Day: July 8, 2022

A supplementary report issued by the Council of Europe’s corruption watchdog, GRECO, has noted progress in Cyprus over the implementation its recommendations, noting that one recommendation has been implemented.

In a press release, Cyprus Law Office said that the pending recommendation will be addressed with the promotion and adoption of a bill concerning the autonomy of the Law Office. The bill has been drafted and has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance before being submitted to the Council of Ministers.

“GRECO concludes that Cyprus has implemented satisfactorily or dealt in a satisfactory manner nine of the sixteen recommendations contained in the Fourth Round Evaluation Report,” GRECO said in its Addendum to the Second Compliance Report approved last year, adding that of the seven remaining pending recommendations, six recommendations have been partly implemented and one recommendation not implemented.

In its previous report, GRECO noted that three of its implementations were not addressed.

The pending recommendation that concerns strengthening the independence of the prosecutorial functions and the capacity of the individual law officers and prosecutors to conduct their duties in a more autonomous way, guided by the safeguards necessary under the rule of law.

“GRECO considers that, in the absence of any tangible progress, this recommendation still cannot be considered implemented,” the report said.

The other two recommendations have been addressed following the approval of the laws for the creation of the Independent Authority against Corruption, the Code of Principle and Rules of Ethics and Transparency for Members of Parliament and the Law on Regulating Lobbying.

GRECO welcomed the adoption of the Code of Ethics for parliamentarians covering integrity-related matters, “which was a long-awaited development,” as well as the adoption of the law concerning lobbying.

However, GRECO pointed out that “little progress has been made regarding the reform aiming at clarifying the income and various allowances received by MPs as well as the regime of asset declarations” and called on to submit additional information on the implementation of the outstanding recommendations.

With regard to judges, all recommendations are in compliance with recommendations as stated in its previous reports, GRECO said.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Children from war – stricken Ukraine are hosted in the summer camp of the Ministry of Education in the Prodromos village in the Troodos mountains.

Minister of Education Prodromos Prodromou and Ukrainian Ambassador Ruslan Nimchynskyi paid a visit on Friday to the summer camp where they had the opportunity to talk with the children and their teachers.

Prodromou said that the 48 children are given the opportunity to live in this beautiful part of Cyprus some carefree days and be enterntained away from the horrible experience of war.

Pointing out that Cypriots have experienced the Turkish invasion, he said that we feel their pain and expressed hope that the war will soon come to an end. He also talked about the historically very close ties between the two countries.

Prodromou said that there are preparations ahead of September when thousands of children from Ukraine will join Cypriot schools and noted that they will be given the opportunity to continue their Ukrainian program online.

The Ambassador of Ukraine expressed the deep gratitude on behalf of the Ukrainian people and the Embassy to the Minister saying that hosting these children in the Ministry’s camps proves the very friendly relations between the two countries and the feelings of friendship of the thousands of Ukrainians who are in Cyprus.

He expressed his appreciation for Cyprus’ efforts to create the best possible living conditions, as well as for the humanitarian aid it offers, which, as he stated, so far exceeds 230 tons in medicine, clothing, food and medical equipment.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

In this ever-changing global terrain, we need to be proactive, flexible, transparent and fast in our decisions and actions in a coherent and coordinated manner, said Cyprus’ Central Bank’s Governor Constantinos Herodotou at the 26th Annual Economist Government Roundtable in Greece.

He also noted that the developments concerning inflation will determine European Central Bank’s monetary policy beyond September.

“Incoming inflation data and the outlook assessment will determine the pace with which we will continue to gradually normalise our monetary policy beyond September, in order to deliver on our two per cent medium-term inflation target”, he said.

He added that broader and intensified inflation pressures that would threaten to de-anchor inflation expectations could require quicker rate moves.

The Governor pointed out that banks need to emerge from the pandemic healthy and that, the effects of the Russian invasion in Ukraine are not yet fully evident. “Therefore, banks need to closely monitor the most vulnerable sectors to timely address any deterioration of their clients’ financial situation and credit risk”.

He added that structural weaknesses of the banks need to be addressed via effective digitalisation strategies and enhanced governance in order to ensure the medium term sustainability of the industry and the transition towards a more socially responsible banking model.

He also said that emerging risks, such as climate and environmental risks and cyber risk, need to be tackled, measured and fully incorporated in the banks’ risk management frameworks, policies and procedures.

Herodotou noted that further deepening of EMU can help enhance further the resilience of the banking sector and address future shocks while boosting economic growth. The completion of the banking union, he said, will mark the establishment of a truly single European banking market in which cross border economic transactions will take place freely and will also act as a safeguard against possible fragmentation initiatives or actions.

The Governor said that under this extraordinarily uncertain economic environment, monetary policy turned into a challenging balancing act, aiming to reduce inflation without hurting too much economic growth recovery in 2023. However, he added, acting too little and too late could necessitate acting more aggressively which could impact future growth.

Source: Cyprus News Agency