

“We are completely outside of this,” he said.

To this end, he said he supports Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman’s plan to “reactivate” the bicommunal European Union ad hoc committee, which was established in 2016 to prepare the Turkish Cypriot community to comply with the EU’s acquis communautaire following the resolution of the Cyprus problem.

This plan, he said, is “very meaningful”.

“The issue of Schengen not affecting crossings on the island will be discussed and resolved by experts. The last thing the EU would want is a hard border in the middle of Cyprus,” he said.

The Republic of Cyprus’ potential accession to the Schengen area was one of the issues discussed between Erhurman and the EU’s envoy for the Cyprus problem Johannes Hahn when the latter visited Cyprus last month.

Erhurman had said earlier in the year that it is “extremely important” for the Turkish Cypriots to be involved in Cyprus’ accession to the Schengen area, warning that Schengen accession “has the potential to bring about many complications, especially in the area of freedom of movement” regarding Turkish Cypriots.

As such, he said, “it is extremely important for the Turkish Cypriot side to be involved in this process to bring the complications which may arise in the future onto the European Union’s agenda in a timely manner, and to produce solutions for them”.