Papadopoulos would seek new Cyprus conference if elected

Presidential hopeful Nicolas Papadopoulos is ready to accept an invitation from the UN Secretary-General for a new Conference on Cyprus, but said he would try to change the five-party composition of previous meetings.

In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency, Papadopoulos referred to the new strategy he has announced on the Cyprus issue, noting that his intention was to withdraw the “unacceptable compromises” of the previous two governments, and to render a non-solution costly to Ankara in order to change its intransigent stance.

Papadopoulos said the first he would do if elected would be to request a meeting with the UN Secretary-General to ask for a new round of peace talks. However, he would tell the UN chief that the “unacceptable and dangerous compromises” of the Cypriot governments during the past 10 years could not be on the negotiating table.

On the economy, Papadopoulos referred to his proposal for the creation of a Non-Performing Loans’ Management Unit with money from the European Central Bank.

“We have a specific proposal to establish a unit that will absorb all these NPLs from the banks so that these banks will need less capital,” he said. The state through its participation in this unit would clinch an agreement with the banks for the management of bad loans, he added.

On energy, Papadopoulos criticised the government for delays in the exploitation of natural gas reserves and talked about his proposal for cooperation with Egypt in the use of its terminals in order for Cyprus to export gas within a short period of time.

Initial plans were for gas exports in 2018, and now the government has stated that this will take place in 2024, he said.

The first round of the presidential elections will take place on January 28 with nine candidates registered.

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.