UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin meets Christodoulides and Erhurman on June 8, preparing '5+1' Cyprus summit with Guterres before his term ends

UN Secretary-General's personal envoy on Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, confirmed on June 8, 2026 that groundwork is underway for an enlarged 'five-plus-one' meeting on the Cyprus problem: 'We are preparing for a five-plus-one meeting with the secretary-general.' The format brings together the island's two communities, the three guarantor powers — Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom — plus the UN. Holguin met Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman separately on Monday in Nicosia, and planned onward travel to Athens and Ankara before returning to Colombia and Brussels, with a possible follow-up with Christodoulides later in the week.

Asked whether the enlarged meeting will happen, she said 'yes, it will happen,' though without a fixed date. Christodoulides said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has 'a very specific plan' for restarting formal negotiations, part of a 'new initiative' Guterres launched to resume talks frozen since the 2017 Crans-Montana collapse.

Christodoulides has separately said a settlement framework could be ready by the end of 2026 — notable timing, given Guterres's term concludes later this year, lending urgency to the shuttle diplomacy. The reporting marks an incremental but concrete procedural advance: moving from envoy-level consultations toward a leaders-plus-guarantors conference, the first such gathering attempted in years, even as both sides remain far apart on the governance model for a settlement.