Iran war challenges Cyprus’ time in the EU hot seat

Cyprus is scrambling to keep its six-month turn leading the EU’s lawmaking work on track after it had to hastily reschedule major meetings when Iranian drones targeted the country.

The island nation — the third-smallest in the EU and the closest member of the bloc to the Middle East — has become a target of Tehran’s retribution following U.S. and Israeli strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But Cypriot politicians and officials insist their country is only marginally affected and that it will not interfere with their presidency of the Council of the EU.

“The Cyprus Presidency continues its work as planned,” a Cypriot official told POLITICO. “We will continue to monitor developments closely and remain in close coordination with the EU institutions and the Member States, while adapting where necessary.”

Cyprus was forced to postpone a meeting of the 27 national European affairs ministers scheduled for Monday and Tuesday to discuss the bloc’s seven-year budget and Ukraine and Moldova’s path to EU membership. Delegations from those countries had also been due in Nicosia.

A session of the bloc’s culture ministers was also scrapped, and ENISA, the EU’s cybersecurity agency, confirmed that its conference in the resort town of Ayia Napa on Wednesday would be postponed, with no new date announced. A rare disease summit set for Thursday was axed as well.

“This is the kind of thing that can change the EU’s entire agenda,” said a diplomat from another EU country, granted anonymity to speak freely. “From energy to transport to migration, the consequences could be enormous and Cyprus’ plans for its presidency may have to follow.”

Greece has sent warships and fighter jets to Cyprus after Iranian drones targeted British bases on the island, while France has dispatched frigates and pledged additional air defense systems. That comes after General Ebrahim Jabbari of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said “we will fire so many missiles toward Cyprus” that U.S. forces would be unable to use its airbases.

Greece has sent warships and fighter jets to Cyprus after Iranian drones targeted British bases on the island, while France has dispatched frigates and pledged additional air defense systems. | Alexis Mitas/Getty Images

Airlines have canceled flights to the island, while the U.S. State Department on Wednesday urged Americans to reconsider travel there.

The EU’s easternmost member has long played a role in European and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, even floating its own peace plan for Gaza last year. When it took over the EU presidency at the start of the year, Cyprus’ Deputy European Affairs Minister Marilena Raouna said it would be a chance “to showcase the country we are today — stable, resilient, with one of the strongest European economies — and our strengths as the only EU member state in our region.”

However, with that region rapidly engulfed by Iranian counterstrikes, national leaders have more than Brussels’ agenda to manage. “It’s a small place in a precarious position,” said one EU official. “Their focus is understandably going to be less on the presidency and more on national security.”

Still, diplomats say Cyprus’ team of more than 250 staff in its EU representation continue to push legislation forward, while also coordinating the bloc’s response to the war. The presidency summoned ambassadors on Sunday to address the situation, and called a meeting of the top emergency committee, the Integrated Political Crisis Response group, on Tuesday. Experts have also been drafted in to discuss evacuations of EU citizens from the conflict zone.

The presidency is “a big deal” for Cyprus diplomatically, said a second EU official who has dealt with its envoys, “so it’s really unfortunate that this would happen in the middle of [it], a war on the EU’s border. But they’ve been really professional.”