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09-09-2022 13:09 |
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The
President of the Republic met with the President of the European Parliament
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The President of the Republic,
Mr Nicos Anastasiades, welcomed today, at the Presidential Palace, the
President of the European Parliament, Mrs Roberta Metsola, who is paying an
official visit to Cyprus. Following the official
welcoming ceremony, where a military guard paid honours, the
European Anthem and the National Anthem of the Republic of Cyprus were
performed and Mrs Metsola laid a wreath at the Monument of Archbishop
Makarios III. Later on, the two Presidents
had a private meeting followed by expanded talks between the delegations of
the two sides. Afterwards, the two Presidents made remarks to the Media. In his statement, President
Anastasiades said that «it is with great pleasure that I welcome to
Cyprus the President of the European Parliament, my dearest Roberta, with
whom we had very productive exchanges on issues of mutual interest. Before continuing, allow me to
express deep sorrow for the passing of H.M Queen Elizabeth. We are members of
the Commonwealth, we have excellent relations with Britain and we are sharing
the hardship of the Royal Family and the British people. I might have said it again,
dear President, but I firmly believe that in you we have a leader, who, in
coordination with the European Council, can help steer Europe out of the
multiple crises which we collectively face. Dear President, today you are
visiting the last divided capital of Europe. I cannot stress enough how
much Cyprus continues to rely upon the support of the European Union and the
European Parliament in our efforts to reunify our country and end the
unacceptable status quo. To this end, ladies and
gentlemen, I had the opportunity to brief President Metsola on the current
state-of-play of the Cyprus Problem. Regrettably, we are still in a
stalemate, given both the rejection by the Turkish side for the
appointment of an envoy by the United Nations and the insistence
for a two-state solution. A position which has time and
again been dismissed by the UN and the EU, as it deviates from the
established basis of reaching a settlement that would reunify Cyprus as
a bizonal, bicommunal federation, as set out in the relevant UN Security
Council resolutions and always in line with
the principles and values of
the European Union. Nonetheless, I assured
President Metsola that our side will continue to tirelessly work and
assume initiatives to provide a way out of the current impasse. In this framework, I outlined
my proposal for the adoption of bold Confidence Building Measures which on
the one hand address important concerns of the Turkish Cypriot community and
on the other hand have the potential to be a game-changer in pursuit of a
comprehensive settlement. As I have also stressed to
President Metsola, it goes without saying that in order to have
conditions for the resumption of the negotiations, Turkey should
terminate its unilateral actions in violation of international law which have
been strongly condemned by the EU, either on the ground - such as the illegal
actions at Varosha in a blatant breach of international law - or in the sea
in violation of our sovereign rights within our Exclusive Economic Zone. When I refer to violations on
the ground, I refer to the violations of the Famagusta status, according to
very specific resolutions of the UN. Another issue we discussed was,
of course, Migration. Cyprus has been the EU Member State with the
highest percentage of first-time asylum applications in relation to its
population for five consecutive years and the one not being benefited by
substantial relocation measures so far. At the same time, as I have
informed dear Roberta, the growing percentage of migrants compared to the
local population causes serious concern since the proportion of
applicants and beneficiaries of international protection in Cyprus
corresponds to over 5% of the country’s population. And as I have also told
President Metsola, this instrumentalization of migration which is guided by
Turkey and its non-compliance with the 2016 declaration, constitutes a
conscious effort to destabilize Cyprus and consequently the EU. Therefore, we
are of the strong view that the EU should develop a toolbox for the swift and
effective response in order to enhance Member States resilience to this
hybrid threat. Energy could not have been left
out of our consultations today. And naturally there is two aspects of it,
both related to the implications of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The first has to do with the
spike in energy prices. As I have conveyed to President Metsola, we
fully support the REPowerEU initiative, as well as the external energy
strategy, since it is expected to strengthen the energy autonomy of the EU,
help to deal with electricity prices and also give impetus to the energy
transition. Of course, as I have conveyed
to President Metsola, member state specificities need to be taken into
account as an important factor in our case due to our isolated energy system. I am coming now to the second
aspect, which is about the need to push for Europe’s energy independence
in this rapidly changing geopolitical environment. In this regard, I elaborated to
President Metsola our strong belief that the Eastern Mediterranean can play a
significant role in addressing the current energy crisis unfolding in Europe,
by providing a reliable alternative energy corridor and to this end Cyprus
stands ready to make its own relevant contribution. Last but not least, we discussed the
latest developments with regard to the continuous assault of Russia on
Ukraine. Cypriots fully understand the tragedy that the Ukrainian people
are facing, as we have also been victims of the illegal Turkish invasion,
which resulted in the division of the island and, since 1974, the ongoing
military occupation of 37% of the territory of the Republic and the forcible
displacement of a third of its population from their homes. Our position has always been
resolute and unanimous within the EU. The sovereignty, territorial
integrity and inviolability of borders of all States, including of course
Ukraine and Cyprus, should be respected. What I have stressed with
regret to dear Roberta, is that, unfortunately, our joint efforts are
hampered by partner countries, which provide Russia with “sanctions evading
abilities”. And we are all aware as to which country I am referring to. Concurrently, as I have also
reiterated to President Metsola, it is our firm belief that all countries
aspiring to join our European family should fully respect our fundamental
values and principles. Dear Roberta, in welcoming you
once again to Cyprus, I would like to thank you for your visit which provided
us with the opportunity to discuss issues high on the European agenda,
reaffirming our strong commitment to the European ideals and the task of
bringing Europe closer to its citizens. Once again thank you and welcome
home.» In her remarks to the Media,
Mrs Metsola said that in Cyprus indeed she feels at home and added «thank you
President Anastasiades for the invitation, as these are my first public
remarks since the passing of Queen Elizabeth, allow me to express my
condolences and those of the people of Europe to the Royal Family and
everyone in the United Kingdom. The world has lost one of its greatest
daughters who dedicated her life to service and she will always be
remembered. Cyprus is and will always
remain close to my heart. And this visit is an opportunity for me to express
the European Parliament’s solidarity with Cyprus. To recall that Europe
stands with you and that Europe will never be whole while Cyprus remains
split. This is why we need to get back
to negotiations. This has to happen under the auspices of the United Nations.
