Nicosia says that Fitto will need a full-scale EU task force
With the appointment of Raffaele Fitto as the European Commission’s special representative for renewed Cyprus settlement talks, the EU is preparing for a major political role in Europe’s longest-running frozen conflict.
As in the past, the EU’s objective of reunifying the Mediterranean island may clash with the complex reality on the ground, posing trouble ahead for Ursula von der Leyen, who appointed Fitto, one of her five executive vice-presidents.
“The Commission president has entrusted Fitto with working on and contributing to the settlement process within the UN framework, in close cooperation with the UN secretary-general’s personal envoy on Cyprus, María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar,” an EU official told Euractiv.
The island has remained divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern part of Cyprus after a junta in Athens attempted to unite the island with Greece through a coup.
