Politics | Interview which I have done since I took this office. For the past two years, I think that we managed to change a lot and I believe that, now, the parliament is operating more efficiently, but we have a lot of things to do and, therefore, I start feeling the time pressure; believing that if this is a year where I am not going to achieve 100% of my targets that I put in place 2 years ago, I should achieve at least 90%. Several of your ex-PP tried to find a solution for constructing a new building for parliament, but only you managed to solve this challenge. What did you do to make it happen? I can imagine what difficulties my predecessors had trying to sol ve this issue, with a civil service and operations staff of munici palities, etc. Therefore, I had several meeting with the president and other officials in order to solve this problem. I insisted and was assured that the building of the new parliament will start next year, but, until I see it with my own eyes that the con tractor has started work, I will not say that I achieved a result yet. What is your view on possible solution platforms for resolving the Cypriot-Turkish problem? I am not optimistic at all and, as the time passes, I am be coming more pessimistic. I believe that Turkey, in general, and especially Mr. Erdogan, has a strategic plan for controlling the whole Eastern Mediterranean and, not only that, considers Cyprus as the base and the centre for his plans. I think its over simplification to ask how Cypriots, Turks and Greek can solve this problem. The problem is not Turkish and Cypriot. The prob lem is the Turkish invasion in Cyprus, the presence of the Tur kish army, the Turkish settlers who came into the occupied area and the total approach of Turkey. We are seeing Turkey inva ding Syria, Iraq and other countries, as they want to expand their military presence. So, from what we see, somebody would be very illogical to be optimistic in this case. What do you think of Cyprus-Russian relations? With the new directives from the U.S. financial department regarding the trans parency of all transactions through local banks, many Rus sian investors have become locked in ‘‘on-hold’’ positions, which is not good for the Cypriot economy. What comments can you offer on this situation? Well, for the past few decades, Russian-Cypriot relations have been very good and even better sometimes, and we had a lot of help from Russians on the political scene with the Cyprus problem and on the international scene for many other issues. Also, in the economic sector, we had a lot of support from Russia and Russian people. In recent times, it seems that we have had some problems that are not political problems, but problems that we face because of the financial war between US and Rus sia. Still, we have to try to survive because, being a small country, we cannot take part in this war and we have to save our interests. When two elephants are fighting with each other for the grass, we have to just watch. Regarding the issue with the banks, the situation is conside red not only Russian, but all other nationalities. The issue is that, sometimes, our banks apply rules and regulations more strictly then they should. This is the one issue that I am dealing with and I want to arrange a meeting between the banks, the minis try and business people to see how we can resolve this problem because a lot of Cypriots are suffering with the same problems with the banks as well. We will discuss it with the regulatory authorities. Otherwise, at the end of the day, we will not have a banking system that operates in a way to support busines ses, but I want to underline that this situation is not only against Russians.
‘‘We should create a citizenship programme by giving opportunities to researchers and scientists to be based in Cyprus, especially in the field of artificial intelligence’’
‘‘I start feeling the time pressure; believing that if this is a year where I am not going to achieve 100% of my targets that I put in place 2 years ago, I should achieve at least 90%’’
The Cyprus passport programme has been criticised by other European countries. Are you planning to become stricter with how this programme is implemented in the future? I think that the term ‘‘passport programme’’ is wrong. As far as it is now, it is ‘‘citizenship by investments’’ and I think it is a ve ry good programme and, as it is now, it is quite satisfactory. The criticism is coming, first of all, from sources that want to sup port other countries and to lure investors there. I believe that for attracting investors to Cyprus, it is a very good programme, as well as for the European economy and I am actually in favour of expanding this programme, not only for investors, but also for researchers and scientists, especially in artificial intelligence (AI). That will be my next proposal to the government. We should create a citizenship programme by giving opportunities to re searchers and scientists to be based in Cyprus, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. Regarding the changes in the programme, it depends on the government. Recently, the government already made li mitations for passports to 700 a year. I do not understand why other European countries accept thousands of cheap labourers and settlers that change the whole demographic profile of the country and it does not cause problems, but when it comes to Cyprus, they become very sensitive. What problems can it cause for other European countries that we take in 200-300 investors? The answer is that they simply need these investors to go to their countries. When it comes to hundreds of refugees arriving to Cyprus, the EU does not notice this problem. They are only focusing on the coup le of hundred potential investors who want to invest in Cyp rus and live here. Regarding the refugees, we have received them for the past couple of years. We have a policy based on the EU approach and humanitarian principals and we try to control and deal with this problem. We all know that most of these refugees are coming with the assistance of Turkey and they even encourage them to come here. How do you see Cyprus in 20 years? In 20 years, Cyprus will be the most prosperous country in the European Union. I believe that it will be a centre of edu cation and lifelong learning, a centre for health and medical treatment, a centre for health tourism and a centre for high technologies. If the Cyprus problem is resolved by this time, all the above will be doubled or tripled.
September - October - November 2018
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