Ilomantsi loses title of "EU's easternmost point", but Cypriots reluctant to take up the honour

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The enlargement of the EU from midnight on Friday night dealt a cruel blow to the people of Virmajärvi, near Ilomantsi in Northern Karelia. As the easternmost community in Finland, since 1995 this village (and the town of Ilomantsi itself) had been able to advertise itself as the most easterly outpost of the European Union. However, this honour now passes to Kavo Greko, a headland at the eastern end of the Greek part of the island of Cyprus.
      The Regional Council of North Karelia had wished to pass on the title to the Cypriots in a formal ceremony on May Day. However, in a slightly surprising move the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus in Helsinki, Mme Loria Markides, politely announced that the position of Ilomantsi as the easternmost point of the continental EU was so strong and so well-known that there was no sense in transferring it to a Mediterranean island.
      In Markides’s view, Cyprus can henceforth advertise itself as the south-easternmost corner of the European Union.
      All this is actually moot, since in strict EU law the easternmost point of the Union belongs neither to the Karelians nor to the Cypriots, but to the citizens of the French Overseas Department of Réunion, a volcanic island in the Indian Ocean. Since Réunion is located at 55° 36' E, and Virmajärvi can do no better than a pitiful 31° 35´ E, there really is no competition.
     
It should also be noted that in order to reach the ultimate easternmost point of Finland one needs a special permit from the local Frontier Guard detachment, since it requires entering the border zone. And yes, some people do seem to want to.


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