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For weeks, the European Union has been willing to apply new sanctions to the authoritarian government of Belarus, accused with credible evidence of electoral fraud in the last presidential elections and violence against its political opponents. The 27 countries agree to freeze assets and ban 40 people close to the Belarusian government from entering the Union territory, except for one of the smallest: Cyprus.
For several days, Cypriot diplomats have been explaining that they will not approve the sanctions against Belarus, which require unanimity in the Council of the European Union, the body in which the representatives of the 27 governments sit, unless the Union approves it. . sanctions also against Turkey, which for some time has followed a very aggressive policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, and with which Cyprus has had bad relations for decades.
Several observers have defined “Blackmail” Cyprus’ decision, and to underline how it is very rare for a country to use its veto power to force a decision on another matter, completely unrelated: in the Council, especially in foreign policy, we work on very delicate balances, and the proliferation of vetoes Crusaders would make diplomatic work practically impossible.
At the moment, in fact, everything is blocked. An attempt at compromise on Wednesday failed. A meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, which brings together all the foreign ministers of the 27 countries, is scheduled for Monday, but it seems that an agreement is still far away. Laurence Norman, correspondent for the European institutions of Wall street journal, writes that the debate is still “polarized” and that there is little chance of finding a solution before the European Council, the body that brings together the heads of state and government and sets the political agenda, set for September 24 and 25.
“The European Union runs the risk of being irrelevant: our credibility is at stake,” said a European diplomatic source contacted by Reuters.
The situation in Cyprus has been critical for decades due to the difficult coexistence between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. In 1975, the Turks installed an independent government in the north of the island which led, in 1983, to the self-proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which, however, was only recognized by Turkey. Even today, Nicosia is a city divided in two and is the capital of both Northern Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus, which is the European country that we more simply call Cyprus.
Last year, Turkey began exploring the stretch of sea that Cyprus considers its exclusive economic zone in search of very rich natural gas fields in the area. Greece also claims that Turkey often invades its waters on its explorations, and in late August the tension had suddenly risen due to an accident between a Turkish ship and a Greek ship.
Cyprus and Greece share concerns with several countries in the region, including Egypt and Israel, but they have very few allies within the European Union. In February, under pressure from Cyprus, the European Union approved sanctions against two employees of the Turkish state oil company, but they were deemed so light that Bloomberg He called them “largely symbolic.” A Cypriot proposal to extend sanctions against Turkey was presented in June, but it has garnered very little support in recent weeks, for well-known reasons: despite being an authoritarian regime, the Turkish government is an important European ally in terms of security: The pact to block immigration from the Middle East, made in 2016, is still valid, and Turkey has important cultural ties with several European countries, including Germany. For all these reasons, the European Union has been very cautious in its actions against Turkey for some years.
At this moment, Cyprus is trying to prevail and its diplomats explain that it has no alternative to try to convince the European Union to tighten sanctions against Turkey. It will be very difficult to do so, but at the moment it is not clear what he could accept in exchange for the withdrawal of the veto against the sanctions against Belarus, also strongly requested by the European Parliament (which in the case could enter into force “within a few days”. , diplomatic sources inform guardian).
For many analysts, cases like this highlight the limited effectiveness of the EU’s foreign policy approach: since most decisions are taken by the Council, which must find a position shared by 27 different governments, the measures taken usually arrive late, when they arrive, and they are the result of commitments found to the downside. “We need to introduce majority voting on specific issues like human rights and sanctions,” the source said. Reuters, advancing a request that has circulated for years among experts who want the European Union to be more active in foreign policy, even at the cost of less internal cohesion.
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