Category: Cyprus News Agency

MEPs have secured an air passenger rules deal that maintains compensation for three-hour delays, ensures faster reimbursement, fee-free child seating and flight price transparency.

On Monday evening, a provisional agreement on a review of air passenger rights rules reached by Parliament and Council negotiators secured unanimous backing from the EP delegation to the so-called Conciliation Committee. The deal seeks to protect passengers against travel disruption, such as denied boarding and delayed or cancelled flights. The rules had not been updated since 2004.

‘The European Parliament has always been the strongest advocate for strong air passenger rights. This agreement will strengthen the rights of air passengers across Europe. It will bring greater transparency and predictability for both consumers and airlines, without creating unnecessary bureaucracy for our industry. Parliament fought hard to make travel fairer and procedures clearer, and this is what we have delivered,’ Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, said.

Compensation and duty of care

Parliament’s negotiators resisted a push to weaken air passenger rights. Under the deal, air travellers maintain the right to be reimbursed or re-routed and to claim compensation if a flight is delayed by more than three hours, if it is cancelled less than 14 days before a flight, or if they are denied boarding.

Compensation for delayed or cancelled flights will depend on flight distance: pound 250 for journeys up to 1,500 km, pound 400 for journeys between 1,500 km and 3,500 km, and pound 600 for all other longer journeys. Air carriers will have the possibility to reduce compensation by 50% for their longest journeys if passengers are offered re-routing to their final destination following travel disruption, or if the delay at arrival does not last more than four hours.

However, airlines will be able to avoid paying compensation, if the delay or cancellation was caused by events beyond their control. The new rules will have an open list of these extraordinary circumstances, including for instance natural disasters, war, weather conditions, unruly passengers, or airport, air navigation or groundhandling service provider strikes.

In all cases air operators will have a duty to take care of stranded passengers by providing refreshments every two hours of waiting time, a meal after three hours, and, if needed during long delays, an overnight stay of a maximum of three nights, the agreement says.

Faster and easier reimbursement

Air carriers will need to electronically provide passengers facing travel disruptions (delay or cancellation) with clear instructions on how to submit a request for compensation within four days of the termination of their journey. MEPs ensured that passengers are not obliged to have a user account or to use a specific application to receive this information. Air passengers will have nine months to file a compensation request, while airlines will have 30 days to pay the compensation or invoke extraordinary circumstances, explain why compensation will not be provided and refer passengers to complaint handling steps, the deal says.

Protecting vulnerable passengers

MEPs ensured passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility (PRM) will have the right to compensation, rerouting and assistance by airlines if they miss a flight due to the airport’s failure to help them reach the gate on time. They also made sure that families with kids are not separated during seating, by obliging air carriers to ensure that any person accompanying a child below the age of 14 should be seated on an adjacent seat without paying extra. The same right will apply to passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility, and to pregnant women.

Upgrading passenger rights

The new rules now include the right to carry on board, without additional fee, one personal item, such as a small bag or backpack. On the insistence of MEPs price transparency and the comparability of air tickets was increased by obliging airlines, intermediaries and search portals to always display the air fare inclusive of carry-on luggage at the outset of the book process. Negotiators agreed that airlines may offer cheaper tickets for passengers who choose voluntarily to travel without hand luggage.

Air passengers will no longer be charged additional fees for correcting name spelling errors or for getting a printed version of a boarding pass if they have already checked in. MEPs also secured passengers the right to obtain boarding passes digitally upon check-in, without any further request or obligation to have a user account or a specific application. In addition, passengers shall not be denied boarding on the grounds that they used their own printed version of a digitally issued boarding pass, the agreement says.

Quotes

Transport and Tourism Committee Vice-chair Virginijus Sinkevicius (Greens, LT) stressed: ‘Today Europe is delivering for air passengers. We have protected the rights people already have, added new safeguards, and brought greater clarity when things go wrong. Parliament was clear from day one: we wanted to modernise the rules, but we would not let passengers pay the price. After more than a decade of deadlock, Europe is finally updating air passenger rights while keeping passengers firmly at the centre.’

Rapporteur Andrey Novakov (EPP, BG) added: ‘Parliament promised passengers that their rights will be protected. And today we delivered. We fought for people, not for statistics. Because behind every delay and every cancellation there are real lives. We also added many clear improvements for families, PRMs and for a competitive aviation sector. This is a balanced result that we can all be proud of.”

