Accommodating territorial contestation and national constitutional change: The cases of Cyprus and Ireland

Although Article 3(5) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) declares that the aim of the EU is ‘to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples’, its actual record in catalysing conflict resolution is rather mixed. However, it has been particularly successful in accommodating territorial contestation within its borders and in its immediate neighbourhood. The article focuses on the main legal mechanism that has allowed the EU to achieve this aim. Despite the very different political and historical contexts, the Union legal order has managed to accommodate the border disputes in Cyprus and Ireland mainly by extending the application of EU law beyond its territory. This remarkable flexibility will also enable the EU to accommodate national constitutional change that a potential reunification of either of the two islands will trigger.