There can be only one Cyprus - a single sovereign, European State. A
bi-communal, bi-zonal federation in line with UN Security Council
resolutions. A state in which all inhabitants are EU citizens. This has been said many times
before, but it is worth repeating, because this is the only way to peace and
reunification. The time is now to inject some new energy into these
negotiations. What we need is to restore
trust, and recent provocative actions, repeatedly condemned by the EU, will
only jeopardise the efforts to resume direct talks. Famagusta should become
an example of bi-communal cooperation, instead of a point of contention. A
win-win is possible, and the European Parliament will be there to put all of
our resources to your disposal. Let me also use this
opportunity to commend President Anastasiades proposal for bold Confidence
Building Measures, and his personal efforts for the resumption of a
constructive dialogue between the persons and the parties involved. Such
measures would pave the way for trust building between the two communities,
providing an impulse for a shared solution, in line with the UN Security
Council Resolutions and the very principles on which the EU is founded. In our meeting this morning, we
also addressed several other challenges, issues that are challenging to us,
such as the illegal Russian aggression in Ukraine, migration and energy
security. A large extent our discussions
focused around the increasing cost of living and inflation. We are under
unprecedented pressures due to price hikes on energy and food at previously
unheard levels. And we might have not reached the peak yet. We know the
reasons behind these phenomena. It stems from the pandemic, our energy
supply, but also on pricing speculation. Therefore, we need action and we
need it now. And there are decisions we can take
now. We can take actions together to limit the impact: whether it is capping
of bills, fixing our pricing systems or de-coupling the price of electricity
from gas - these are things that we can do now, even temporarily, to offset
the immediate pressures while we implement long term strategies. This is what
people expect from us and that is what we must deliver. But we can only do
this if we do it together». Replying to a question on when
will the EU be taking sanctions against Turkey, as it has taken against
Russia, given its violations of international law in Cyprus with the recent
example of Famagusta, the President of the European Parliament said that
«with regard to the sanctions we have been extremely clear that those
countries, especially those countries that have been aspiring to come
closer to the EU, not only need to stand by the sanctions adopted
against Russian in the context of the illegal invasion of Ukraine but also
enforce them and not allow for their abuse, not allow for loopholes. That can
cause disruption to the effectiveness of those sanctions. The district of Varosha, and
the city of Famagusta is a symbol for the Cyprus issue, it represents the
prospects of a peaceful solution, the latest actions taken at the coastal
area jeopardise the efforts to resume direct talks for a comprehensive and
sustainable solution to the Cyprus problem. I represent the European
Parliament, an Institution that I have the privilege and responsibility of
leading, has repeatedly condemned the fact that Turkey continues to violate
the UN Security Council resolutions on Famagusta and to this end I support a
prompt return of Varosha to its lawful inhabitants. We will continue to
insist on this position and will also continue to insist that any country
that would use the most vulnerable people on the planet for perceiving
geopolitical games is something that is not acceptable for the EU and
something that is not acceptable anywhere in Europe.» Asked if the EU examines the
issue of exploitation of natural gas from Cyprus given also the recent
discoveries in its EEZ, Mrs Metsola said that «the 24th of
February sounded an alarm bell that we should have heard earlier. What we
know now and we should have acted earlier on is that Putin did not stop in
2008, and did not stop in 2015 and he will definitely not stop now. At the same time, we have been
dependant, some countries more than others, on a cheap gas supply which we
took for granted. We had the opportunity to create a proper Energy Union, we
had the opportunity to make EU states more interdependent, we had the
opportunity to identify ways to become energy independent by depending on our
friends rather than on our foes. The recent discoveries also
show that Cyprus can be not only independent in this regard but also a key
strategic partner and key strategic ally for the EU in diversifying its
energy mix. That is something that we need
to continue looking at, that is something that we need to continue investing
in and that is also allowing us to look at different partners, third
countries, that we can continue to cooperate within the light of the ongoing aggression,
but also in the future because our strategic autonomy means also that we need
to look at it from an energy perspective. What I would also say at the
same time is this plan and path of the EU to continue to invest in renewable
energy. Our ambitions should not be scaled back. We should continue to look
on how we can diversify and uncouple ourselves, especially in the current
context of the war, from fossil fuels. And in this case, we have some
countries that are already quite advanced and some countries that need to do
more, and that is also the European Parliament’s call, and in this regard we
as the European Parliament are calling for also a more effective negotiation
of our legislation on renewable energy, on the competitive advantage that we
could have economically in our member states, in order to invest and not lose
that advantage with regard to other countries.» (RM/NG/ECHR) |
