EU’s normative power in the Eastern Mediterranean: The case of the Cyprus (SCGA)

Abstract

The 2004 enlargement of the European Union (EU) has marked the beginning of a new era. The EU which including the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus (SCGA) has experienced the largest enlargement in its history with ten new members. With this enlargement, the EU acquired new neighbors and has to deal with new problems. While the SCGA’s EU membership has been problematic, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has been ignored. As these problems resurfaced with the tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, disputes over maritime jurisdiction between Turkey, Greece and the SCGA came to the fore. When we look at the strategic goals of the SCGA, it contradicts the goals of the EU of which it is a member. While the EU claims to be a normative power, the goals of the SCGA can sometimes be explained by realist approaches.

This study aims to analyze the EU’s policies in the Eastern Mediterranean in the context of normative power-based approaches and to examine them together with the national interest-based approaches of the SCGA. The results of the study reveal that unlike the EU, of which it is a member, the SCGA is unlikely to realize normative power based approaches.