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It is a great pleasure to participate in tonight's "Youth Awards 2024" Ceremony and to be among so many young people, who have distinguished themselves for their actions and creations in social contribution, entrepreneurship, environmental action, sports, culture and many other areas. The "Youth Awards 2024" are part of the Year of Youth 2024, which was declared by the State through a decision of the Council of Ministers. I believe that tonight's event should be established as an institution so that every year we can award our young people who are role models for other young people. We are at your disposal to work together to make the event an institution.
As a State, we wish to promote the decision to designate 2024 as the Year of Youth and we aim both to enhance, strengthen and expand the involvement of young people in decision-making processes and to develop and support their activities, skills and mental resilience.
In this effort, the Cyprus Youth Organisation (CYYO) - our closest partner - since 1994 has undertaken, among many other things, the difficult but at the same time creative task of coordinating actions and programmes concerning young people in Cyprus. In its 30 years of life, it has objectively demonstrated a rich and remarkable work and I would like to take advantage of my presence here tonight to congratulate, on behalf of the State, all the members of the Organization, who in this 30-year course have diligently dealt with youth, provided opportunities, supported efforts, supported initiatives and generally stood by the young people of our country.
Dear President of the ONEC, allow me on your behalf to congratulate all your predecessors and all members of the ONEC, and to express the certainty that this productive course will continue with the same zeal and dedication. The State, the Cypriot people owe you a lot and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you tonight.
As a Government, from the very first moment we took over the reins of the country, we placed issues concerning Youth high on our priorities. That is why we decided to make 2024 the Year of Youth.
In this context, we set as our primary goal the effective utilisation of the creative capacity of our youth. We made it a priority to create channels of direct communication between our youth and the Government. This is precisely why we have very recently created, through the Office of the Citizens' Commissioner, the online platform "VOICE OF THE CITIZEN", where our young people, from the age of 17, can express their views on issues that concern them, that are of concern to the public debate and, consequently, we, as the executive, can take them into account in our decisions. The platform was launched for the first time in March, and in fact it was launched with a question that is clearly relevant to young people. More specifically, the question aims to hear society's views on extending the minimum age for voting and voting from the age of 17 or 16. This is an innovation that, in addition to what I have mentioned above, promotes in practice a common objective that we share with the ONEC, participatory democracy, recognising the importance of Society's opinion. We therefore trust the judgment of the Cypriot people, we trust our Youth and we give them the opportunity to be able to determine their future and that of our country.
At the same time, we are working with the ONEK on the operation of the online platform "EKFRACY", which is ready and will be operational very soon. In "EKFRACY", young people of Cyprus will be able to discuss live, in real time and directly with State officials, the President of the Republic, Ministers and others, and they will be able to submit their questions, their suggestions and even their criticism of the executive and any wrongdoings in our country.
We want, and we show it with actions and not with words, young people to participate effectively in the decision-making processes. We are here to listen, to listen to your wishes and aspirations and together to shape the present and future of our country. After all, one of the tenets of our governance is that Cyprus is not the temporary rulers and institutional officials, but Cyprus is its Citizens. Cyprus is all of you, the future of our country, and it is you who must responsibly determine the course and identity of our country. We have already prepared the aforementioned digital tools for two-way communication between citizens, our young people and the executive, and we are already preparing a bill on democratic participation and the reduction of the democratic deficit. In the coming weeks we will submit the Bill concerning the "Citizens' Legislative Initiative", through which and with the collection of 5000 signatures you will be able to submit bill proposals for discussion and implementation. Because I truly believe that democracy needs all citizens active, especially the most productive party, our youth, so that it can move forward, evolve and grow.
My generation, the generation of war, of invasion, growing up, we had significantly more opportunities than our parents had growing up. And our parents, in turn, growing up had clearly more opportunities than those our parents, our grandparents, had growing up. Today, sadly, is the first time since World War II that a significant percentage of our young people are growing up with fewer opportunities than their parents had. I urge you to think about this. It is a painful reality, although this is not just a matter for our country. It is undoubtedly a very negative development with multiple negative effects, such as on family life, the birth rate, the brain drain and much more. It is a fact that concerns me greatly and we must take a holistic, very specific approach, with actions rather than words, to deal with this phenomenon. Taking this fact into account, we have taken important decisions regarding housing policy, youth entrepreneurship, bringing young people into contact with culture, linking education with the labour market and many other policies.
Tonight is not the right evening to present and analyse the whole Government plan that concerns and affects our young people. Tonight we are here to congratulate, give credit and at the same time reaffirm our support and cooperation in the work of the ONEC. It is noteworthy that this year ONEK has included two more areas in the awards, the Peace Award and the Young at Heart Award.
As you know, 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Turkish invasion, half a century of Turkish occupation, a year that marked the course of our homeland and by extension fatefully follows the lives of so many young people in our country. I want to assure you, on the occasion of my presence here tonight, that as a State we are working primarily for peace, for the achievement of a viable and workable solution to the Cyprus problem. This is our only goal, because peace in a country is the most precious good and the fertile field for every young person who wants to live and thrive.
In conclusion, I strongly feel the need to stress that society, as well as the State, is in dire need of an active youth, a youth that believes deeply in the mechanisms of democracy, participation and political dialogue. A youth that will demand a more effective state, that will ensure a system of genuine meritocracy, free of party and personal connections. Above all, our youth need to envision, dream and fight for a more promising, more innovative and more progressive future. I declare again, on behalf of all the members of the Cabinet - and I believe that the massive presence of so many Ministers here is an indication of the importance we attach to our youth - that we will stand by you, we will support you, we will be inspired by you and together we will work for the Cyprus we all dream of and aspire to. A Cyprus of meaningful participatory democracy, a Cyprus without occupying troops, with our young people as protagonists.
(RM/GC/EAth/AF)
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