Prior to the regular TEPSA Pre-Presidency Conferences, TEPSA has a tradition of formulating recommendations to present to the incoming Council presidency. At the Cypriot Pre-Presidency Conference on 30-31 October 2025, TEPSA will present these recommendations to the incoming Cypriot presidency of the Council of the European Union. The recommendations are formulated by experts from the TEPSA network, without necessarily representing the views of TEPSA or its Member Institutes.

In addition to the introduction penned by TEPSA Board Members Nicoletta Pirozzi (Istituto Affari Internazionali) and Richard Youngs (Carnegie Europe), the Cypriot presidency is presented with three detailed recommendations:

• “A pragmatic Mediterranean agenda for the Cypriot presidency”, by Dario Cristiani, Research Associate, Istituto Affari Internazionali;
• “Managing migration without feeding the narrative of failure”, by Paula Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, Assistant Professor, Centre d’Études Européennes et de Politique Comparée, Sciences Po Paris;
• “Europe and the choice between drift and mastery”, by Erik Jones, Director, Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute

“The nature of the crises affecting the European Union (EU) has changed. From the trade war to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and widespread disinformation campaigns, EU institutions and Member States are increasingly forced to deal with direct threats to their markets, security and democratic systems. This ultimately puts the resilience of the European model into danger, and with it the capacity of the EU to be a relevant actor in the international space. In the end, if the EU wants to be a protagonist at the global level, it has to learn how to be stronger at home. Therefore, it is crucially important for the European leadership to develop a ‘strategy of resistance’ that connects internal consolidation with external projection. The rotating EU Presidency has a key role as it plays at the point of conjunction between intergovernmental and supranational dimensions of the Union, both essential elements of a functioning strategy.”

The TEPSA Recommendations to the Cypriot Presidency are also available in Greek. Click here to download them.