On Friday, Greece donated an aircraft to Cyprus for use by the authorities of the Republic. The handover ceremony took place in Athens during the visit of President Nicos Anastasiades.
President Anastasiades said “on behalf of the Cypriot people and the government, but also myself, I want to thank you very much. We were perhaps the only EU country without a presidential aircraft and the most important thing is, due to the isolation of the Republic of Cyprus, a normal trip to Brussels could mean an extra two days.”
The aircraft will not just be for the President, Anastasiades says
Anastasiades said that the aircraft will not be used only by the President: “And especially now that I am leaving the presidency there will be no one to complain that I did it for myself…this plane will not only be for the transport of the President, government officials, but also for emergencies where they are required for humanitarian reasons, health reasons, etc.”
On his part, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that “it is the least we could do to return…the generosity of Cyprus, which stood by our country, even after the devastating fires in Mati.”
“I think it is very important…in addition to facilitating the movement of the Cypriot President, the flag of Cyprus [will] be imprinted on a government aircraft of the Republic of Cyprus,” Mitsotakis said.
Greece, Cyprus talk about Turkey and energy
Earlier, Mitsotakis and Anastasiades held a meeting where talks focused on Turkey and the energy crisis in Europe.
“We hope, we encourage the European Union to take bold initiatives—as we have discussed many times—because without a European response it is very difficult to tame this explosive rise in natural gas prices,” Mitsotakis said.
“I am personally happy, as Greek Prime Minister, that many of the proposals we have submitted to the European Union are currently being processed by the European Commission,” Mitsotakis admitted. “I point out, however, that we have delayed and that we must do everything possible to gain the lost ground.”
Mitsotakis also emphasized that with stability, self-confidence, and adherence to international law, we respond to Turkey’s rhetoric which unfortunately has recently exceeded all limits.
“This does not mean, however, that we, in any way, will change the responsible attitude with which we deal with all these issues,” he said.
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