NICOSIA, Cyprus — The European Union must do more to fill a power vacuum in the eastern Mediterranean brought on by a perceived U.S. disengagement from the region, and Cyprus is ready to host an EU task force to achieve that goal, the island nation’s foreign minister said Wednesday. Nikos Christodoulides said the EU has so far failed to use its ample “soft power” to position itself as the leading player in a region fraught with problems such as terrorism and illegal immigration. The Cypriot official said the EU should pursue a more muscular policy with a larger military footprint in the region, and lauded France for supporting this line. French President Emmanuel Macron is organizing a summit of the EU’s seven Mediterranean nations Sept 10 to discuss developments in the eastern Mediterranean. “The EU should have in its toolbox of available means more hard power,” Christodoulides told the Associated Press in an interview.

Source: International New York Times August 05, 2020 18:00 UTC