Time to stop smoking, Tassos…

CYPRUS’ EU Health Commissioner Marcos Kyprianou said yesterday he had encouraged President Tassos Papadopoulos to quite smoking during discussions between the two men on EU issues affecting Cyprus.

Prior to his first official visit to the island, which began yesterday, Kyprianou had said he would press for stricter implementation of the national anti-smoking law.

After his meeting with Papadopoulos yesterday, Kyprianou said there was a very high percentage of smokers in Cyprus and that the potential for a huge increase in smoking-related illnesses in the future was worrying.

However, he said he could only make proposals regarding the financing of studies and research on the subject, and that it was up to the government to give priority to the issue and how it would affect health services in the future.

Referring to the recent total ban on smoking in public places in Italy, Kyprianou said he had already congratulated the Italian Health Minister for the decision. Scotland was also in line to impose a similar ban, he said.

Asked by reporters if he has asked Papadopoulos to quit smoking, Kyprianou said: “I encouraged him but I cannot impose it on him legislatively.” He added it was wrong to believe that such laws were imposed at the expense of smokers’ rights.

“It is an issue of protection,” he said.

Quizzed on what Papadopoulos’ response had been, Kyprianou said the President “just smiled”.

However, he did say that throughout the meeting, Papadopoulos had refrained from smoking any cigarettes.

During the meeting, the two men also discussed the Lisbon Strategy and the EU constitution.

Kyprianou said he was surprised at the high percentage of Cypriots who were ignorant on the subject.

“It is particularly important that the Cypriot citizen understands the advantages of the constitution,” he said.

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.