Schengen for Cyprus is delayed for now: European Commission continues to evaluate Nicosia's readiness

The European Commission has stated that the process of the Republic of Cyprus joining the Schengen area is still at the stage of evaluation and monitoring, despite the progress achieved by the country's authorities.

According to the latest report on the Schengen area, the Republic of Cyprus continues its technical preparations for accession, but a final decision on membership has not yet been made. The document emphasizes that readiness checks are ongoing, and the process itself is far from completion.

Earlier, President Nicos Christodoulides stated that technical preparations could be completed by the end of 2025, with Schengen accession becoming possible as early as 2026. However, the European Commission's conclusions turned out to be more restrained.

As noted in the report, in December last year, EU specialists conducted additional verifications in Cyprus to assess the country's level of readiness to apply Schengen standards in the fields of security, border control, and migration policy.

According to Greek media reports, the wording used by the European Commission indicates that the process is still at the stage of «preparation, study, and observation». This means that Nicosia has yet to meet a number of technical and organizational requirements.

The issue of Cyprus's entry into the Schengen zone remains one of the government's key foreign policy goals, as membership will allow the abolition of internal border controls with most EU countries and simplify the movement of citizens and tourists.