Month: October 2022

Cyprus marked on Friday “Ohi Day” commemorating Greece’s refusal to capitulate to the Axis forces in 1940 and its victory against Italy on the Albanian front. Religious services and student parades were held in various cities across the free areas of the Republic of Cyprus.

 

President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades attended a service at the St. Barnabas cathedral, in Nicosia, and then watched the parade in front of the Greek Embassy, together with House President Annita Demetriou, Minister of Education Prodromos Prodromou, the Greek Ambassador to Cyprus, other government and party officials and the people.

 

“Today, when a merciless war is raging in the heart of Europe after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we invoke the glorious historical past and define the present and the future”, said the President of the Parliament, Annita Demetriou, in her statements after the student parade for the anniversary of October 28, 1940. “Our position, our responsibility and our obligation is to use every step to seek justice for our homeland and to ensure and protect our principles and values,” she added.

 

“Today we celebrate and honour the great saga of 1940, when the Greeks defended national freedom and together resisted the scourge of totalitarianism,” said Prodromou, adding that “today the Greek flag flies proudly, along with the flag of our Cypriot state”. Furthermore, Prodromou mentioned that Cyprus counted “more than 600 dead in that struggle for freedom and democracy”, indicating that the Greeks “defended the principles and values of the whole world, the principles that are the foundations of the united Europe”.

 

On his part, the Ambassador of Greece to Cyprus, Ioannis Papameletiou, said that “today we honour the heroes of 1940”, who “with vigour and self-sacrifice defended freedom”, as well as the Cypriots who participated in World War II. “Unfortunately, today Cyprus does not have the freedom we want because of the continued occupation. Our unwavering goal is the end of the occupation, the reunification of the island through a solution that will be within the framework of the United Nations”, he pointed out.

 

The Government has not stopped making efforts for meaningful negotiations, which will lead to the solution of the Cyprus problem within the framework of international legality, European principles and values and the resolutions of the United Nations, the Deputy Government Spokesperson, Niovi Parisinou, said, speaking in Polis Chrysochous on Friday. She also said that the goal is to make Cyprus a functioning state for all its legal residents “without guarantees, without occupying troops, without intrusive rights from foreign protectorates”.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

“There is no problem between Lebanon and Cyprus that cannot be resolved easily,” Cypriot special envoy Tasos Tzionis, said on Friday after meeting with outgoing Lebanese President Michel Aoun, to discuss maritime delimitation.

 

According to Reuters, the Cypriot delegation in Lebanon on Friday for talks on maritime border delineation between the two countries said any disputes during that process could be easily resolved.

 

Lebanon and Cyprus reached a maritime border agreement in 2007 but it was never ratified by Lebanon’s parliament and therefore never went into force, the report adds. Cyprus delineated its maritime exclusive economic zone vis-a-vis Israel in 2010. Lebanon and Israel officially delineated their contested sea boundary on Thursday, following years of U.S. – mediated indirect talks.

 

Aoun said the next step following that achievement would be delineating Lebanon’s maritime boundaries with northern neighbour Syria and resuming talks with Cyprus to the west.

 

Lebanon’s deputy speaker of parliament and border negotiator, Elias Bou Saab, said that Syria is still the priority and added that “we will not delineate with Cyprus until we communicate with Syria.”

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA) will meet with Attorney General George Savvides, Minister of Commerce Natasa Pilides and Deputy Minister for Digital Policy, Kyriakos Kokkinos, during their visit to Nicosia on Tuesday and Wednesday, 1st and 2nd of November. The MEPs will visit Cyprus in the context of the investigation into allegations that the Predator software has been used in Greece.

 

CNA learns that the agenda of the MEPs so far includes “Phileleftheros” journalist Fanis Makrides, who has covered the matter extensively, as well as members of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs of the House of Representatives. Legal expert Elias Stephanou is also expected to participate in the meeting with the Attorney General.

 

The PEGA mission will then travel to Athens where they will have a series of meetings until November 4th. The MEPs will meet with MPs that participated in the Hellenic Parliament’s investigative committee, as well as with government officials included Minister of State George Gerapetritis and representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s office and the Hellenic Police.

 

The MEPs will also meet Greek journalists that have covered the surveillance allegations as well as persons that have been under surveillance, journalist Thanasis Koukakis, MEP Nikos Androulakis and SYRIZA MP Christos Spirtzis.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Total sales of petroleum products in Cyprus rose marginally in September, with sales from fuel pumps declining for four consecutive months amid high fuel prices.

 

According to data released by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (Cystat) in September 2022, the total sales of petroleum products amounted to 128,379 tonnes, recording an increase of 0.9% year on year.

 

Increases were recorded in the provisions of aviation kerosene (19.7%), as well as in the sales of light fuel oil (27.5%), bitumen (3.6%) and liquefied petroleum gases (1.4%).

 

Provisions of marine gasoil dropped by 28.3%, sales of heavy fuel oil declined by 59.2%), kerosene by 1.6%.

 

Sales of road diesel dropped by 5.2% and motor gasoline by 3.7%).

 

Total sale from filling stations declined to 57,178 tonnes, registering an annual reduction of 6.0%, Cystat added.

 

The total sales of petroleum products in September 2022 compared to August 2022 recorded a rise of 5.2%.

