Intervention by AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou in the plenary “This is Europe – Debate with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Christodoulides”

 

13 June 2023, Strasbourg, European Parliament

Mr. President,

On behalf of the European United Left welcome to Strasbourg.

We will be strict, but fair with you, as AKEL always acts.

Besides, we have a dialogue on some things between us in Cyprus…

You are correct to call for a more active involvement of the European Union through the appointment of a high-ranking European Union official on the Cyprus problem.

I don’t see any Europeans here getting excited about this proposal. Perhaps they know some things from the past?

They are probably leaving aside Turkey’s clinically dead accession process and orienting themselves towards establishing a “special relationship” with Turkey.

But by doing so, the leverage to exert pressure is lost. Turkey, despite the threats that were issued by Erdogan until yesterday, receives only rewards/gifts…Namely the customs union and visa liberalization, just to avoid falling into Russia’s arms, so that it continues to be a strategic partner of NATO and serve the EU’s interests on the migration issue.

Is it not time for you to at long last make use of AKEL’s proposal?

That’s to say, energy should serve as a catalyst for a solution to the Cyprus problem, as your Energy Minister had said recently?

I’ll come back to the migration issue.

The recent agreement of the EU Interior Ministers on this issue is another ridicule.

They are copying the notorious EU-Turkey Agreement and not replacing the Dublin Regulation with a binding system for the distribution of refugees across all EU member states, according to each state’s capabilities.

They put a price on asylum seekers, with the rich northern countries paying 20.000 euros for each asylum seeker while the southern countries are becoming “human warehouses”.

This is how international and European conventions are completely disregarded…

Mr. President.

Cyprus is again in the dock over the issue of the illegal PEGASUS software as a country that promotes its production and export. There is also the case of the finding of the probe on the black spy van…

I would like to welcome your commitment that you will take the recommendations of the relevant European Commission seriously into account by taking immediate and corrective measures.

Mr. President.

You know very well that the banking crisis (and if, Mr. Weber, Cyprus was driven to the very brink of economic collapse, this was not due to the policies of the previous [Christofias] government, but to the great banking capitalist crisis and the brutal haircut on bank deposits that was imposed and accepted by your political friend Nicos Anastasiades), the pandemic and the war in Ukraine exacerbated the social and economic problems in our country.

Illegal banking practices and the uncontrolled hedge funds are leading to mass foreclosures, even of primary homes.

However, they violate European directives and the self-evident human rights of borrowers.

Do not permit another social tragedy to occur in our country.

Mr. President.

You are at the helm of a small country, our Cyprus.

You have to fight, in the European arena, with huge geopolitical and economic interests and great difficulties.

We understand the problems…

We shall stand by your side every time you will struggle in a convincing, bold and courageous way, for our homeland and people.