The preparation of the Republic of Cyprus for assuming the Presidency of the EU Council in 2026, issues related to the European agenda, regional developments, the current situation in the Cyprus issue, as well as EU-Turkey relations were among the topics discussed in the meeting of the Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Marilena Raouna, with the Minister of European Affairs of Hungary, Janos Boka, who was in Cyprus on Tuesday on a working visit.
According to a Presidency press release, the Hungarian Minister paid a one-day working visit, at Raouna’s invitation. In the morning, accompanied by his Cypriot counterpart, he was given a tour of the area of Chrysaliniotissa in Nicosia and walked along the cease-fire line, where ‘he witnessed for himself the situation in the last divided city in Europe’.
They then went to the Presidential Palace, where had a private meeting, which was followed by extended talks between the delegations of the two countries.
During the talks, it said, Raouna briefed the Hungarian
Minister about the developments in the Cyprus issue, and the Greek Cypriot side’s efforts for the restart of the negotiations from the point they were interrupted in Crans-Montana, on the basis of the agreed framework, the European acquis and EU principles and values. They also discussed the importance of the EU’s role both in the efforts to restart the negotiations and for the resolution of the Cyprus issue under the auspices of the United Nations, it adds.
‘They also discussed regional developments, the migration issue, EU-Turkey relations, as well as issues related to the European agenda, and the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU’, it noted.
Furthermore, it said that the Deputy Minister for European Affairs referred ‘extensively’ to the plans and preparations of the Republic of Cyprus regarding the assumption of the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2026, while there was an exchange of views regarding the best practices for a successful, respective EU Presidency of t
he two countries.
Boka departed from Cyprus late in the afternoon, the statement concludes.
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.
In January, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Columbia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Source: Cyprus News Agency