Cyprus needs to 'take advantage' of Turkish elections to revive dialogue, says president

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in full swing, the geopolitical landscape has completely changed, as have the priorities of the European Union, and its relations with other countries.

To discuss all this, and the new initiatives on the ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north of the country, known as the 'Cyprus problem', Euronews spoke to the new President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, during his first visit to Brussels as President, for the EU Summit.

On his trip to the European Union's capital as President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides came armed with a concrete proposal for a more active role for the European Union in resolving the Cyprus problem.

But given that dialogue between Cyprus and Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots has been frozen over the last six years, and considering that Turkey is currently further than ever from the European Union, what is Nikos Christodoulides expecting, and what can the European Union achieve that he could not after all these years?

"When launching an effort to resolve the Cyprus problem, we should always take into account the international situation. It is not ourselves who influence international developments, we are actually affected by international developments. 

"And what is the current state of affairs? The current state of affairs is that we have an illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine and we have a European Union, which, yes, pays the price for its decisions which are perfectly correct and we agree and participate in the decision-making process, but develops a leading role, also taking into account the impact of this Russian invasion on other actors in the international system. This is the first dimension: a