UN Secretary-General’s envoy María Ángela Holguín confirmed on Monday that a 5+1 meeting on the Cyprus problem will go ahead, after completing her first round of contacts on the island.
Sources close to the process told Phileleftheros that António Guterres has prepared a plan focused on the substance of the Cyprus problem rather than confidence-building measures, and is determined to reach a settlement before the end of his term in December 2026.
Speaking after her meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace, Holguín said preparations were under way. “We are preparing the 5+1 meeting with the Secretary-General,” she said, adding that she would next travel to Athens, Ankara, Colombia and Brussels.
Asked whether the meeting would take place and when, she was unequivocal on the first point but cautious on the second. “Yes, it will take place,” she said, noting that the date depends on everyone’s schedules. She declined to say whether the meeting would produce an announcement of resumed negotiations. “We don’t know, we will see what happens at that meeting. And if that could happen, it would be very good news, but I prefer to wait,” she said.
Holguín’s first round of contacts included a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman. She is due to return to Cyprus at the end of the week for a second round of contacts with both leaders.
Christodoulides struck a cautiously optimistic tone. “It is significant that she will visit Turkey, Greece, Brussels — and will come back to Cyprus,” he said. He added that he intends to convene the National Council next week.
The president set out a clear goal for the process: to reach an expanded conference at which the resumption of talks would be announced as an outcome. He confirmed this was also the UN’s objective. Asked whether a framework had been presented, he was guarded. “We want more than anyone else for there to be a result,” he said.
According to sources close to the process who spoke to Phileleftheros, Guterres has decided to set aside confidence-building measures as a precondition. The next 5+1 meeting is expected in the last week of July or the first week of August, most likely in Geneva, and will focus on the substance of the Cyprus problem. Guterres is expected to present specific ideas and a new framework to the five parties. A person close to the process told Phileleftheros the ideas “will not come from nowhere.”
One idea being examined — though not yet formally on the table — would see the Turkish Cypriot demand for direct flights, trade and contacts addressed on one side, with a new NATO-based guarantees framework replacing the existing guarantees, which are considered outdated, offered in return. Sources described this as consistent with Guterres’s central approach: that neither side’s demands can be met in isolation.
Sources told Phileleftheros that Guterres is paying particular attention to the EU’s role and is in regular contact with European Council President António Costa. According to sources, this is the first time the EU itself considers it has a role to play in the Cyprus problem. Costa and Ursula von der Leyen have requested a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, sources said, expected on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara ahead of the 5+1 meeting. The UN is in regular contact with Brussels and is ready to work with the EU’s new envoy on the Cyprus problem. Sources said Holguín asked Christodoulides for a briefing on that matter during their meeting.
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