Outside interferences in the Cypriot presidential elections are unacceptable
Reactions to the intervention of the Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Shinas in favour of DISY party President and presidential candidate Averof Neophytou
Statements by AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou: The issue concerns the EU’s democratic legitimacy
Sunday 15 May 2022, ‘Haravgi’ newspaper, by Mihalis Mihail
The unacceptable statement made by the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Shinas, is characterized as an intervention by the EU in the preselection campaign of Cyprus for the presidential elections.
Margaritis Shinas, speaking at the Congress of the ruling right-wing “New Democracy” Party in Athens, in the presence of Averof Neophytou, expressed his support towards the President of DISY, claiming that Russia is ‘playing games’ in Cyprus. Addressing DISY President A.Neophytou, M. Shinas said: “My dear friend Averof, I want you to know that we will not let them play games in the presidential election in Cyprus. Cyprus will remain European and Western and you will be the agent of this great effort and we will be by your side.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also expressed his support towards Averof Neophytou, while Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, instead of defending the electoral procedures of the Republic of Cyprus, essentially adopted the Shinas’ statements.
It should be recalled that AKEL, through its MEP Giorgos Georgiou, called on the European Commission to respond to the allegations made by its Vice-President.
- Statements by AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou: The issue concerns the EU’s democratic legitimacy
The Republic of Cyprus is a sovereign state and it is the Cypriot people who decide its fate, AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou stressed to “Haravgi” newspaper.
He pointed out that it is the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus who will decide who they want to govern them in the period ahead and underlined that what Mr. Shinas said at the Congress of the “New Democracy” Party was not about some personal opinion.
The issue, the AKEL MEP added, has to do with the democratic legitimacy of the EU, at a time when the EU itself is denouncing interventions in the shaping of election results in other countries and it itself is at risk from authoritarian governments among its own ranks.
- Georgiou pointed out that the references made by Shinas constitute a blatant and flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Cyprus and in its electoral procedures. Mr. Shinas, the AKEL MEP went on to add, should tell us who, according to his own words, those “playing games” in Cyprus are? If he has any evidence, he should say so clearly. Otherwise, suspicious hints are left with a sly intention to support a specific candidate in the presidential elections. He also recalled that there was also EU interference in the 2013 presidential elections, when Anastasiades brought the leaders of the European People’s Party to Cyprus.
As for the reaction of Foreign Minister Yiannakis Kasoulides, who said that he wasn’t surprised by the references to Russian interference, the AKEL MEP said that Kasoulides should have been more careful and that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should not be transferred to Cyprus and its election campaign.
Great care is needed to ensure that the whole of Cyprus and its entity, as well as the credibility of the electoral procedure aren’t damaged and, in particular, that the Cypriot people’s real will is not rigged by these references, concluded AKEL MEP G. Georgiou.
