Cyprus holds 0.22 % of the EU population. Its government supports mandatory scanning of private messages, or the widest scanning scope in Council, since 12 Sep 2025.
Supports Last checked 22 October 2026
What the government has said
“Cyprus agrees to the compromise proposal and supports everything that makes citizens safer. The draft regulation has the highest priority.”Council working party, 12 September 2025, as recorded in the German cable, translated
Receipt: Council working party minutes, 12 Sep 2025, via netzpolitik.org
No public national statement found. Held the presidency in the first half of 2026 and drafted the compromise that mixes voluntary scanning with targeted detection orders.
How it voted in the Council
- Negotiating mandate, 26 November 2025
- yes The Council position adopted in Coreper: voluntary scanning only, no detection orders. Coreper does not publish votes; the split was reported the same day by the Czech news agency CTK.
- Chat Control 1.0, 23 July 2026
- yes The vote that brought back the temporary rules: voluntary scanning of private messages allowed until 3 April 2028.
A government can oppose mandatory scanning and still vote for the voluntary regime. The two are listed separately for that reason. Council votes need 15 states with 65 % of the population; four states with more than 35 % block.
How its MEPs voted
On 9 July 2026 the European Parliament voted on a motion to reject the Council text that brought back voluntary scanning, Chat Control 1.0. Rejection needed 361 votes and got 314, so the text passed. Of the 6 MEPs elected in Cyprus, 1 voted to reject it, 2 voted against rejection, 0 abstained and 3 did not vote.
- 1 for rejection, that is against voluntary scanning
- 2 against rejection, letting the text pass
- 0 abstained
- 3 did not vote
The government line above concerns mandatory scanning; this vote concerned the voluntary regime. They are different questions, which is why both are shown. Source: roll-call vote 195775 as published by the European Parliament and compiled by HowTheyVote.eu; all 27 delegations side by side on the governments page.
Who decides in Cyprus
- Minister
- Constantinos Fitiris, Minister of Justice and Public Order since 8 Dec 2025, succeeding Marios Hartsiotis. Cyprus held the Council presidency in the first half of 2026
- Ministry in charge
- Ministry of Justice and Public Order
- Permanent representation
- Ambassador Giorgos Ioannides, Permanent Representative (Coreper II, since Aug 2026); Constantinos Christofides, Deputy Permanent Representative (Coreper I)
Source: www.gov.cy/en/photo-galleries/justice-minister-handover-takeover-ceremony/
Timeline
- Council vote on Chat Control 1.0, the temporary rules. Cyprus: yes.
- European Parliament votes on rejecting Chat Control 1.0; the motion fails, the text passes. MEPs elected in Cyprus: 1 for rejection, 2 against, 0 abstained, 3 did not vote. source
- Constantinos Fitiris takes over the Ministry of Justice and Public Order from Marios Hartsiotis. source
- Council negotiating mandate adopted in Coreper. Cyprus: yes.
- Recorded as supports. Receipt: Council working party minutes, 12 Sep 2025, via netzpolitik.org source
Sources
- Council working party minutes, 12 Sep 2025, via netzpolitik.org (receipt)
- Presidency note on the state of play, doc. 9087/26, 3 Jun 2026
- Permanent Representation of Cyprus to the EU, Permanent Representative
- Permanent Representation of Cyprus to the EU, personnel
- Method: what the labels mean and where the population shares come from
This page is one of 27 records behind Where the 27 governments stand. Together the governments against hold 32.9 % of the EU population; a blocking minority needs more than 35 %.
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Data for all 27: JSON · CSV. Found a mistake? Tell us; we correct openly and say what changed.
Cite as: Brussels Record, “Cyprus: position on Chat Control”, last checked 22 October 2026, https://brusselsrecord.com/member-states/cyprus/
