The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, has described today’s EU informal meeting in Alden Biesen as one of the most important, noting that he is attending with eight specific proposals by the Republic of Cyprus aimed at strengthening the EU’s competitiveness and with the objective of reaching decisions with clear timelines.
In statements ahead of the opening of the meeting, the President said: “I consider this informal Council to be one of the most important in the European Union, an informal Council convened by the President of the European Council following the joint letter of 22 Member States, including the Republic of Cyprus, after an initiative by the French President. And I approach this Summit in exactly the same way as the informal Council we held last year in Brussels on defence and security issues.”
Referring to the importance of last year’s informal meeting on defence and security, he stressed: “That Summit was decisive in enabling us, within one year, to achieve significant progress, concrete progress, tangible results on defence and security issues, which we had been discussing for decades without ever producing results.”
As he noted, the same approach should be followed at today’s meeting. “I hope that today’s meeting will lead to concrete decisions with timelines, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the EU, something on which we all agree. I am attending the informal Council with eight specific proposals by the Republic of Cyprus, across all areas, horizontally, to strengthen the competitiveness of the EU and, by extension, of the member states,” he said.
Strengthening competitiveness
President Christodoulides underlined that strengthening competitiveness is a key priority of the Cypriot Presidency, within the framework of strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy. “We cannot speak about strengthening strategic autonomy without being strong in terms of competitiveness – and within this framework, all files, legislative and otherwise, that are before the Cyprus Presidency have been given particular priority,” he stressed. The President noted that significant decisions are expected during the Cyprus Presidency, reiterating that this informal Council must open the way for concrete decisions. We have had enough discussions; we all agree on the objective; it is time for results," he said.
Regarding his contacts on the sidelines of the meeting, President Christodoulides said that he will meet with Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in order to be briefed on yesterday’s meeting and discussions he held with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He also said that mainly the Mediterranean EU member states will discuss “a common approach regarding the invitation by the US President for next week in Washington”.
As he explained, the initiative mainly concerns the issue of Gaza. “Mediterranean states, because as you understand we have a particular sensitivity, a particular interest in the issue of Gaza. The Republic of Cyprus, in fact, during the Summit that took place in Egypt, in the presence of the US President, submitted specific proposals for the implementation of aspects of the US President’s proposal,” he said. He went on to say that the Mediterranean states will discuss matters “so that we have a common approach regarding participation, the level of participation – we are always referring to the aspect concerning Gaza.”
Replying to a question on what he considers to be the top aspect of competitiveness, the President said: “There must finally be completion of the Single Market. And the European Union has enormous prospects. We are talking about a market of 450 million people. We have enormous strength as a European Union and we must communicate this strength. That is one aspect.”
Free trade agreements
He also referred to trade agreements. “Another aspect is free trade agreements – what was done with India should move forward with the United Arab Emirates, and should move forward with Australia.” He placed particular emphasis on deregulation as well: “Beyond that, we must dare to look at deregulation as well. It is not only about introducing regulations. Those regulations that offer nothing should not simply be amended; they should be abolished,” he said
In this context, he referred to the contacts he had with European and Cypriot organisations ahead of today’s informal meeting: “Before this meeting and also in the context of our Presidency, I had meetings with European organisations, professional organisations, organisations of industrialists and employers, with BusinessEurope, with Eurochambers, with the corresponding Cypriot bodies, the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with OEB, and I am coming here, as I mentioned earlier, with eight specific proposals.”
As he said, competitiveness should remain a standing item on the European agenda, “horizontally”, until the end of 2026, “precisely so that we can see progress, where problems exist. There must be specific timelines. And I am optimistic, taking into account what happened last year at the informal meeting we held on defence and security issues.”
As regards to SAFE and the approval of the Cypriot plan yesterday, Christodoulides stated: “We have before us an important financial instrument. I am pleased that the Republic of Cyprus is among the first Member States, and this demonstrates the significant work we have done internally, that the amount of €1.2 billion in relation to the Republic of Cyprus has been approved, and this is an indication of the correct work that was carried out in Cyprus, and that we are among the first Member States for which the relevant amount has been approved.”
An out-of-the-box discussion
Replying to a question by CNA on the issue of common debt and whether it should be placed on the table as a tool to enhance competitiveness, or whether it should be a last resort for financing actions, the President said: “The position of the Republic of Cyprus is that we must have an out-of-the-box discussion. Nothing should be excluded from the table of discussions. Everything must be placed on the table of discussions, so that we can conclude what issues we will move forward with immediately, then in the medium term and in the long term, how we can achieve quick wins, quick changes, in order to send a message to our citizens."
"The areas are very specific,” he added, citing as a priority the completion of the Single Market and, secondly, the cost of energy, which should “be uniform across all EU Member States”. According to the President, “there are issues on which we can have decisions and results immediately. There are issues that we will examine in the medium and long term. But I repeat, we must have an out-of-the-box discussion with all issues on the table.”
Referring to the meeting of the 22 member states, the so-called “friends of competitiveness”, the President said that this initiative was launched by the German Chancellor, the Italian Prime Minister and the Belgian Prime Minister. As he noted, “this is indicative of how this issue concerns almost all EU member states”, while also underlining the role of the European Commission in the process.
“We want to work together with the Commission. It was important that the President of the Commission was there so that we could move forward in a very concrete way. Therefore, it was, if you like, a preparatory stage of the discussion we will have today,” he added.
(Source: CNA)
