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- Ελληνικά
The President of the Republic Mr.Nicos Christodoulides, in the context of his participation in the work of the Informal Meeting of the European Council in Granada, made the following statements to journalists:
"I consider today's Informal Meeting of the European Council particularly important, because of the issues discussed. The strategic agenda that will occupy the priorities of the European Union for the next five years should, I believe, as a primary objective, achieve the strategic autonomy of the European Union. Strategic autonomy in particular in matters of defence and security, energy and economic matters. This will be our approach. An approach which is also in line with the views and positions of other Member States of the European Union.
At the same time, I think it is important that we should also address the issue of further integration of the European Union. The Republic of Cyprus belongs to those member states, which strongly support the need for further integration and if there is no agreement at the level of the "27", we should look at those member states for which we wish to achieve further integration, how we achieve it.
At the same time, there is the issue of migration. An issue that we discussed in detail and recently at the Summit of the Nine Mediterranean States in Malta. We should be concerned and decisions should be taken, particularly in relation to the root causes of the migration phenomenon. If we do not address these root causes, we will not be able to talk about a comprehensive approach to migration and thus to mitigate the difficulties faced by the frontline states.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to discuss with the Presidents of the institutions, but also with the German Chancellor and the French President. Let me remind you that the Chancellor of Germany recently, during his meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, raised the issue of the need for progress on the Cyprus issue - the resumption of talks - so that the Euro-Turkish issues can also be discussed. There was also contact with New York. I believe that the Security Council's mandate to appoint an envoy to explore the prospects for a resumption of talks is well under way. There are consultations at a very advanced stage and possibly in the next few days, in the next few weeks we may have some positive announcements from the United Nations in this direction.
At the same time, the European Union is preparing, as instructed by the European Council, the report in relation to the Euro-Turkish issues. I am not referring to the report that we have every year in connection with enlargement. I am referring specifically to the issue of the mandate given by the European Council. This report is being prepared, it will be finalised in November for discussion at the December European Council. So I think that the appointment of the Secretary General will start the whole process which will hopefully lead to the resumption of substantive talks, which will allow us to see possibly different developments in Euro-Turkish affairs."
In response to a question about the discussions on Armenia, the President said: "During the discussions that took place, particularly in the session that I participated in yesterday, the Greek Prime Minister participated, so did the President of Armenia and the High Representative. It was the need for coherence, for there to be a reaction on the part of the European Union, as there rightly is on the issue of the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine. And it is something that also touches on the point that we mentioned earlier about the need for strategic autonomy for the European Union. It is important, if we want the European Union to play this geopolitical role that we are all talking about, to see it through concrete actions. There is also this special relationship (of Cyprus) with Armenia, as well as Greece, and we are here to help in this direction."
Finally, asked about the migration issue and whether he expects progress in the discussion on the external dimension, President Christodoulides said: "Recently there has been a positive development in Brussels. This will allow the start of the trilogues at the level of the European Parliament. We hope, and this was the response from the President of the European Parliament, that the relevant negotiations will proceed very quickly in order to arrive at the overall implementation of the Pact. Beyond that, with regard to the external dimension in particular, the issue of addressing the root causes of the migration phenomenon is the only thing that will lead us to a solution to the problem."
(NG/SX)
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