Category: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus will focus on three key overarching priorities during its EU Council Presidency, namely strengthening Europe’s digital capabilities, reinforcing cyber resilience and deepening strategic partnerships Deputy Minister for Innovation, Research and Digital Policy, Nikodimos Damianou said on Friday, in Brussels.

In a doorstep statement ahead of a meeting of the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Telecommunications), Damianou said that ‘we are here today in Brussels, at the last Council meeting on Telecomms before Cyprus assumes the Presidency of the Council of the EU.”

“In that respect, let me first thank and congratulate the Danish Presidency for their determination and their progress over the past six months. Together with Poland, our trio partners, they have set the standard high in terms of ambition and in terms of collaboration, and we are happy and proud to take over,’ he noted.

Referring to the priorities of the upcoming Presidency, Damianou said that “Cyprus will focus on three key overarching priorities, three pillars if you like. Strengthening Europe’s digital capabilities and technological leadership, with emphasis on AI, emerging technologies and also the very important aspect of digital sovereignty.”

“Reinforcing cyber resilience and safeguarding our digital ecosystem and this includes the very important aspect of protection of children and minors in the online world. And finally mobilising, deepening strategic partnerships in the digital domain, because sovereignty, and autonomy, is not about isolation,’ he added

The Deputy Minister continued noting that ‘Cyprus commits to work across all these three pillars in parallel together with the member states, the Commission, the European Parliament, in order to drive real progress across our digital agenda, in a way that our citizens and businesses see real value and real change.’

The Council is expected to focus on strengthening European competitiveness in the digital decade, examining issues of simplification and digitalisation, as well as the more effective enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), particularly regarding online platforms and e-commerce.

Ministers will also adopt conclusions on the EU’s digital transformation strategy, exchange views on reducing administrative burdens and improving coordination among supervisory authorities, and receive updates on topics such as the European Business Wallets, the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to roam-like-at-home, and support for Moldova from the EU cybersecurity reserve.

During an informal working lunch, Ministers will further discuss enhancing the Union’s resilience to cyberattacks. Cyprus’s priorities will be presented in a closed session before the end of the Council meeting.

In September 2025, the Industrial Turnover Index reached 151.8 units (base 2021=100), recording an increase of 5.6% compared to September 2024, according to the Statistical Service.

In manufacturing, the Industrial Turnover Index for September 2025 reached 143.4 units, recording an increase of 9.6% compared to September 2024. An increase was also recorded in mining and quarrying (8.5%).

Decreases were noted in the electricity supply (-6%) and water supply and materials recovery (-0.6%) sectors.

For the period January – September 2025, the index recorded an increase of 4.2% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, María Ángela Holguín, is beginning a fresh round of contacts on the island with the community leaders, namely Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhurmam.

Holguin who arrived on the island on Thursday evening is set to meet Erhurman on Friday at 1100 am local time. On Saturday at 1000 am she will be received at the Presidential Palace by President Christodoulides.

On December 11, the two leaders will visit the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) and will hold a meeting with Holguin.

UNSG’s envoy participated, via a videoconference, in the first meeting that President Christodoulides and Erhrman held last month.

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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

In 2025 the Secretary-General hosted two informal meetings on Cyprus, in March in Geneva and in July in New York, while a tripartite meeting with the Cyprus leaders was also held in late September, at the end of the UN General Assembly High Level Week. An informal meeting in broader format is expected to take place.

María Angela Holguín, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties, while former European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, designated by the Commission as Special Envoy for Cyprus, is also expected to contribute to the settlement process, in cooperation with Holguín.

Weather Temperature for Cyprus

Today’s weather and temperatures for Cyprus according to the Department of Meteorology

Date 05/12/2025

Station

TEMPERATURE (C) (FROM 20:00 PC of the previous one until the time of the show)

Humidity at

1200 UTC

Highest

Lowest

Nicosia (Athalassa)

23 (23.1)

10 (10.2)

50

Larnaka Airport

24 (24.4)

16 (15.8)

65

Limassol (New Port)

24 (24)

16 (15.8)

71

Limassol (Municipal Garden)

22,5

14,1

Pafos Airport

24 (24.4)

14 (14.4)

59

Frenaros

23 (22.5)

14 (14.1)

59

Prodromos

15 (15.3)

7 (6.9)

49

Polis Pafos

25 (24.8)

13 (13)

42

The House of Representatives plenary passed a bill, on Thursday evening granting, among other things, the power for the revocation of international protection status for persons who fall under exclusion grounds.

The bill amended the Refugee Act, with the aim of modernising the international protection system and setting out a clearer distribution of responsibilities following the establishment of the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection.

Specific powers are transfered to the Cabinet, the Deputy Minister or the Head of the Asylum Service and a ten-day deadline is introduced for submitting positions before the final revocation, in line with a European Directive.

The bill was approved with 27 votes in favour and 15 against, by AKEL, the Green Party and Nicosia MPs Kostis Efstathiou and Alexandra Attalides.