Next steps

Under the third reading procedure, the provisional agreement reached in the Conciliation Committee has to be confirmed by both Parliament and the Council within the next six weeks, with a possibility to extend this deadline by a further two weeks. The two institutions will now vote separately on the joint text after its legal-linguistic revision. The European Parliament is planning to vote on the agreement during its July plenary session.

Press conference

On Monday at 19.45, key negotiators, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Cyprus minister of transport Alexis Vafeades, EU Commissioner for sustainable transport and tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Parliament’s rapporteur Andrey Novakov (EPP, BG) and Transport and Tourism Committee Vice-chair Virginijus Sinkevicius (Greens, LT) will brief journalists on the upcoming EU air passenger rights changes. You can follow it live on the Parliament’s multimedia centre.

Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Marilena Raouna will chair, Tuesday, the General Affairs Council of the European Union, the last one under the Cyprus Presidency.

The Ministers, a press release issued by the Secretariat of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU said, will discuss the preparations for the European Council Summit on 18-19 June in Brussels with important issues on the agenda, such as developments in Ukraine and the Middle East, the new Multiannual Financial Framework, global economic challenges in the light of strengthening the competitiveness and strategic autonomy of the EU, European defence and security, migration, illicit drugs and the European Semester.

The agenda of the General Affairs Council also includes a public debate on the draft negotiating box for the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034 presented by the Cyprus Presidency, as well as on the three main components of the new MFF (Regulation establishing the European Fund for Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion, Regulation establishing the European Competitiveness Fund, Regulation establishing the Global Europe Facility).

The Council will also discuss the adoption of the eighteen-month programme of the next Trio Presidencies of Ireland, Lithuania and Greece, as well as a review of the progress report prepared by the Cyprus Presidency on the state of play of the work on the “Omnibus” legislative packages for simplification.

In the context of the 2026 European Semester, Ministers are also expected to approve and transmit to the European Council the horizontal note on the integrated country-specific recommendations. In the context of the Article 7 procedure, Ministers will be informed about the rule of law situation in Hungary.

An informal breakfast meeting on the European Shield for Democracy and Democratic Resilience with the participation of candidate countries and a potential candidate country will also take place.

On Monday, the Deputy Minister will chair, on behalf of the EU, the 27th EU-Montenegro Intergovernmental Conference, as well as the EU Intergovernmental Conferences with Ukraine and Moldova, which will mark the opening of negotiations on the first group of chapters on fundamental principles and values.

The Deputy Minister will also travel to Strasbourg, where she will represent, on Wednesday, the Council of the EU in the plenary session of the European Parliament.

The convergences that have been achieved on the Cyprus issue serve are pivotal as regards the new effort which is currently underway, President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, said in an interview with “Kathimerini” newspaper.

The President noted that Turkey will not move towards a Cyprus solution unless it feels it will benefit from it, noting that the only actor capable of offering benefits to Turkey is the EU. The President stressed that any concession towards Ankara must be preceded by tangible progress on the Cyprus issue.

In this context, ‘we are in the process of a new appointment for a Special Envoy for Cyprus by the President of the Commission,’ he said, adding that last week in Montenegro he discussed specific names with von der Leyen.

Asked about the framework for a solution, the President said that he has discussed about how to move forward with the UN Secretary-General, referring to a ‘very promising effort,’ about which he is cautiously optimistic.

‘The key to this effort are the convergences that have been achieved on the Cyprus issue,’ he said, noting that the need to safeguard these convergences is both our longstanding position and one of (Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan) Erhurman’s four points. ‘Therefore, regarding the framework, let us keep in mind that the convergences constitute the common approach,’ he said.

Furthermore, he reiterated that the effort currently underway concerns the substance of the Cyprus issue, with no room for “constructive ambiguity”.

He also added that first and foremost he himself must agree with the content of the solution. ‘I will not allow any outcome that I do not consider satisfactory for the Cypriot people to be imposed on me,’ he said.

The objective of the effort currently underway ‘is to reach an outcome where the issues that remain open will not be capable of overturning the resolution of the Cyprus problem,’ he noted, making reference to the core chapters of the Cyprus issue: governance, security, guarantees, property, and territory.

Asked which ‘difficult decisions’ everyone will be called upon to make, President Christodoulides said that ‘the solution to the Cyprus problem will not be absolutely just, because for a solution to be absolutely just, it would have to restore the situation as it existed before 1974,’ emphasizing that the solution must be functional and sustainable.

