The Republic of Cyprus plans to host a broad summit on 23 April 2026 during its presidency of the Council of the European Union, with participation from the 27 EU member states, countries from the wider region, Gulf states and India.
President Nikos Christodoulides announced Nicosia’s intention during an interview on the British podcast “The Rest is Politics”, hosted by former politicians Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart.
Agreeing with the presenters’ observation that Europe is absent from the region and allows medium-sized powers such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to operate, the president emphasised that the goal of the Cypriot presidency is to bring the European Union closer to the region.
He also underlined that the southeastern Mediterranean region faces many problems and challenges and that the European Union cannot claim a geostrategic role if it does not play a role in the Middle East.
Invitation to Erdogan
When asked by the presenters, the Cypriot president said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is planned to be invited to the summit, as part of a differentiated strategic approach by the Republic of Cyprus towards Turkey.
As he emphasised, “on the basis of this policy, we also favour the development of Euro-Turkish relations”.
(information from CyBC)
