  Models of Gauge-Higgs unification in extra dimensions offer a very elegant
playground where one can study electroweak symmetry breaking. The nicest
feature is that gauge symmetry itself protects the Higgs potential from
divergences, thus potentially curing the hierarchy problem in the Standard
Model. In a flat space model tree-level contributions to electroweak precision
observables will be absent due to the flatness of the gauge and Higgs wave
functions. The Higgs potential is fully radiatively generated and the
contribution of bulk fermions will induce a vacuum expectation value. A generic
problem is that the quartic scalar coupling is too low, resulting in a Higgs
VEV that is too close to the compactification scale, and a Higgs mass that is
too light. In this paper we show that it is possible to solve these problems in
a minimal scenario by cancellations in the Higgs potential between the
contribution of different bulk fermions. A crucial role is played by
antiperiodic fermions: the cancellation is not the result of a fine tuning, but
rather dictated by the choice of representations and parities of the fermions.
We also show that introducing a relatively large representation can help in
achieving a sufficiently heavy top. In this case, the strong coupling scale is
lowered to a marginally acceptable value, and a more careful analysis of two
loop effects should decide if the theory remains under perturbative control.