 

For the period of January – September 2022, the total sales of petroleum products increased by 15.2% compared to the corresponding period of last year.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

 

Industrial Production in Cyprus marked an annual reduction for a second consecutive month in August, driven by a decline in the electricity supply sector.

 

According to data released by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (Cystat), the Industrial Production Index reached 118.8 units in August (base 2015=100), recording a decrease of 1.7% compared to August 2021.

 

For the period January – August 2022, the index recorded an increase of 2.7% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

 

As far as the index components is concerned, the manufacturing sector rose by 3.0% year on year, while annual gains were also recorded in the sectors of mining and quarrying with 15.6% and water supply and materials recovery with 3.6%.

 

The electricity supply sector recorded a decrease of 12.5% compared to August 2021, Cystat added.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Central Bank of Cyprus has set the reference interest rate at 9.40% under the article 314A of the Cyprus Penal Code, Cap. 154 to combat usury.

 

The previous reference rate was set at 8.93%.

 

Under the article 314A, the maximum permissible rate of interest, known as the reference rate, is set by the Central Bank of Cyprus on a quarterly basis.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

In October 2022, economic sentiment in Cyprus improved as the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI-CypERC) increased by 0.4 points compared with September 2022.

 

According to a press release by the Economic Research Center of the University of Cyprus, the marginal increase in the ESI-CypERC was driven by confidence gains in services and retail trade.

 

The Services Confidence Indicator rose for the second month in a row, mainly as a result of more optimistic views on turnover over the next three months.

 

The increase in the Retail Trade Confidence Indicator was due to improved assessments of past sales and stock levels, and upward revisions in sales expectations.

 

The drop in the Construction Confidence Indicator was driven by the deterioration in firms’ assessments of the current levels of order books.

 

The Industry Confidence Indicator decreased owing to downward revisions in production expectations.

 

The decline in the Consumer Confidence Indicator resulted from a deterioration in most of its components (three out of four). In October, consumers assessed their recent financial situation less favourably and revised their expectations about the future economic conditions in Cyprus downwards. Moreover, consumers’ intentions to make major purchases weakened in October.

 

In October, economic uncertainty in Cyprus remained broadly stable at around the level registered in September.

 

Uncertainty in retail trade, construction and manufacturing rose, while uncertainty in services remained almost unchanged at the levels seen in August and September. Uncertainty among consumers declined slightly in October, but is still at a relatively high level.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Cyprus criminal justice system ranks 18th worldwide according to the 2022 results announced Wednesday of the international organisation World Justice Project.

 

The report covers issues related to the rule of law like lack of corruption and adverse discrimination, absence of government interventions, correct and fair justice etc. A total of 140 countries were evaluated, including Cyprus, which was ranked, based on the total criteria, 28th, as it was the case in 2021.

 

In a press release the Supreme Court describes as a success the fact that the ranking of the criminal justice system of Cyprus from 20th place in 2021 went up to the 18th place in 2022.

 

In terms of civil justice (lawsuits), Cyprus was ranked 38th compared to 36th in 2021. The press release says that this demonstrates once again the need for reforms and changes which are being promoted by the Supreme Court in cooperation with the executive power, the House of Representatives and the Cyprus Bar Association, to deal with the large volume of old cases that have accumulated causing delays.

 

More at https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/country/2022/Cyprus/Criminal%20Justice.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus will manage to absorb 100% of the co-financed Cohesion Policy Programs 2014-2020.

 

According to a press release by the Ministry of Finance, a joint meeting was held on Wednesday in Pafos between the members of the Monitoring Committees on the progress of the implementation of the Programs co-financed by the EU Cohesion Policy Funds about the programs “Competitiveness and Sustainable Development 2014-2020”, “Employment, Human Resources and Social Cohesion 2014-2020” and “THALEIA 2021-2027”.

 

The meeting, that was attended by representatives from the European Commission, Ministries, local administration, economic and social partners, civil society, research organisations and universities, among others, was chaired by Permanent Secretary of DG Growth at the Ministry of Finance Theodosis Tsiolas.

 

Tsiolas informed the members about the significant progress made as regards the implementation of the 2014-2020 Programmes and noted that Cyprus is in the top five list of EU member states in terms of absorbing European funds.

 

It is added that from the available European resources of the “Competitiveness and Sustainable Development” Programme, approximately 88% has been collected by the European Commission to date, while from the total of the available European resources of the “Employment, Human Resources and Social Cohesion” Program » 97% has been collected. He noted that in this programming period all resources will be fully absorbed as well without losing a single euro, the press release concludes.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The 13th World Conference of Honorary Consuls will be hosted for the second time in Cyprus, according to Cyprus Conferences, the conference organisers. The conference will take place at St. Raphael Resort and Marina, in Limassol from November 6 to 9, in the presence of the President of the House of Representatives, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other officials, a relevant announcement says.

 

It is noted that the conference is held every three years in various parts of the world and it is the second time that it will be hosted in Cyprus following the efforts of the vice president of the International Federation of Consuls (FICAC), Costakis Lefkaritis.

 

The purpose of the conference, it is added, is to forge contacts between foreign diplomatic missions and local committees, build strong ties among consuls from the member countries, but also provide an opportunity for them to channel their experience in the specific professional field. It is added that among the topics of this year’s conference are the environment, education, the challenges faced by honorary consuls as well as their responsibilities in each country.

 

Source: Cyprus News Agency