EUPopLink Country report - Cyprus

This publication, prepared within the framework of the EUPopLink COST Action (CA23102), examines the evolving relationship between populism and Euroscepticism in Cyprus. Cyprus represents a distinctive case where attitudes toward the EU are shaped by the island’s division, the unresolved Cyprus problem, and the 2004 Annan Plan referendum. While EU membership was initially seen as a path to security and reunification, public attitudes became more ambivalent after the referendum and more negative following the 2013 financial crisis and EU-backed austerity, creating tensions between support for integration and concerns about security and economic control. The publication shows that, although Euroscepticism remains limited, it is increasingly concentrated among populist actors. In line with the EUPopLink COST Action, the EU is often framed as a distant, technocratic elite opposed to “ordinary people.” On the populist radical right, National Popular Front (ELAM) exemplifies the populism–Euroscepticism nexus. ELAM combines nationalist, anti-migrant, and anti-elite rhetoric, portraying the EU as a threat to Cypriot sovereignty, and national identity. Yet, like other far-right parties, ELAM has shifted toward a pragmatic strategy accepting EU membership while advocating a “Europe of Nations” and reform from within. The paper also highlights a new, post-ideological populism through Feidias Panayiotou. Unlike ELAM’s nationalism, Panayiotou relies on digital communication, anti-establishment sentiment, and distrust of elites. His critique targets the EU as bureaucratic and disconnected, while supporting Cyprus’s EU membership. Overall, this paper illustrates the EUPopLink argument that populism and Euroscepticism are related but distinct. Most Cypriots support EU membership while demanding a more transparent, responsive Union.