Day: December 4, 2022

During the Covid-19 pandemic the EU established itself as the world’s pharmacy as it exported half of the vaccine doses produced in the EU and donated around 500 million doses to its international partners, European Health and Food Safety Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides said at the Cyprus Pharmacists Congress, on Saturday. She also underlined the crucial role of pharmacists in dealing with health crises.

According to the text of her speech, the Commissioner said that pharmacists have a crucial and important role to play. “We also count on your future participation in building, together, this stronger European Health Union,” she said, while also emphasising the importance of the role of pharmacists in helping citizens understand that taking antibiotics is not the solution to everything.

She also urged pharmacists to continue the effort for the promotion of booster doses, noting that booster vaccinations are at very low levels in Cyprus.

Kyriakides said that the EU managed to reach strong solutions at the European level, in order to meet the expectations of its citizens, to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, with the main example being the successful EU vaccine strategy, which she described as a “historic success” for the bloc, as it managed to negotiate and procure a vaccine portfolio reaching 4.2 billion doses.

Because of the successful vaccination campaign, more than 73% of the EU population has been fully vaccinated and almost 55% have also received a booster dose, she added.

The Commissioner also said that during the pandemic, the EU established itself as the world’s pharmacy, as it exported half of the doses produced in the EU, while it has donated around 500 million doses to its international partners. According to WHO estimates, the result was that more than 20 million people worldwide have been saved because of vaccines, she added.

She also noted that the new EU Pharmaceutical Strategy will address unmet medical needs, thanks to the development of innovative medicines, while also strengthening the resilience of medicine supply chains in Europe.

In his address, Cyprus’ Health Minister, Michalis Hadjipantela, said that he was looking forward to the establishment of a National Pharmaceutical Authority. The Minister said the Authority will have the same responsibilities and powers as the corresponding European pharmaceutical authorities in terms of the quality, effectiveness and safety of medicines and will be a flexible and efficient Organisation, with decisive contribution to reforms in the field of healthcare.

The Minister also noted the positive contribution of pharmacists in dealing with the pandemic expressing the State’s gratitude to them.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Parliament’s Plenary will begin on Tuesday its three-day session to approve Cyprus state budget for 2023.

The budget will be the tenth and the last under the administration of President Nicos Anastasiades.

The budget provides for total revenue of €11.7 billion and expenditure amounting to €11.3 billion resulting in fiscal surplus of €0.46 billion corresponding to 1.7% of GDP, while primary surplus (excluding debt servicing expenditure) is estimated to reach 3%. It features an increase of 12% in development projects, increased social protection spending, while debt servicing expenditure is estimated to drop by €500 million. GDP growth is estimated to decelerate to 3% from a projected 6% growth this year.

So far only left-wing AKEL has announced it will vote against the budget. The three-day debate will culminate on Thursday with the vote on the state budget.

Parliamentary Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs will convene on Monday to approve government amendments to the state budget, which entail additional expenditure of €55 million, including €20 million for the financing of the new Professional Pension Scheme for wider public service employees hired after 1 October 2011.

Committee members will also discuss amendments to the state budget put forward by the parliamentary parties.

Furthermore, the Finance Ministry has requested from the Committee not to freeze public expenditure that would create problems to the smooth functioning of the public service in the first three months of 2023, as the Parliament will be closed until March due to the presidential elections scheduled for February 2023.

The parliament habitually blocks specific provisions of the annual state budget which then have to gain the approval of the parliamentary committee on financial and budgetary affairs before they can be disbursed.

The presidential elections are scheduled to take place on February 5. If no candidate gathers more that 50% of the vote a run-off ballot will be held on February 12 with the new government expected to assume office on March 1.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in Cyprus, Defence Minister Charalambos Petrides confirmed on Sunday, adding that air defence exercises are taking place in which the Republic of Cyprus also participates.

Petrides was responding to a journalist’s question about a report published in “Simerini” newspaper regarding the matter, on the sidelines of his visit to a military camp in Delikipos, in the Larnaca district, for the celebration of the Artillery branch of the National Guard, on the day of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of artillery.

The Minister said that, the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in the area, within the context of exercises and multilateral cooperation, and that, air defence exercises take place in which the Republic of Cyprus also participates.

The French aircraft carrier, he added, will be in the area for a set period of time, noting that the partnerships Cyprus has developed are varied and involve different countries and allies.

The Minister of Defence said, that, “in this direction we always act within the framework of peace and stability in the wider region of the eastern Mediterranean.”

“We have a very good cooperation both with the Greek Armed Forces and with other countries inside and outside the EU and in this direction the National Guard implements the bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements we have signed,” he added.

In his speech, the Minister also said that the National Guard is being modernised and strengthened so that it can continue to carry out its task as the main defender of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus, “while at the same time helping to strengthen the sense of security of Cypriot Hellenism” and strengthening the country’s role as a pillar of stability in the wider region.

He also said that the Government’s “unchanging goal remains the solution of the Cyprus problem, through a sincere and honest dialogue, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and the principles and values of the EU. A solution that will secure the human rights and freedoms of all citizens.”

Petrides added that the duty towards those who died or went missing in all the national struggles of the country is to work towards “a free and reunited homeland”, without occupation, and ensuring peace and prosperity for all the Cypriot people.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Police said they will intensify checks for driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol as of Monday, with the aim of protecting the public and preventing and reducing traffic accidents.

The checks will be carried out, round the clock, between Monday and Sunday next week, throughout the entire road network, especially during the midnight hours of Friday and Saturday, where driving under the influence of alcohol occurs more often, police said in a press release.

Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs is one of the main causes of fatal and serious road collisions, police said, adding that, according to statistics, careless driving/driver distraction and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs were the main causes of fatal road accidents in the last three years (2019-2021) with a percentage of 18% and 33.6% respectively.

Police also said that checks continue also for the rest of the traffic offences, with special emphasis given to violations that are the main causes of fatal and serious road collisions, such as driving over the limit, using a mobile phone while driving, and not wearing a seat belt or a protective helmet.

According to the press release, increased checks for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs will also be carried out in other European countries, as part of a pan-European campaign, under the auspices of the European Traffic Police Network ROADPOL.

Source: Cyprus News Agency