This article is part of the Cypriot presidency of the EU special report.

BRUSSELS — Starting January, one of Europe’s smallest countries will be in charge of shepherding political powers to deal with some of the bloc’s biggest problems in decades.

The European Union is handing the keys of its Council to Cyprus on Jan. 1, giving the tiny, militarily neutral state the job of leading diplomatic talks on hot-button issues ranging from responding to Russian aggression to saving flailing critical industries, crafting the EU’s long-term budget, and reforming large chunks of a body of law that its executive is seeking to cut.

The scale of the challenges facing Nicosia is unprecedented — and the task falls one of the bloc’s smallest member countries and the furthest removed geographically from Brussels.

“I always feel sorry for smaller countries taking on the presidency because it’s so much work and involves so many people. There are countries like Luxembourg that have done it many times and can dedicate resources to it, but Cyprus hasn’t historically been in that position,” said one European diplomat, granted anonymity to speak frankly about how the next presidency is perceived in Brussels.

The Cypriot government and its permanent representation in Brussels have been scrambling in past months to overcome critical hurdles to get the job done. They’ve hired from far and wide to boost their numbers and even set up daily direct flights between Brussels and Nicosia to move diplomats around more speedily.

Just weeks before its presidency kicks off, Cyprus embarked on a cabinet shuffle, pushing back a formal launch event for the presidency to Dec. 21, just days before Christmas.

“There’s this narrative that the Cypriot presidency will be chaotic,” said a second diplomat from another EU country, “but honestly they are doing all the things they should be doing and that has reassured people.”

Hot to handle

In Brussels, envoys are bracing for the next six months. Hot-button issues like car greening rules and slashing red tape in tech regulations are high on the agenda. Governments are launching prickly debates on how to craft the bloc’s long-term budget. Above all, the continent’s security stand-off with Russia dominates the minds of politicians and voters.

Nicosia is still shaking off a longstanding reputation for equivocation over where it stands on a continent divided by Russian aggression. Cyprus is one of just four EU countries that are not members of NATO, and has historically cultivated close ties with Moscow.

Now, though, the country is determined to prove it’s on the same side as its Western allies. Cyprus has been keen to show, for example, that it is making progress by revoking hundreds of citizenships handed out to Russians under a “golden passport” scheme it shelved in 2020.

Its governing center-left coalition wants to use the six-month rotating presidency of the Council to reset its reputation on the international stage, Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’ deputy minister for EU affairs, told POLITICO.

“We are well aware of what is expected of us and of the challenges the EU is facing,” she said. The role is a chance not only to shape the bloc’s agenda but also “to showcase the country we are today — stable, resilient, with one of the strongest European economies — and our strengths as the only EU member state in our region.”

The Cypriot presidency follows those of Poland and Denmark, two major players on hot-button issues like defense and competitiveness, each of which drew from a deep bench of diplomats. Nicosia’s diplomatic footprint has historically been smaller, and its outreach to foreign capitals has focused on its enduring conflict with Turkey.

However, the war between Israel and Hamas, and the ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, have thrust the country into the spotlight of international diplomacy. Nicosia was drafted to support EU and U.S. efforts to get aid into the besieged territory, and even proposed a sweeping peace plan to end the fighting. Those efforts helped put the island on the radar of senior politicians in Washington as well.

Geography matters

The last Cypriot presidency (in 2012) failed to burnish the island’s diplomatic credentials. It came during the tenure of President Demetris Christofias, the first and only communist to serve as an EU head of state. Weak economic growth and a major financial crisis ultimately led to a showdown with Brussels in which Christofias rejected a Greece-like bailout that would have forced it to enact austerity measures, and instead turned to Russia for a loan.

This time, Cypriot envoys want to prove European skeptics wrong.

For the past two years it has been recruiting staff to its permanent representation at the heart of Brussels’ EU Quarter, figures seen by POLITICO confirm, with the headcount rising from 100 to over 250 — in line with other presidencies. Another 15 have been seconded from other EU institutions and other member countries to work alongside them. The previous (Denmark) and succeeding (Ireland) presidencies will step in to chair several technical committees where they have more expertise, such as on genetic resources and international chemical standards.

That support is available to all presidencies but is particularly useful for smaller ones, and will free Nicosia up to focus on the political issues where it really wants to make an impact. And while the challenges are stiffer for countries less accustomed to the spotlight, the reputational boosts are all the greater if they can pull it off.

But Cyprus has had to contend with other logistical challenges. Nicosia is the most distant capital from Brussels, meaning ministers, journalists and officials must fly some 2,900 kilometers to hold key working sessions.

“It makes it harder when the host of dozens of informal meetings is four hours away by plane, rather than one or two,” a second diplomat said. “But that’s just a fact of life in the EU.”

To soften the blow, for the duration of its presidency Cyprus has secured direct flights from Belgium, with Greek flag carrier Aegean flying to Nicosia five times a week under the arrangement.

Its assumption of the presidency at a critical time for the EU “is a defining moment for Cyprus,” said Raouna, and an opportunity to prove that “Cyprus knows how to prioritize, and stay focused in order to deliver.”