France “loves” Cyprus, the country’s president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, as he held a joint press conference with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace in Nicosia ahead of the day’s European Council summit in Ayia Napa.

“Mr President, it is for my delegation and for me a veritable joy to be by your side because … France loves Cyprus, and our role is to be by your side in practice during difficult tensions,” he said.

He quickly moved to highlight the importance of his joint visit to the island last month alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “immediately after the outbreak of the war in the Middle East”, saying that he and Mitsotakis had “reaffirmed our unwavering solidarity for your country”.

“This is solidarity for a friend, and a European solidarity,” he said, before pointing out that “it is the European texts which provides for this solidarity”, in reference to Article 42.7 of the Treaty of the European Union, known colloquially as the Lisbon Treaty, which is the EU’s common defence pact.

He added that his visit, and the mass deployment of European military hardware in and around Cyprus after the island was hit by an Iranian-made drone last month, “constituted a reaffirmation of our determination to secure Europe’s space”.

“I said it in a simple way on March 9, that when Cyprus was attacked, it was Europe which was attacked,” he said.

Christodoulides, Macron, France, presidential palace

As such, he said, “we therefore reinforced defence capabilities in the region with the deployment of military assets, in particular with the French carrier strike group” belonging to the aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle, which has been in the region since last month.

“This support and this concrete manifestation of the solidarity which links us as members of the European Union, and in terms of relations between France and Cyprus, was bolstered in December in the form of the strategic partnership,” he said, referring to the deal he had signed with Christodoulides in Paris five months ago.

The prospect of such a partnership, he said, had been “the will of Christodoulides since the first day”.

“France is proud to be one of Cyprus’ privileged partners in the field of defence, both in operational plans and for the supply of equipment and arms,” he said.

He also heaped praise on Cyprus for “the role which you have for us, and especially for the Europeans in recent years”.

“Your support was indispensable for evacuation operations and for our citizens in the Middle East,” he said, in reference to Cyprus ‘Estia’ plan, wherein EU and third country nationals are evacuated through the island from crisis areas to their countries of origin.

Additionally, he said that bilateral relations between France and Cyprus are “at a historic level”, and that “we want to advance these further with interconnection projects, with energy projects”.

“Recognising the role which Cyprus has in the eastern Mediterranean, and also as its point of passage to the shores of the eastern Mediterranean on other continents” is the region for his emphasis on those projects, he said.

The projects to which he was referring were the Great Sea Interconnector, which, if completed, will link the energy grids of Cyprus, Greece, and Israel, and the extraction of natural gas from under the seabed off the coast of Cyprus.

Cables for the Great Sea Interconnector are being manufactured by French company Nexans, while French oil giant Total holds the rights to the extraction of natural gas in Block 6 of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone, jointly with Italian oil company Eni.

Christodoulides, meanwhile, said that “France is for Cyprus one of the closest and most reliable partners”, adding that the two countries enjoy “cooperation in various fields, such as security and defence, energy, and culture”.

He added that Macron’s visit constitutes “a clear message about the strength and perspective of our strategic cooperation”.

“Cyprus and France have a common approach to the role of Europe in the world. France and Cyprus have long been advocates of a strategically autonomous European Union at all levels,” he said.

To this end, he said that Macron had been “the first to believe and speak publicly about the possibility of the European Union strengthening its strategic autonomy”.

“The correctness of this vision has been undoubtedly confirmed and the need for the union to be autonomous in all areas is now recognised by everyone as an inalienable need,” he said.

He also made reference to Cyprus’ ongoing travails towards joining Europe’s border-free Schengen zone, expressing “gratitude for France’s consistent and substantial support” to this end.

Later in his speech, he said that “true friends show up in difficult times, and you have proven it in practice”.

“Know that in Cyprus, you are not just the president of a friendly country with which we have a strategic partnership, but a true friend who has rightfully earned a special place in the hearts of Cypriots.”