Cyprus Applies for EU Membership

Cyprus had been tied to the European Community since 1973, when an association agreement with the then European Economic Community came into force. A protocol signed on 19 October 1987 set out a path towards a customs union. President George Vassiliou, elected in 1988, spoke openly of the country’s “European orientation”.

On 3 July 1990 the government of the Republic of Cyprus formally applied for membership of the European Community. Some accounts, including press timelines published at accession, give the date as 4 July. For Greek Cypriots the move promised security and prosperity, and many also hoped that the prospect of membership would encourage a settlement on the island.

The Turkish Cypriot leadership and Turkey saw it very differently. They argued that the Greek Cypriot administration, as they called it, had no authority to apply on behalf of the whole island. They also argued that the 1959 and 1960 agreements, including the Treaty of Guarantee, meant Cyprus could not join, or even apply, while Turkey itself was not a member. Turkey later relied on a legal opinion by Professor Maurice Mendelson QC to make that case to European governments.

Brussels did not accept those objections. On 30 June 1993 the European Commission issued its opinion, recognising Cyprus’s European character and confirming its eligibility for membership. Accession negotiations formally opened on 31 March 1998. On 12 March 1998 President Glafcos Clerides invited the Turkish Cypriot leadership to join the negotiating team, but it declined, saying the offer did not provide for separate talks with its own administration.

Negotiations closed at the Copenhagen summit in December 2002, and the accession treaty was signed in Athens on 16 April 2003. By then the timetable had become a key part of the UN effort to reunite the island before Cyprus joined.