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In an interview with the Financial Times (12.11.2025), ahead of taking up the EU Council presidency, President Christodoulides, said: “The Middle East is a point of convergence with Trump and the US. Currently we don’t have a clear common position with Washington. We need to find a way to work together.” He went on:
“Some European leaders disagree with Trump, but it’s not a question of agreeing or disagreeing. He’s the President of the United States. We have to work with him.” Trump, Mr Christodoulides said, “has shown interest in the Middle East.”
He also added: “Donald Trump’s return to the White House has signalled renewed American interest in the Middle East, after a period when many countries in the region felt the US had withdrawn. At least we’re seeing interest from Trump. When the crisis between Iran and Israel erupted, he was the one who solved the problem. And now with Gaza, he’s presented a plan—not an ideal one, but it exists.”
Except Trump’s return to the White House hasn’t signalled renewed American interest in just the Middle East—it’s signalled interest in the Far East, the entire East, the West, the North, and the South. “After a period when many countries in the region felt the US had withdrawn,” Trump has convinced us that the US hasn’t withdrawn at all—it’s here, and it’s everywhere. They’re back in Venezuela eyeing its oil, and threatening to do the same in Colombia, Greenland, and Europe itself. First he threatened the world with tariffs, then ate humble pie when he was made to look ridiculous, and now he’s going to solve the world’s problems—for which he shows such keen interest.
“Some European leaders disagree with Trump, but it’s not a question of agreeing or disagreeing. He’s the President of the United States and we have to work with him,” according to the Cypriot president of Europe. “When the crisis between Iran and Israel erupted, he was the one who solved the problem”—just as he solved the Gaza problem, just as he solved the Venezuela problem.
What exactly is Mr Christodoulides saying? That we should align ourselves with Trump, “find a way to work” with him? Even on the Greenland question—Greenland, which belongs to Denmark, the very country that yesterday handed us the EU presidency, from a distance no less?
The first time Cyprus took over the EU presidency from Denmark, in 2012, the Danish Prime Minister herself turned up at the handover ceremony and passed it to Demetris Christofias. So, where’s the Danish Prime Minister gone this time? Frightened we might align him with Trump, too?
This article was originally published on 08.01.2026
Source: DONALD TRUMP’S RETURN
