Day: March 16, 2023

Nicosia has been very much annoyed by the use of a “flag” of the Turkish Cypriot puppet-regime during the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Turkic States, in Ankara, in the presence of officials from Hungary, an EU member state. Cyprus has asked Budapest for explanations, while Foreign Minister, Constantinos Kombos, will raise this issue during a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart, on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, on Monday, in Brussels. Invited to comment on the use of the “flag”, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Theodoros Gotsis, said that the Ministry had made preventive representations to the member states and to the states that are observers to the Organization as regards the participation of the pseudostate. He underlined that “the issue of the symbols at the presence of Hungarian officials is unacceptable and in addition to the other representations we have conveyed to Budapest that the Republic of Cyprus has been very much annoyed by this development,” he added. Gotsis said that Nicosia has asked explanations from the Hungarian side and the issue is being handled at the diplomatic level. Moreover, he noted that Foreign Minister Kombos will raise the issue during a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, in Brussels. Except from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are member states of the Organization of Turkic States, while Turkmenistan and Hungary are observer states. 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

In 2021, life expectancy at birth was 81.3 years in Cyprus and 80.1 years in the EU according to data published by Eurostat. Life expectancy at birth in 2019 reached 82.3 years in Cyprus (81.3 years in the EU). In 2020, life expectancy in Cyprus remained essentially unchanged at 82.4 years and fell to 80.4 in the EU (-0.9 years). In 2021 life expectancy decreased to 81.3 years in Cyprus (-1.1) and further decreased to 80.1 years in the EU (-0.3), probably as a result of the sudden increase in mortality because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Life expectancy for women (83.4 in Cyprus, 82.9 in the EU) continued to be higher than for men (79.2 in Cyprus, 77.2 in the EU) in 2021, with both registering further decreases following a larger drop from 2019 to 2020. Compared with 2020, life expectancy for both women and men decreased by 0.6 years for men and by 1 year for women in Cyprus, and by 0.3 years for both in the EU. Between 2002 (the first year for which life expectancy data became available for all EU members) and 2021, life expectancy at birth in the EU increased by 2.5 years, from 77.6 to 80.1 years; the increase was 2.0 years for women and 2.9 years for men. In Cyprus, life expectancy increased by 2.6 years between 2002 and 2021 (from 78.7 to 81.3 years); the increase was 2.4 for women and 2.8 years for men. At the country level, the highest life expectancy at birth was recorded in Spain (83.3 years), Sweden (83.1 years), Luxembourg and Italy (both 82.7 years), while the lowest was in Bulgaria (71.4 years), Romania (72.8 years) and Latvia (73.1 years). In 2021, the regions in the EU (NUTS 2 level) with the highest levels of life expectancy at birth were located in Spain, Italy and France. Cyprus is considered a single region on NUTS 1, 2 and 3 levels due to population. The EU region with the highest life expectancy at birth was Madrid (85.4 years), followed by Navarre (84.8 years) and the Finnish region of Åland Islands (84.6 years). Castile and Leon and the Autonomous Province of Trento came next with 84.3 and 84.2 years, respectively, and then Stockholm (84.1 years) with another three Spanish regions: Cantabria and Basque Country (both 84.0 years) and Galicia (83.9 years). The top 10 also includes Île-de-France and Rhône-Alpes in France and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano in Italy, all with 83.8 years. On the other hand, the EU regions with the lowest life expectancy at birth were all in Bulgaria: North-West (69.7), North-Central (70.4), South-East (71.0) and North-East (71.2). These regions were followed by Mayotte (71.5) in France, North-East (72.0) and South-East (72.1) in Romania, North Hungary (72.1) and the Bulgarian regions of South-West (72.1) and South-Central (72.2).