Responding to a question about how feasible it is to have a settlement plan before the end of the year, the President said that ‘if there is political will, this goal is entirely in touch with reality. Even if we do not reach a comprehensive solution by the end of the year, at the very least a state of affairs that cannot be reversed with regard to the political will for the path toward a solution, can be shaped,’ he stressed.

Meanwhile, asked about developments regarding natural gas, he said that the goal is to have the first revenues from natural gas by late 2027 or during 2028.

The President also announced that the Secretariat for European Affairs will not be abolished after the completion of Cyprus’ Presidency of the European Union, ‘because it plays an important role in coordinating all matters related to the EU.’

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

CYPRUS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY

FORECAST FOR THE SEA AREA OF CYPRUS (B)

FOR THE PERIOD FROM 1200 14/06/2026 UNTIL 1200 15/06/2026

Area covered is 8 kilometers seawards.

Winds are in BEAUFORT scale. Times are local times.

Atmospheric pressure at the time of issue: 1008hPa (hectopascal)

Weak low pressure is affecting the area. Today, locally increased cloud coverage will be present while locally increased low cloud coverage with local mist and/or fog patches are expected overnight and during dawn.

Visibility: Good, but moderate to poor in mist and very poor in fog

Sea surface temperature: 24°C

Warnings: NIL

Cyprus will be serving as Vice Chair of the 20th and 21st Sessions of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) for the next two years.

A press release issued on Sunday by the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare said that Cyprus was nominated during the 19th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the UNCRPD by the Asia-Oceania geographical group, to which it belongs.

The Deputy Ministry vows to work closely with all states to the Convention to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities.

Deputy Minister, Klea Hadjistefanou-Papaellina, attended the 19th session of the Conference of the States parties to the Convention, in UN headquarters in New York, between 9-11 June.

This year’s Summit was held under the general theme “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at 20: celebrating and consolidating achievements and shaping the next phase of implementation in a changing world” and coincided with the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Cyprus, in the framework of its EU Presidency, organized a side event named ‘Supported decision-making for persons with disabilities – Best practices in legislative reforms and provision of support services at the international level’.

The event focused on the importance of supported decision-making, highlighting international best practices, legislative reforms and support mechanisms that promote the autonomy, dignity, self-determination and social inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The Deputy Minister also participated as a speaker at an EU event during which she delivered the national statement of the Republic of Cyprus, reaffirming the country’s commitment to the full implementation of the Convention and the promotion of inclusive policies based on human rights.

At the same time, Cyprus co-organized with the EU a working breakfast on the promotion of the Enhanced European Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with particular emphasis on integration, autonomy and supported decision-making.

On the sidelines of the Summit, the Deputy Minister held a series of bilateral meetings with officials of international organizations and government representatives.

She met, inter alia, with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua, with whom she exchanged views on the implementation of the UNCRPD, the challenges ahead and the progress achieved. They also discussed the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Deputy Minister also met with the Irish Minister for Disability, Emer Higgins, discussing the priorities of the Cyprus EU Presidency and the upcoming Irish Presidency.

She also met with the Head of the Greek Delegation, Stelios Kympouropoulos, President of the National Accessibility Authority of Greece. During the meeting, they exchanged views on recent legislative developments in Cyprus and Greece, underlining the importance of accessibility, as well as the provision of quality support services and personal assistance to people with disabilities.

Papaellina also held meetings with the Head of the Qatari Delegation, Khalifa Issa Al Kubaisi with whom she discussed the prospects for cooperation in view of the next Global Disability Summit.

The Deputy Ministry pointed out in its press release that the contacts are part of the framework of strengthening international cooperation and the exchange of good practices on the rights of persons with disabilities and social inclusion policies.

Head of the Cyprus Confederation of Disabled Persons’ Organizations also participated in the Cyprus delegation. Themida Anthopoulou had been nominated by the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare and was selected by the Conference Committee to participate and intervene in a round table discussion, representing the Cyprus civil society.

Central Asia constitutes a region of special importance for Cyprus, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said in an interview with the newspaper “Phileleftheros”, published on Sunday, following his visit to countries in the region.

Invited to assess his visit to the countries of Central Asia, Kombos described it as an important tour ‘in a region that presents particular difficulties for us, and based on the view that an even more intense and methodical effort must be made wherever such difficulties exist.’

