Statements by AKEL General Secretary Stefanos Stefanou following a tour of the fire-stricken areas of the Limassol mountainous areas
30 July 2025, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
Today, we had a very productive, interesting, and useful meeting as AKEL and the People’s Movement of the Left with local community leaders from the area, the president of the Limassol District Organization of Local Authorities, the president of the Limassol communities, MP’s, our MEP, and residents of the area.
We leave this meeting much wiser than when we arrived. We heard many useful things about the major issues we face, but also about the many minor issues that must be addressed as soon as possible.
A major environmental, economic, and cultural disaster has occurred here. There are many aspects to this disaster and all the issues involved. That is why the government and the state need to act quickly, bypassing the various bureaucratic procedures that often create obstacles instead of providing solutions.
It is therefore extremely important that the government takes responsibility for moving things forward quickly so that the damage can be repaired. I would like to congratulate the Cyprus Electricity Authority. Everyone had nothing but praise for their immediate, effective, and often self-sacrificing interventions to deal with the situation and restore the electricity supply, which has already been restored to a very large extent.
The issue of compensation must be addressed immediately. We need to see what will happen with illegal buildings and other issues, so that we can decide how to deal with them. The period for recording damage should be extended because, as the community leaders have told us, residents do not have time to record the damage.
We also need to look at the issue of rubble, how it will be collected, how the areas will be cleaned up, and where it will be taken. In addition, one of the problems for the future is the issue of landslides that will occur with the first rains, hoping that we will have rain this year.
There are many issues, both minor and major, that have arisen here.
We will prepare them in memoranda and forward them to the relevant services, Ministries, and the government, because a coordinated, titanic effort is demanded. Measures have been announced, but there are many other things that need to be addressed.
I would like to thank the community leaders who were present here, the president of the Limassol EOA, the president of the Union of Local Communities, the community that hosted us, namely Vasa Koilaniou, and the president of the community.
I want to assure you that AKEL will continue to stand by the affected areas. Both inside and outside Parliament, we will do everything possible to help address the situation. This Saturday, 2nd August, a large group of volunteers from AKEL and the People’s Movement will be in the area of Sounio in collaboration with the local authorities and provincial administration, to see what help is needed in terms of cleaning, restoration, and whatever else needs to be done to help.
As I said at the meeting, we call on the community authorities, those who consider our presence and assistance useful, to make use of our volunteer mechanism in various ways.
It is well known that on 5th August, on AKEL’s initiative, there will be a joint meeting of three committees responsible for these issues, namely the Parliamentary Internal Affairs, Agriculture, and Environment Committees The aim is first to investigate why this tragedy occurred, why things went wrong and were not dealt with properly, why there was no coordination, and a number of other issues relating to the assumption of responsibilities. However, I repeat, the most important thing is to monitor the implementation of the government’s announcements, as well as what needs to be done further by the government and the state.
AKEL will continue to be here, it will continue to help (the communities and people), both inside and outside parliament.
30.07.2025
