After Macedonia presumably lifted Greek objections to its EU accession by subscribing to the humiliating Prespa treaty, now Cyprus is coming into the fray as one of the countries that might block its accession talks.

A number of news outlets reported today that, besides France, the Netherlands and Denmark who have substantial objections to the opening of accession talks with Balkan countries, Cyprus has announced it will block enlargement as well. The stated reason here is that Cyprus wants a tougher joint EU foreign policy position toward Turkey regarding Turkish oil and gas exploration off the coast of Cyprus, and is willing to block other foreign policy decisions unless its main issue is given priority.

Greece famously threatened to block the Big Bang EU enlargement of 2004 unless Cyprus is added to the list of new European member states. Since becoming an EU member state, Cyprus would frequently block Turkey’s accession talks.

European foreign ministers are discussing whether to open accession talks with Macedonia and possibly Albania sometime by the end of the year.