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Minister for Agriculture Rural Development and Environment Petros Xenophontos stressed the need for various environmental legislations to take into account the constraints and specificities faced by each member state, the Environment Council of the European Union which took place in Brussels on Thursday. This is Xenophontos’ first participation in an EU Council since taking office. The Minister will also participate in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on Monday. According to a press release, during a discussion by the Ministers on the new proposed framework for the certification of carbon dioxide removals, the Environment Minister said that the certification methodology should take into account both the geographical context and the existing climate zone of each member state. He added that key concepts should be precisely defined, and that different profiles and conditions of absorption of each member should be taken into account. On the subject of the Packaging Waste Regulation, Xenophontos expressed Cyprus’ concerns about the changes that will have to be made to production processes in terms of the tight timeframes set, including the creation of new infrastructure and models for refilling and reusing packaging and the high costs involved. The environment minister called for the different starting points of each member states be taken into account, outlining the particular circumstances of Cyprus as an isolated island, and the seasonal variations in waste production due to tourism. In the context of a discussion on the revision of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, Xenophontos expressed Cyprus’ concern about the large number of new obligations that will be required, the imminent costs of implementation, as well as the tight timetables. The Minister suggested that the extension of the scope of the directive to smaller plants, as well as the obligation for further treatment, should be based on a Risk Assessment and a cost-benefit study. Regarding the proposal for the revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive, Xenophontos welcomed the compromise text of the proposal and said he was particularly satisfied with the specific regulation included for Cyprus, aiming at the uninterrupted supply of electricity to the citizens and businesses of the country, taking into account that Cyprus is not, at present, energy interconnected with the rest of the EU. He also expressed support to the setting of a limit with regards to mining and mineral processing installations and the exclusion of gypsum installations and, in the spirit of compromise, the proposed admission limits for the livestock sector, while pointing out the need for possible financial assistance to small livestock installations to enable them to cope with the increased requirements.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

President of the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO), Stavros Michail has described the HIO’s participation in the Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Network (PPRI) as very important. The two-day conference of the Network began on Thursday, in Larnaca. In statements to CNA, Michail expressed satisfaction with the fact that HIO is hosting this “very important conference’ of the PPRI network, which has to do with the drug prices and the way in which the negotiations are carried out, but also the whole process to ensure both the medicines, so that there are no shortages, as well as the prices that a Health System can afford. “One of the problems we face in Cyprus is that we are a small market and our bargaining power with pharmaceutical companies is very weak,” he said. He added that 60 delegates from 24 countries are participating in the conference, including countries outside Europe such as Brazil, Canada and Saudi Arabia. During the two-day conference, which is being held for the first time in Cyprus, the delegates will have the opportunity to be informed and exchange information and discuss issues of common interest through the networking of the competent Authorities for pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceutical products. The PPRI network meets annually in various European cities and participation has extended beyond European countries, while the Ministry of Health and HIO have been participating since the start of the network’s operation which for the first time is being held in Cyprus. The seminar is attended by Sabine Vogler, President of the Health Institute of Austria and head of the Organisation as well as delegates from the World Health Organisation. In her statements, Vogler said that countries have the same challenges and it is good to have exchanges. This was the reason, she added, why they began the project and in the first two years, it was co funded by the European Commission. Later on it was fully sustainable with funding from the Austrian Ministry of Health and the contributions of countries, not financial contributions, but in the sense of hosting the meetings. The network, she noted, has 50 countries and it is a network of competent authorities, for those people doing daily work, from the policymakers to the technical experts, so that they can exchange views. All this, she concluded, is happening to the benefit of the patients.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The protection of the environment has always been high on the priorities of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, as well as the House of Representatives, House President Annita Demetriou said, on the occasion of March 21 observed as “Mediterranean Day” as decided at Assembly’s 3rd Plenary Session, held in Morocco in 2008. Demetriou said that this year’s “Mediterranean Day” is dedicated to the fight against organized crime against the environment, an issue of particular concern to the Assembly and the countries of the region, due to the serious damage it causes to the environment, human health and the economies of Mediterranean countries. She noted that the Parliament supports and actively participates in the regional consultations promoted by the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, aiming at harmonizing, revising and strengthening the current legislative framework for environmental crime. The Parliament, Demetriou added, also supports cooperation between state authorities to detect and successfully prosecute serious environmental crimes, as well as any form of organized crime. The President of the Parliament also referred to March 22, which was established by the UN Conference on Environment and Development as “The World Water Day”. She said that because of the reckless use and pollution of water, but also the unprecedented effects of climate change, underground water is running out. Demetriou said that the Cyprus Parliament supports efforts to protect and rationalize water resources, raise awareness of the importance of water, and balance the needs of water supply and sanitation, agriculture or industry with sustainable ecosystem management.

Source: Cyprus News Agency