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Cyprus History
EU Membership
In 1998 the EU listed the island of Cyprus as a potential
EU member. In November of 2002 UN secretary Kofi Annan presented
a peace plan for Cyprus involving a federation of two constituent
parts, presided over by a rotating president. The EU summit
at Copenhagen in December 2002 invited Cyprus to join the
EU in 2004 provided the two communities agreed to the UN proposals.
Without reunification only the Greek Cypriot part of the island
would gain membership.
In 2003 Referendums were held amongst the Turkish Cypriots
and the Greek Cypriots on whether to accept the UN reunification
plan. The Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly reject the plan, The
Turkish Cypriots accepted the plan, however this was insufficient
to meet the EU entry criteria for the whole island and in
2004 May 1st only the Republic of Cyprus joined the European
Union. In December 2004 Turkey agreed that it would recognise
the Republic of Cyprus as an EU member before it could start
it’s own accession talks scheduled for October 2005.
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