The EU is a key support in the effort to achieve peace in our country, says PtD – What he said at an event for Europe Day
The The European Union is our main support and in our effort to achieve peace in our homeland, said on Thursday the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulidis in his greeting at the event of the Office of the European Parliament and of the Delegation of the European Commission in Cyprus, for Europe Day.
Achieving a viable and functional solution is not only for the benefit of Cyprus and its people, but also for the EU itself and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region, said President Christodoulidis, who also mentioned that 20 years after Cyprus's accession in the EU, “the changes in our country for the better are clearly visible“.
Specifically, President Christodoulidis noted that “we owe primarily gratitude to the pioneers of the Union, to Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet, who 74 years ago, on the ruins of the two World Wars, founded the European edifice, which evolved into the European Union, as we know it today”, which is, he said, “the most important collective achievement of the human race on the Old Continent since the Enlightenment”.
He mentioned that we celebrate Europe Day, together with the 20th anniversary from the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the European family.
“As the Republic of Cyprus, we approach the milestone of accession with feelings of pride, optimism but also with responsibility towards the New Generation”, he said, mentioning that the feelings of pride are “for what we have achieved as an active and equal member state of the European Union “.
Twenty years after Cyprus joined the EU, “the changes in our country for the better are clearly visible”.
“Inclusion, among many others, has brought us enormous benefits in all aspects of human activity, from our daily lives to trade, business, tourism, health, fisheries, shipping, agriculture, transport, economy”, he said.
He also referred to feelings of optimism “because we know how much more we can achieve as active members of the great European family, with confidence, with dynamism and with confidence”. “Feelings of debt and responsibility to hand over to our young people, to our children, to the New Generation of our country, a reliable and active member state, which will remain at the core of the decision-making centers with a substantial voice and role,” he added.
For the Republic of Cyprus, said President Christodoulidis, “there is no other direction than an even stronger Europe, through further integration”. “A security Union, with a clear geopolitical orientation, with strategic goals and strategic autonomy to be able to effectively face any challenges,” he added.
He noted that this “defining twenty-year course as a member state of the European Union was not paved with rose petals”, and that Cyprus, together with its partners, faced difficulties, challenges, but also unprecedented crises. He referred to the banking and financial crisis of the past decade, the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine “but also more recently the immigration and refugee crisis, which we are trying to deal with in cooperation with European partners and European institutions at the highest level”.< /p>
President Christodoulidis stated that the most important change of all, as a result of Cyprus joining the EU “is our strengthened position, diplomatically and politically, resulting from the fact that we now belong to a large and powerful family”. This strengthened position, he said, is important for every member of the EU, “but let's think about how important it is when we are talking about a small state which has been under Turkish occupation for fifty whole years”
“The European Union is our main support and in our effort to achieve peace in our homeland”, he said, noting that the resolution of the Cyprus issue will, at the same time, have an important role to play in consolidating the feeling of security and cooperation in the troubled region in which we are . “Consequently, reaching a sustainable and workable solution is not only for the benefit of Cyprus and its people but also for the Union itself and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region,” he said. Through a viable and functional solution to the Cyprus issue, the EU and Cyprus will be able to continue to be pillars of stability and an essential bridge to Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, he added.
President Christodoulidis also sent a “message of peace and cooperation to our Turkish Cypriot compatriots”, inviting them to reflect on the benefits that coexistence in a reunited homeland will have for the entire Cypriot people, which will offer everyone the opportunity to live and create in conditions of security and prosperity, making full use of the opportunities of the place.
The EU “is our family,” he said, noting that despite any problems and weaknesses within it, “we are always looking for solutions to all the big issues we have to deal with.”
Closing, President Christodoulidis invited everyone to participate en masse “in the great celebration of Democracy on June 9 for the election of the members of the European Parliament”.
“I really believe that our massive participation, the massive participation of the Cypriot people, will be the best celebration of our 20 years of membership,” he said, adding that the electoral process on June 9 is not an obligation but a duty and our right “to claim more Europe, strategically more autonomous, more united, more efficient and more solidary”.
In her own welcome, the European Commissioner for Health and Safety, Stella Kyriakidou, said that, this is a landmark year, as 20 years ago, on May 1, Cyprus along with nine other countries joined the European family as full member states.
“Since then, so much has changed in our societies and economies,” he noted, adding that EU citizens now live in a Union where the rule of law and fundamental principles such as gender equality, workers' rights, fighting poverty and social exclusion and respecting diversity is fundamental. In addition, they have the freedom to live, study and work anywhere in the EU.
According to Ms. Kyriakidou, since 2004, over 2.7 million people from these countries have taken part in the Erasmus+, while for the period 2021-27 alone, more than one billion euros of EU funds will be invested in Cyprus “to boost the growth we have seen over the last 20 years”.
He also said that since 2004, Cypriot researchers have received more than 650 million euros in grants to collaborate with other European researchers, and this has made Cyprus a center of innovation, according to EU innovation statistics.
Ms Kyriakidou also said that solidarity, prosperity and equality are not words, but actions.
“What we have achieved in health, through our response to COVID-19 with our vaccine strategy, are the principles on which this European Union was founded,” he said, as well as support in a time of crisis through the Mechanism Recovery and Resilience and support for mitigating unemployment risks in an emergency (SURE).
He also noted that these 10 member states have also given a lot to the EU by making it a stronger player in the global scene and that Cyprus demonstrates this point, particularly well.
“Its position, as the “crossroads of Europe”, is strategically important for EU policy,” she added, referring to the initiative of the Republic of Cyprus, “Amalthia”.
In March, she said, the Cypriot Government “showed its strong determination” with the opening of the maritime corridor “placing the strategic position of Cyprus at the heart of global geopolitics and showing how this position in the corner of the Mediterranean can be a bridge of peace, stability. support for the humanitarian crisis, energy and economies and beyond”.
In closing, the Commissioner referred to the new generation and said that she keeps in her heart the words of the students who participated in the recent event to celebrate 20 years since the accession of Cyprus to the Presidential Palace who, as she noted, “showed us the way forward , what they rightly expect from us and the EU, an EU that they know protects their rights and freedoms, that respects diversity, that condemns racism, sexism, that defends and defends LGBTQi rights, religious freedom and freedom of speech and the rule of law”.
Present at the event held at the House of the European Union in Nicosia were, among others, the Speaker of the Parliament, Annita Dimitriou, the Deputy Minister of European Affairs, Marilena Rauna, former European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, ambassadors and diplomats of foreign countries.
The French-Cypriot school choir closed the event with “Ode to Joy” which is the Anthem of the EU, and the Cypriot song “Jasemi”.
