Akamas: Without making the second public the government is proceeding to conduct a third investigation

Statement by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou after the meeting with a delegation from the Ecologists’ Movement – Citizens’ Co-operation

 

19 March 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The Ecologists’ Movement requested a meeting with AKEL to discuss the issues relating to the Akamas peninsula, as they are evolving, and of course we responded immediately, because AKEL has the environment and especially Akamas very high among its priorities, which is the most important habitat of Cyprus and precisely for that reason we must protect it.

We had a very constructive and informative meeting on this issue. We agreed to keep in touch, to see how to move forward as things develop on Akamas.

I must say that the Republic of Cyprus has been severely criticised for its need to comply with EU directives on habitats. Unfortunately, every time this issue is raised in the European Parliament, the criticism Cyprus receives as a country is very strong and severe. Very recently, the European Commission has initiated legal proceedings against the Republic of Cyprus as a result of its non-compliance. We believe that the timing has to do with what happened in the Akamas issue in relation to the works [in the area], their interruption, etc.

We are now at a particular juncture in time. I must say that AKEL has raised this issue several times, in cooperation with the Ecologists’ Movement, in the relevant Parliamentary Committee for discussion.

An administrative inquiry, the second one, has been carried out on the Akamas projects, which led to their cancellation.

This investigation’s findings have not been published, we are not aware of them, we have requested the investigation’s report in line with parliamentary procedures. Without knowing what this administrative inquiry includes, the government has announced that it will carry out a third one.

We therefore pose the following question: since we have not yet seen the second one, what will happen to the third one?

In any case, we believe that the government must inform what the findings are based on the administrative investigation, because it is on the basis of these findings that the necessary corrections and all those actions must be made that will lead to the protection of the Akamas habitat, on the basis of the principles that must govern all these issues that have to do with habitats.

As AKEL, we will continue to follow this issue in cooperation with the Ecologists’ Movement, as well as with other ecological and environmental organisations, with which we have been in coordination and cooperation with for a long time.

19.03.2024