In the run-up to Cyprus joining the EU, then president Tassos Papadopoulos gave assurances to the European Commission that all of the island would become part of the Union. Papadopoulos did not keep his word and campaigned against the Annan plan, which was rejected in the referendum, and only the part of the island under the control of the Cyprus Republic became part of the EU on May 1, 2004.
