The Menendez bill aims at Cyprus’ inclusion in the wider US plan to prevail in the wider region

AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou on Menendez-Rubio bill

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 10 June 2019, Nicosia

The Menendez-Rubio bill was advertised by the Anastasiades-DISY government as signifying the lifting of the US arms embargo on the Republic of Cyprus. Up this point fair enough, given that the US embargo was both unfair and unacceptable. The essence, however, is the full content of the bill, which the Foreign Minister triumphantly has adopted fully.

This bill doesn’t only concern the lifting of the arms embargo on the Republic of Cyprus, as the government presents it, but includes this move as part of the promotion of the regional foreign policy of the US in the region. What the bill is aiming at is Cyprus’ inclusion in the wider US plan to prevail in the competition with other countries such as Russia, China and Iran in the wider region. This is not only problematic for Cyprus, it is also dangerous because it transfers an international conflict to our country’s territory, turning Cyprus it into an arena of confrontations, but also because it endangers the Republic of Cyprus’ relations with other countries which Cyprus needs at least as much as the US.

As deception and argumentation based on slogans does not help political dialogue and neither does it make a real contribution towards informing citizens, we make the whole of the bill public today. Everyone can read it and judge whether it is a text that has to do with support for Cyprus or whether it is a text that has to do with confrontations with third countries.