THE PLENARY OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT APPROVED THE AMENDMENT ON CYPRIOT DISPLACED PERSONS - Pafos Live 1/5
An important development for Cyprus and our displaced compatriots is the approval by the Plenary of the European Parliament of the Interim Report on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034, which includes the amendment of DISY/EPP MEP Michalis Hadjipantela on the right to property of Cypriot displaced persons.
The report was adopted by a large majority (370 votes in favour, 201 against and 84 abstentions), confirming the plenary's support for an issue of major importance for Cyprus.
This is the second and decisive step, after the adoption of the amendment by the Committee on Budgets, upgrading the relevant reference to an official position of the European Parliament and confirming at the highest institutional level the recognition of an issue that has been pending for decades.
For the first time, in a report on the European budget, it is explicitly recognised that legal landowners in areas of the Republic of Cyprus where the government does not exercise effective control, are deprived of the fundamental right to their property. The incorporation of the amendment into a text setting out the budgetary priorities of the European Union is crucial for claiming European funds, in the context of the upcoming negotiations on the new Multiannual Financial Framework.
In his intervention in the Plenary, Mr. Hadjipantela highlighted that "this is a blatant violation, for which Turkey has always borne enormous responsibilities". He also underlined that "no amendment and no resolution exempts the occupying power from its obligations".
He also stressed that "the European Union must apply its principles and actively support displaced people, whose fundamental rights have been violated for half a century. The wound of Cyprus must be closed, with responsibility and commitment to European values."
Mr. Hadjipantela expressed warm thanks to his colleagues in the Group of the European People's Party, to the rapporteurs of the report Siegfried Mureșan and Carla Tavares, as well as to Monika Hohlmeier, George Aftias and Nicos Papandreou, as well as to the Socialists and Democrats Group, for their support.
