Press Releases

The President of the Republic, Mr Nicos Anastasiades, received today, at the Presidential Palace, the EPP candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission, Mr Manfred Weber, who was accompanied by the President of the Democratic Rally, Mr Averof Neophytou.

After the meeting Mr Weber told reporters that “it was a great honour to have today the opportunity to meet the President of the Republic of Cyprus for a bilateral exchange of views about the challenges of the next upcoming weeks and months and we agree first of all that the Cyprus question is a European issue.”

He added that with regard to the Cyprus problem, “the United Nations have a big and important role, there is no doubt, but the Cyprus question must be upgraded also on a European level, it must have more importance for the rest of the European Union. Again, the Cyprus issue is a European issue, that is the main message. The Cypriots must know that the rest of the EU is backing up their positions and their concerns. That is what we discussed today. In the upcoming months, we hope for progress, we hope for further talks on this issue.

[With the President of the Republic] we spoke about Europe, about developments on a European level. The upcoming weeks and months is about the people to decide about the future of Europe. The European Parliament elections will take place at the end of May and it is up to the people to decide about the elections; who has the majorities, who will govern, who will lead the EU in the future.

For me, Cyprus is the best place to underline the clear EPP leadership under the leadership of President Anastasiades, and the Democratic Rally showed that the outcome and the success of this policy, especially on the economic terms, is a positive one and that is why we use Cyprus as an example, that the whole EU should be under the leadership of the EPP that creates stability, that creates economic growth and also strength for the global challenges that are ahead of us.

As the lead candidate of the EPP, I want to present in the upcoming weeks a clear programme of what we offer to the people of Europe; very concrete proposals for the future.

I intend to make the next five years positive for the Europeans as a whole. I very much count on the support of President Anastasiades during the Council decisions.”

On his part, Mr Neophytou said that “we thank our dear friend Manfred Weber firstly, for his very clear remarks concerning the Cyprus issue – that, if he will be the next President of the European Commission, the Cyprus problem will be upgraded and will be a European issue.

Secondly, he repeated during his meeting with the President, his vision for Europe. The wrong perception that Europe is only for the banks and the economy has to change. Europe should deal with daily issues and health issues”, issues that are a priority for Mr Weber.

(RM/ML)