Cyprus has offered its support to the United Arab Emirates’ Lana Nusseibeh’s candidacy to become the next United Nations secretary-general at the beginning of next year, with Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos describing her as an “experienced, highly effective, and well-respected diplomat”.

He added that she has an “approach focusing on dialogue, compromise, and tangible outcomes, while also having a strong track record in supporting multilateralism and the United Nations”.

“I firmly believed, and continue to do so, that it is time for female leadership in important multilateral organisations. Qualified candidates have not been endorsed so far for the position of UN secretary-general, under the rules of the UN system. It is becoming time sensitive to ensure that the selection process proceeds,” he said.

He added that “I therefore wish Lana strength in this demanding endeavour, and every success in paving new pathways”.

Nusseibeh, 48, is currently the UAE’s assistant minister for political affairs, having been the country’s permanent representative to the UN between 2013 and 2024, during which time she served as the president of the UN women executive board in 2017.

Her father is Palestinian born UAE diplomat Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, and she speaks English, Arabic, French, and Hebrew.

UAE nominated Nusseibeh on Wednesday

She entered the race late, having only been nominated by the UAE on Wednesday after a series of straw polls among members of the UN security-council remained deadlocked, with all seven candidates at the time having drawn negative opinions from at least two of the security council’s five permanent members on October 16.

Her candidacy was given an almost immediate boost on Thursday, with the Gulf Cooperation Council having unanimously endorsed her.

On this matter, GCC secretary-general Jasem Mohamed Abdulawi said that “this nomination reflects the GCC states’ commitment to supporting multilateral international action, as well as their keenness to contribute to cementing the role of the UN in maintaining international peace and security”.

The GCC comprises Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain, which is at present itself a non-permanent security council member.

Were she to be elected to the role and take office on January 1, Nusseibeh would be the first female UN secretary-general and the second Arab to hold the post, after Egyptian Boutros Boutros-Ghali held the role between 1992 and 1996.

The other six candidates are Ecuadorians Ivonne Baki and Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Argentinian Rafael Grossi, Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, Ugandan Olara Otunnu, Guyanese Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, with the seventh, Ghanaian Macky Sall, having withdrawn from the race after the October 16 vote.

The foreign ministry on Friday asked parliament to approve a budget for next year amounting to €137.75 million, with Minister Constantinos Kombos attending the day’s House finance committee meeting to justify the expense.

He said that the amount constitutes an increase of €5.3m, or four per cent, compared to this year, and an increase of €34.9m, or 34 per cent, since 2023, when the incumbent government took office.

“This increase has enabled the ministry to hire 57 new diplomats, resulting in the number of embassies staffed by just a single diplomat, which was 34 in 2023, having been reduced to 25,” he said.

On this front, he added that another 15 diplomats are expected to be hired in due course, thus further reducing the number of Cypriot diplomatic missions which are staffed by only one diplomat.

He said that of the planned budget, €118.47m constitutes “recurrent expenditure”, while the remaining €19.27m accounts for “development expenditure”, with the former column including the Republic of Cyprus €18m contribution to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp).

Later, he explained to the Cyprus Mail that “development expenditure” includes Cyprus’ contributions to international organisations for which it is considered a “donor state”, such as the World Health Organisation and the UN international children’s emergency fund (Unicef), where donations are made in line with a country’s gross domestic product.

Additionally, he said, the expenditures include humanitarian development funding through other means, such as Cyprus Aid and other bilateral mechanisms, as well as property purchases for Cypriot diplomatic missions abroad.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos on Friday promised that there will be no change to the rules regarding who can cross between Cyprus’ two sides at the crossing points which connect them should the island join Europe’s border-free Schengen zone, as he justified his ministry’s budget to the House finance committee.

He stressed that the framework under which the crossing points operate is set by European Union regulations, which will not change should Cyprus accede to the Schengen zone.

“Part of the controls have to do with security, and with identification for security, but this does not mean that they are border-type controls,” he said.

He also made reference to the issue of Tymbou (Ercan) airport, with many in Europe having questioned the feasibility of Cyprus’ joining of the Schengen zone given the fact that both it and the crossing points are operational.

The Cypriot government has thus far insisted that the Schengen zone’s new digital entry/exit system will not be implemented at the crossing points, but this, in reality, would lead to third-country nationals being able to arrive at and depart from the Schengen zone via Cyprus without undergoing the requisite administrative procedures.

As such, people could leave Cyprus via Tymbou (Ercan) and arrive elsewhere in the Schengen zone without having officially left, or arrive in Cyprus via Tymbou (Ercan) and then try to leave the Schengen zone elsewhere in Europe without having undergone the ordinary immigration procedures, thus creating an administrative breakdown in Europe’s common border.

The alternative would be to introduce the entry/exit system at the crossing points, which currently number nine in total, though this would entail for the government the risk of transforming the Green Line into a hard border.

Crossing point conundrum a ‘complex issue’

Kombos said of this conundrum that it is a “complex issue”, before stressing that in any case, “anyone who is entitled to pass through the free areas will continue to be entitled to do so even after we join the Schengen zone”.

In Europe, the European Commission had in July confirmed its own “positive assessment” of the island’s preparedness to join the Schengen zone, with the matter now resting with the Council of the European Union.

Of this, European Commission spokesman Markus Lammert had stressed in July that “it is clear that decisions on when and how Cyprus joins the Schengen area lie with the council”.

“The commission’s position is very clear. Cyprus’ full accession to the Schengen area would be strengthening the common framework of shared rules, standards, and responsibilities that underwrite Schengen cooperation,” he said.

However, for a new country to join the Schengen zone, a unanimous decision to that end must be taken by all of the countries inside the zone which are also members of the EU. They currently number 25, with only Cyprus and Ireland remaining on the outside.

The four Schengen zone countries which are not EU member states – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – are party to discussions but are not afforded votes in the process.

Cyprus’ Schengen accession not on JHA agenda this month

It had initially been hoped that the matter may be put to a vote following the EU’s summer recess, but these hopes were dealt a blow when the Council of the EU’s justice and home affairs (JHA) council elected not to include the issue on its agenda when it most recently met at the beginning of this month.

The JHA council will next meet in Brussels in December.

Given the salience of the crossing points and of Tymbou (Ercan) airport to Cyprus’ potential accession to the Schengen zone, Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman has maintained that it is “extremely important” for the Turkish Cypriot side to be involved in the matter.

He also warned that Schengen accession “has the potential to bring about many complications, especially in the area of freedom of movement” regarding Turkish Cypriots, especially those who are not citizens of the Republic of Cyprus.

Cyprus is one of just two EU member states which remain outside the Schengen zone, with Ireland, the other, electing not to fully join the zone so as to not prejudice its common travel agreement with the United Kingdom, which is outside the EU, the Schengen zone, the European single market, and the European customs union.