The amassing of military assets in and around Cyprus in recent weeks, in light of a drone strike on the island’s British Akrotiri air force base, is the product of Cyprus’ accession to the European Union, Greek opposition party Pasok leader Nikos Androulakis said on Tuesday.

“This was not a given a few decades ago. It is the product of a great national success, the accession of Cyprus to the European Union with the Cyprus problem unsolved, which was achieved with a great deal of work and planning on the part of the Pasok government of the day and prime minister Costas Simitis,” he said during a meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace.

He said that “solidarity” with Cyprus had been shown in the aftermath of the drone strike “with the presence of our country and the presence of other powerful European states which came to ensure and strengthen the security of the Cypriot people”.

Of the conflict in the Middle East at large, he said that “no member state of the European Union should participate in any way in this war”, and that “European states should show unlimited support and solidarity to any member state which requests it”.

“Of course, non-involvement in the war does not mean inaction,” he said, before calling on Cyprus, as the current holder of the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency, to take “strong diplomatic initiatives … to bring about peace in the Middle East”.

“Because without stopping the war, the consequences of the war, which are very significant, will not stop,” he said.

Christodoulides, meanwhile, said that the mass deployment of military assets to the island and its vicinity constitutes “solidarity in practice”.

“Cyprus is part of the geography of the region. It is not part of the crisis, and over time, we have been part of the solution to the problems of the region, and not part of the problem,” he said.

Greece was the first state to deploy military assets to the island in the aftermath of the drone strike, sending two frigates, including the Kimon, which Greek Prime Minister described during a subsequent visit to the island as the “pride of the Greek fleet”, while also stationing four F-16 fighter jets in Paphos.

France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom have all also deployed naval or aerial assets to the island and its vicinity.