OFFICIALS yesterday admitted it was hard to attract attention to any issue unconnected with the historic reunification talks in Switzerland, but made a pitch for greater consumer awareness in the run up to EU accession on May 1.
Speaking at a news conference to mark Consumers’ Day, Commerce Minister George Lillikas sough to highlight the importance of consumer protection.
“This is a historical time for Cyprus and I am sure that the standard of living will improve after accession under EU directives,” said Lillikas.
Inevitably, he was questioned on the outcome of the talks, but would only say their goal was reunification, and that the plan must be such as to benefit both sides, stressing that the reason for yesterday’s news conference was to discuss matters of health, safety and consumer protection.
“We want to study all the possibilities of how we can protect consumers against profiteering,” said Lillikas.
But the minister pointed out that monitoring prices was not allowed under EU law and that liberalisation of prices was all about allowing producers to set their own prices.
“As of May 1 there will also be a free market for the price of natural resource energy,” Lillikas added.
However, the ministry does plan to build a consumer protection centre, an idea backed by the President of the Consumers’ Association, Petros Markou. “We are all for the idea of a centre for consumers,” Markou told reporters.
The head of the EU delegation in Cyprus, Ambassador Adriaan van der Meer said he was extremely pleased with the government’s efforts to change the island’s laws in order to come in to line with the EU.
“I understand that these are very difficult and critical circumstances and the government has still managed to maintain focus on matters other than the Cyprus problem, which must of course take priority,” said Van der Meer.
President of the House Environment Committee, AKEL deputy Eleni Mavrou, said consumer protection was a very important issue. “Although we are all focusing on the talks, people must not be forgotten and we must work for a better life, regardless of the outcome of the talks,” said Mavrou.
“We hope that the talks in Burgenstock pave the way to a solution that will bring peace and fairness to the island. There are currently 370 million consumers in all of Europe and as of May, there will be 450 million. This is a lot of people whose interests must be protected,” said Mavrou.
Lillikas said the ministry would soon be releasing a report on the issue for consumers to see. “We are working together with one objective, to protect consumers’ rights. After all we are all consumers,” said Lillikas.
