‘Small countries have a big role in EU’

DIKO deputy chairman Nicos Kleanthous yesterday stressed the important role Cyprus could play in the EU despite its small size.

Announcing the party’s candidates for the EU elections, Kleanthous said it was an historic event for Cyprus and the 25 member-state bloc.

“At the Democratic Party we have our own vision for the new era; we have our own vision for Cyprus, Europe and the world,” he said.

DIKO urged Cypriot citizens to participate in the elections and make Cyprus an active and creative member of the union, with a substantial contribution to the future of the EU and its peoples.

The party’s six candidates are: journalist Demetris Andreou, former House president Alexis Ghalanos, the director of the Cyprus News Agency Themis Themistocleous, lawyer Kyriacos Kenevezos and deputies Marios Matsakis and Antigoni Papadopoulou.

As a response to the common desire of politicians and social forces of the centre, the party proposed to the people a widely representative list, which provides conditions for wider support, Kleanthous said.

He stressed that Cyprus could play an important role in the EU despite its size and small population.

“Inside the EU, the effectiveness of a state is based on its commitment to European principles and its creative strategy than on its size.

The DIKO deputy chairman ended his speech with the hope that “new friends” would join the party towards the new era.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.