‘Central Asia constitutes a region of special significance for us, within which we believe we must make the effort required to safeguard our own interests, without illusions and without exaggerations, while taking into account whatever advantages we have or can create for our country,’ he said.

He noted that precisely because these countries are considered to belong to Turkey’s sphere of influence, ‘an approach aimed at creating diplomatic space must be followed,’ since it is with these countries that serious problems may potentially arise, and conditions conducive to dialogue must therefore be created.

In addition, he said, there is also a positive example being projected in the region, namely Kazakhstan, with which relations have improved rapidly in recent times. This example is being used as a point of reference for relations with the other countries of the region as well, he noted.

The Minister expressed the view that efforts toward dialogue should be intensified, without this meaning that we retreat from our fundamental positions and principles.

He stressed that continuity and consistency in contacts are important, noting that he himself has visited the region for the third time since March 2024. He added that follow-up actions for all these contacts have already been set in motion for the coming period at every possible level, both technical and political.

Furthermore, he noted that the joint declaration adopted at the European Union-Central Asia summit level in April 2025, and at ministerial level one month earlier, which includes an explicit reference to the Cyprus issue and specifically mentions certain resolutions of fundamental importance to Cyprus, ‘outlined the roadmap for relations between the EU and the countries of Central Asia.’

As he noted, ‘we have acted as a member state of the EU, taking into account the importance of the Central Asian states for the European Union, while also taking into account our own national interests, and at the same time moving forward and extending a hand of friendship to these countries through contacts, the strengthening of institutional frameworks, and business development wherever this is possible.’

Cyprus Foreign Minister, Constantinos Kombos, is travelling to Luxembourg to participate in the Foreign Affairs Council that will take place on Monday.

A press release issued by the Foreign Ministry said that EU Ministers will discuss the Russian aggression against Ukraine, with the participation, via videoconference, of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, the situation in the Middle East, EU-China relations and Ebola outbreak.

Before the start of the Council’s work, the Foreign Ministers will have an informal exchange of views with the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ararat Mirzoyan.

The FAC will be followed by the EU-Egypt Association Council.

On the sidelines of the Council, Kombos will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts.

The first meetings with the contractor of the project for the supply and commissioning of three energy storage facilities in strategic locations of the Transmission System in Cyprus, with a total cost of pound 50 million, are expected to take place this month.

Transmission System Operator (TSO) Head, Stavros Stavrinos, has told the Cyprus News Agency that the aim is to immediately start the required implementation works, adding that these facilities will contribute to the stabilization of the electrical system, the reduction of power generation cuts from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and the increase in the penetration of RES in the system.

He noted that the cost of pound 50 million will not be paid immediately but gradually over a 10-year period.

Stavrinos explained to CNA that following the public procurement and licensing procedures, TSO has awarded an international tender for the supply and commissioning of these energy storage facilities at strategic locations.

According to a CERA- Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority – decision taken in 2025, Stavrinos said, two of the three facilities will have a capacity of 40 MW/160 MWh each, while the third will have a capacity of 40 MW/80 MWh and will additionally have grid-forming functionality.

TSO Head said that the project marks the introduction of advanced central storage technologies into the Transmission System, enabling it to gain significant experience and know-how in the operation, management and exploitation of such systems, in particular for the provision of ancillary services and the improvement of the security and stability of the system.

Stavrinos assured that the TSO, in collaboration with the contractor, will make every effort to safeguard that the systems operate within the planned schedule.

A yellow warning for thunderstorms will be in effect from 1100 until 1800 on Sunday.

According to the warning issued by the Department of Meteorology, isolated heavy thunderstorms are expected to affect the mountainous areas, the southeast areas and the inland areas.

In thunderstorm hail is expected. The precipitation rate is locally likely to exceed the 35 millimeters per hour.

CYPRUS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY

FORECAST FOR THE SEA AREA OF CYPRUS (A)

FOR THE PERIOD FROM 0600 14/06/2026 UNTIL 0600 15/06/2026

Area covered is 8 kilometers seawards.

Winds are in BEAUFORT scale. Times are local times.

Atmospheric pressure at the time of issue: 1007hPa (hectopascal)

Weak low pressure and unstable air mass are affecting the area. Today, locally increased cloud coverage will be present while locally increased low cloud coverage with local mist and/or fog patches are expected overnight and during dawn.

Visibility: Good, but moderate to poor in mist and very poor in fog

Sea surface temperature: 24°C

Warnings: NIL