Austria and the Netherlands have informally expressed reservations about Cyprus joining the Schengen Area, citing security concerns over the Green Line and the special status of the British Bases, DW reported.
The reservations come despite the European Commission confirming in July that the island is technically ready to join. Neither country has officially threatened a veto, DW said, but their reservations carry particular weight because both previously objected to extending the Schengen Area to Bulgaria and Romania. Accession requires a unanimous decision by the EU Council after consultation with the European Parliament.
Diplomatic sources told DW on condition of anonymity that Cyprus’s entry should by no means be taken for granted. They considered it highly likely that the EU might choose to wait for the outcome of efforts to solve the Cyprus problem before making a decision.
Cyprus and Ireland are the only EU members outside the border-free travel zone. Cyprus received the Commission’s positive assessment after implementing 120 technical recommendations from EU evaluations dating back to 2021. These covered border controls, visa policy, access to European security databases and police cooperation.
On October 1, Deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides said “all recommendations made by the European Commission are now considered to have been implemented”, adding that the next step was to secure political agreement.
The Green Line, the ceasefire line of about 180 kilometres that has divided Cyprus since the 1974 Turkish invasion, is perhaps the most significant obstacle, according to DW. It is not an internationally recognised border, and the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control along its entire length. Crossings between the two sides take place at nine designated crossing points and are governed by a special EU regulation. Nicosia rejects any arrangement that could turn the line into an external border, legally or even symbolically.
Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, an associate professor of transitional justice and human rights at UCLan Cyprus law school, told DW that some Schengen countries had raised the fact that the Republic of Cyprus controls the crossing points but not the entire line, which includes open stretches of land. For it to be considered to have full control, either the Cyprus problem would have to be solved or a strictly controlled physical border established, she said.
The British bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which remained under UK sovereignty when Cyprus gained independence in 1960, pose a further complication. Together they cover 254 square kilometres, almost 3 per cent of the island. The main issue is Dhekelia, which borders both the government-controlled areas and the occupied north. British authorities carry out checks at two crossing points there, at Pergamos and Strovilia, and the UK is no longer in the EU.
Hadjigeorgiou said this was problematic because the area was controlled on one side by the authorities in the occupied north and on the other by the bases. As a result, “the United Kingdom would be controlling who enters and leaves the Schengen Area,” she said, adding that it is normally the Schengen member states themselves that decide this. DW reported that Nicosia and the bases have begun discussions on upgrading border control procedures at Pergamos and Strovilia to bring them into line with EU requirements.
Nicosia has meanwhile stepped up its diplomatic efforts. Ioannides held bilateral meetings with his Austrian, Dutch and Finnish counterparts on October 1 on the sidelines of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg, where Cyprus’s Schengen accession was among the issues discussed.
On October 7, the leaders of the nine Mediterranean EU member states (MED9), meeting in Croatia, welcomed the Commission’s assessment in a joint declaration and called for the timely completion of Cyprus’s accession process.
