[PIO] Statements by the President of the Republic at the opening of the meeting of the Council of Ministers

The President of the Republic, Mr.

Addressing the members of the Council of Ministers, the President of the Republic said: "The implementation of the Local Government Reform has begun. We hope that it will lead to the results we seek in the case of the everyday life of the citizen.

At the same time, we will also dare to make changes to ensure proper functioning. It is constantly being evaluated, and whatever changes need to be made will be made.

I was particularly pleased to see that the first planning permit in Nicosia took an hour and a half to be issued. This is a positive development. Bureaucracy is also being tackled through the reform, in addition to all the other measures taken by the Ministry of Interior and across the board in all ministries.

Among the current issues, I highlight the proposal of the Ministry of Agriculture for the Forestry Department, which will be strengthened with more staff on the basis of a specific evaluation. We have seen the need for more staff and we will proceed with the recruitment of hourly staff to meet the needs, always with the agreement of the Ministry of Finance.

Also important is the proposal on the issue of the subsidy to deal with under-birth rate. We will have other proposals. You remember that, because many ministries are involved, in September I expect to announce measures to address under-birth rate.

It is an issue with many problems, we need the birth rate to be at least 2.1% to have a replacement of the population every 25 years, we are at 1.3%. We are way behind and we need a holistic approach. In September I look forward to your recommendations so that we can make announcements.

On the issue of undeclared work, bills will be sent to Parliament which we will approve today. It also touches the underground economy, which has a high percentage in Cyprus, and we hope that there will be an immediate vote by the Parliament to strengthen this effort that we have been making since day one, because undeclared work touches the underground economy and migration and many other aspects."

(PM/NZ/EP)
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