As the final countdown to the Cyprus EU Presidency begins, EuroparlTV went to the island to take a look at the Republic's preparations, ambitions and expectations.

Reporter: Cyprus Presidency aspirations

when the Republic of Cyprus takes over  the EU Presidency from Denmark.

What mark will this Mediterranean island  make on European integration?

will take over the Rotating Presidency  of the EU Council for the first time

and on the Mediterranean island  they plan to seize the opportunity

to fight against  the prevailing Euroscepticism.

in particular because  we're going through difficult times.

This is why we say that  we need to make the European Union

more relevant to the citizens,  particularly in these times.

and this is what we're going to try  to contribute to as the Cyprus Presidency.

At the Cyprus Academy  of Public Administration,

they've been preparing for several months

to lead and coordinate the debates  between the 27 EU Member States.

are planning to move to Brussels  for the next six months.

Altogether about 1,000 people  have been trained and prepared

to manage this Presidency of  the EU Council in the next six-month period.

In particular, we are going to have  the very difficult and important negotiation

but the ambition is to try to reconcile them  and find a way forward.

A European challenge  for the divided island of Cyprus.

After years of tension between  Turkish and Greek communities,

in 1974 Turkish troops  occupied the north of the island.

In 1983 the northern part declared itself  the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Recognised only by Turkey, this entity  will never be internationally recognised.

Officially the north is still  an area of the Republic of Cyprus

where the Cypriot government  does not exercise effective control.

Since then reunification negotiations  have been in vain.

As a result it was a divided island  that joined the EU in 2004.

Today Turkey is threatening to freeze  its relations with the EU Council

The leaders of the island's  Turkish community

have even criticised this semester  as an obstacle

During the EU Presidency  the progress of the negotiations

Our proposal was to keep  the negotiations during the EU Presidency

And also the inclusion of Turkey  and Greece in the negotiations

Of course, this approach  was not accepted.

In the south, the preparations for  the country's EU Presidency are going well

and it's expected to fully assume the role  in spite of the position taken by Ankara.

For us Turkey is a candidate country,  one candidate among others.

There is a Council mandate  and a negotiating framework.

We're going to follow strictly  the mandate of the Council on this.

in exactly the same way  as we treat all other candidate countries.

At the same time,  we live in the real world.

We know that they don't want  to cooperate with the Cyprus Presidency,

although they put some water  in their wine recently.

But we're going to play it down,  to de-dramatise the situation.

At the brand-new Filoxenia  Conference Centre in Nicosia,

It remains to be seen what will be  the impact on Europe and Cyprus.