Press Releases

I am delighted to be joining you at today’s important assembly of the Directors of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s leading alliance of public service media.

I look forward to your insight on your planned actions to address the enormous challenges in the evolving media field. Challenges which –as you are better aware– greatly affect the decisions of millions of people in Europe and the world.  

Undoubtedly, technological advances have created an entirely new landscape in the field of information. Often this acts as a double edge sword: on the one hand it wipes out conceptions such as time and space, but at the same time, it affects, often in an unruly manner, core ethical principles that you serve, such as the accuracy of information, the respect for privacy, the protection of human dignity and many more.

The affliction of fake news and the manipulation of public opinion by state or private as well as other non-institutional power centres are great challenges discussed at the European Union leadership level, precisely because they affect our democracies and touch upon the core of our common values and of our people, like freedom of speech, unhindered information flow and the exchange of ideas.

In this crucial and highly creative field of the media, the role of public broadcasting remains prominent as its primary task is to provide quality information and entertainment to citizens. As regards Cyprus, the government provides the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) with financial means in order to be apt to operate autonomously and to have its own administration, without any intervention. For us, the CyBC and the media in general, are an integral part of the pillar of democracy and are valued means in the promotion of freedom.

At the same time, the officials and executives of the CyBC can attest that they are encouraged at every opportunity to manage the driving forces of public broadcasting in Cyprus by granting an open platform for public debate.

Public broadcasting has a vital role to play in Cyprus, a member state of the European Union that is under military occupation by Turkey over the last 50 years. The CyBC is far more than television and radio. It is an institution which predates the independence and establishment of the Republic of Cyprus and has been broadcasted all of the country’s milestones over the past decades. Through its vast, invaluable archive the CyBC traces the historical, political, social and cultural course of my country.

Vitaly, CyBC is also the voice of Cyprus abroad, the institution which unites our country with the Diaspora in every corner of the world, the bridge that connects our country with the outside world, and our trustworthy ambassador where news happens: at sports grounds, music stages, political rallies, war fronts.

At the same time, the CyBC has been an active EBU member since 1969, when the world was a much simpler place, when television was still a luxury good and information was a privilege reserved for the few.

I am very well aware of the excellent work that is done at European level through the EBU as well as of the excellent services you offer, particularly in matters relating to European activities. In this framework, the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2026, will be a flagship event. I am aware of the important role the public broadcasting has to play from the previous Cyprus Presidency, which took place in 2012 and during which I served as the Presidency’s spokesperson in Brussels. I have a first-hand experience of the professional standard held by the CyBC as well as the EBU personnel. Therefore, we look to you as valuable partners.

I am certain that this new era as well as the future challenges in the field of public broadcasting and the media in general will be at the centre of your discussions during your general assembly. Once again, I warmly welcome you to Cyprus. Your high professional standards and the principles you serve, form of the foundation on which the edifice of public broadcasting rests as the guardian of democracy, promoter of polyphony and of the unhindered flow of information and ideas.

(RM/MS/NGian)