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The Government Spokesman Mr. Konstantinos Letibiotis gave a briefing to the media today at the Presidential Palace.
In his opening statement, the Spokesman said: "The President of the Republic met today with the Mayor and a delegation of the Famagusta Municipality. The Mayor briefed him in detail on the visit and contacts he had with a delegation of the Famagusta Municipality in Washington with representatives of the White House and their presence in Congress, as well as their contacts in New York with the five permanent members of the Security Council.
For his part, the President of the Republic informed the Mayor and the delegation of the Municipality of Famagusta about the meetings he had with the representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Ms. Holguin, as well as the government's actions at European and international level on the issue of Famagusta.
They also discussed the issues that concern the occupied municipality, such as the issue of the privately owned temporary town hall.
On the occasion of the meeting between the President of the Republic and the Mayor of Famagusta, the government would like to recall the importance of the mass participation of our refugees in the upcoming electoral process for the election of mayors and municipal councils and other authorities of our occupied municipalities. Therefore, we appeal to the refugee world to vote in the upcoming elections for the local government of the occupied municipalities and communities.
The Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Mr. Alexis Vafeades, will present at a press conference the day after tomorrow, Thursday, 8 February 2024, the Plan for the Promotion of Electrification in Cyprus.
The aim of the plan is to promote the purchase of vehicles with zero or low emissions and the use of alternative modes of transport, thus achieving a reduction in the environmental impact of transport, in particular the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions and air pollutants.
The promotion of electromobility is part of the General Policy Framework for the Promotion of the Use of Electric Vehicles of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works and the Cyprus National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).
According to the General Policy Framework for the Promotion of the Use of Electric Vehicles, a target is set for 25% of new vehicle registrations in 2030 to be all-electric vehicles and by 2035 this percentage to increase to 100%. Data from the Statistical Office show that in the last year there has been an increase in the number of registrations of vehicles charged from the electricity network. Specifically, the registration of electric saloon cars in 2023 was 995 compared to 512 in 2022, showing an increase of 94.34%, while the increase compared to 2020 is of 1175% since 78 electric saloon cars were registered in 2020. In 2023, 273 electric motorcycles were registered compared to 192 in 2022, while 40 electric buses were registered in 2023, category for which there were no registrations in 2022 and 2021 and 1 registration in 2020
| [TD] Registrations per year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Electric buses motorcycles | 190 | 185 | 192 | 273 | |
| Electric saloon cars | 78 | 120 | 512 | 995 | |
| Electric Van Cars | 1 | 3 | 35 | 35 | 14 |
| Electric buses | 1 | 0 | 0 | 40 | |
| | [TD] |
[TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD]
[TR] [TD]
Total electrical
[/TD] [TD]270
[/TD] [TD]308
[/TD] [TD]739
[/TD] [TD]739
[/TD] [TD]1322
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Total registrations for the year
[/TD] [TD]39367
[/TD] [TD]34716
[/TD] [TD]33795
[/TD] [TD]45494
[/TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] [TD][/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]
Percentage of electric on the year's enrollment
[/TD] [TD]0,69%
[/TD] [TD]0.89%
[/TD] [TD]2.19%
[/TD] [TD]2.91%
[/TD] [/TR]
The data shows an increase in the use of electric vehicles. Considering that the plan started to be implemented in January 2022, its contribution to the steep increase in pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids is evident. However, we are still far from the target set for 2030.
The 3rd call will be implemented between 2024 and 2025 with a budget of €36 million, with a total project budget of €53 million. The project is funded by the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Mechanism under the Cyprus Recovery and Resilience Plan (CRP).
It is also important to mention that in the 3rd call the amount of the grant for the categories concerning vulnerable population groups has been significantly increased compared to the 1st and 2nd calls. In particular, in the plan there are special categories for disabled vehicle beneficiaries and large families, both for the withdrawal of an old polluting vehicle and the purchase of a new low CO2 emission vehicle (up to 50 g/km) of category M1 (saloon) and for sponsorship for the purchase of a new zero CO2 emission vehicle of category M1 (saloon).
For the withdrawal and purchase of a low CO2 emission vehicle the grant amount is increased to €15,000 compared to €10,000 (1st and 2nd call), while for the purchase of a zero CO2 emission vehicle the grant amount is increased to €20,000 compared to €12,000 (1st and 2nd call). These increases apply to both population groups mentioned above.
In addition, the sponsorship amount for the purchase of a new zero-emission CO2 taxi vehicle has been increased to €20,000 compared to €15,000 in the previous scheme.
The implementation of the above notice is expected to further boost the penetration of the above vehicles in the fleet of vehicles circulating in Cyprus, and at the same time give the opportunity to persons falling within the above population groups to acquire an environmentally friendly vehicle, which requires low running costs.
The results of the people-oriented policy implemented by the Government have positively affected the daily life of thousands of citizens through the payment of salaries and pensions in January.
With the implementation of the Government's Decree to increase the National Minimum Wage to €1,000, wages for 25,000 low-paid workers were increased, while the completion of the acceleration of the procedures for timely payment of the first payment for the statutory pension finally eliminated the long delays of the past and 6,000 new pensioners start receiving their pension within one month of their retirement date.
The implementation of the Governance Programme continues with substantial results that improve the quality of life of citizens at the heart of government policies.
Through dialogue and consultation with all stakeholders and aiming at the transition to a modern, human-centred and inclusive school, while improving learning outcomes, we have promoted and achieved the final regulation of the assessment system for secondary school students.
With this final regulation, already implemented since the beginning of the school year:
- The January mid-term central examination is abolished.
- The division of the curriculum into two parts and the June final examination are maintained.
- Modern alternative forms of student assessment are implemented.
- The number of competitions is significantly reduced.
- Efforts to reduce the amount of material to be tested are strengthened.
- Valuable teaching time is saved.
- Creative work in the classroom is emphasised.
- Student anxiety is significantly reduced.
The modernization of the assessment system for secondary school students that we have achieved makes a decisive contribution to the realization of the goal we have set in the Governance Programme to strengthen our students' efforts to cultivate their abilities and skills, to enhance their critical thinking, to develop their creativity and to make use of their talents".
(PM/NZ/EATH)
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