The debate before the plenary was held in conditions of controversy and the political parties had different approaches on migration in general.

After the vote the Deputy Ministry welcomed the outcome, noting in a press release that the amended legislation enhances the Republic’s institutional framework on the management of asylum matters and harmonises national legislation with European legislation.

UNSG’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, said on Friday she is looking forward to a productive meeting with the community leaders, namely Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhurman.

Holguin who returned on the island for fresh meetings, met on Friday morning with Erhurman and will be received by President Christodoulides on Saturday morning. The two leaders will also have a joint meeting with Holguin on December 11.

She told the press that she is pleased to be back to the island and congratulated Erhurman for becoming the new leader of the T/c community.

“We have a very good conversation, a very useful conversation. I am glad to host next week the meeting of the two leaders”, she said.

Holguin said that she wants the conversation with the leaders to be “very productive and very concrete”.

She recalled that she was in Amman a few weeks ago and met with young Cypriot people, members of the bicommunal Technical Committee on Youth, with whom she had a very productive meeting.

The UN envoy expressed hope that the people realize that they have to support this effort of the leaders, adding that the leaders have to deliver.

“This is my message and I hope we have a very good and productive week,” she told the press.

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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

In 2025 the Secretary-General hosted two informal meetings on Cyprus, in March in Geneva and in July in New York, while a tripartite meeting with the Cyprus leaders was also held in late September, at the end of the UN General Assembly High Level Week. Another informal meeting in broader format is expected to take place.

María Angela Holguín, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties, while former European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, designated by the Commission as Special Envoy for Cyprus, is also expected to contribute to the settlement process, in cooperation with Holguín.

It was not our intention to place responsibility for disinformation materials distributed online on the Turkish state, but to point out that disinformation remains to be a sensitive issue during the Cypriot Presidency, to which we wish every success, the Polish Embassy clarifies in a statement to CNA on Friday about a working lunch with journalists earlier this week.

“The purpose of the meeting was to present the activities and achievements of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU which took place in the first half of 2025,” the Embassy says.

The main priority of the Polish Presidency, it added, “was the security of Member States in the following areas: external, internal, economic, energy, food, health and information. We outlined the achievements of the Polish Presidency in these areas during the main part of the meeting.”

In the context of information security, the statement continues “we focused on disinformation, which is currently one of the major threats spread via the internet and social media.”

“In order to demonstrate the scale of the phenomenon, we presented a number of examples of disinformation and propaganda campaigns currently affecting Poland, the sources of which are mainly identified in Russia,” it adds.

At the same time, it says, “in order to show that disinformation is a very wide-ranging phenomenon observed practically all over the world, including in Cyprus, we presented several examples of fake news and graphics distributed via social media, concerning, among others, CYPROB.”

“It was not our intention to place responsibility for disinformation materials distributed online on the Turkish state, but to point out that disinformation remains to be a sensitive issue during the Cypriot Presidency, to which we wish every success,” the Polish Embassy concludes.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) decided in its last meeting, held between December 2-4, 2025 in Strasbourg, to resume consideration of the issue of the homes and property rights of displaced Greek Cypriots at a scheduled meeting in June 2026, the CoE announced on Thursday.

At the meeting, the Ministers’ Deputies supervised the execution of the European Court’s judgment in the “Cyprus v. Turkey” case.

Cyprus’ Foreign Ministry expressed satisfaction with the decision, noting in an announcement, on Thursday, that the outcome keeps open the supervision of the execution of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the Fourth Interstate Application of the Republic of Cyprus against Turkey, regarding the property aspect of the displaced persons.

While examining the “Xenides-Arestis group v. Turkey” case, as concerns the payment of the just satisfaction awarded by the European Court in 30 cases of this group, the Deputies noted ‘with deep regret the absence of response from the Turkish authorities’ to an Interim Resolution, adopted in September 2023 and exhorted them to “comply with their unconditional obligation to pay the sums awarded by the Court, together with accrued default interest, without further delay.’

Moreover, they announced after the meeting that they took note of the payment of a global sum awarded to the applicants in the cases of “Saveriades v. Turkey” and “Ramon v. Turkey” by the ‘immovable property commission’, covering all aspects of their property claims, including the sums awarded by the European Court in these cases, together with default interest. Therefore, they decided to close their supervision of these cases and adopted a Final Resolution, according to a decision released on Thursday.

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 European Court of Human Rights sentenced Turkey in numerous cases, brought forward by Greek Cypriots, concerning the violation of their fundamental human rights, following the 1974 invasion, with regards to their property.

The Plenary of the House of Representatives unanimously approved on Thursday the ratification of the agreement on the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) between Cyprus and Lebanon, with 31 votes in favour.

The agreement was signed on 26 November in Beirut by the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, and the Minister of Transport of Lebanon, in the presence of the President of Lebanon.

MPs from all parties welcomed the agreement as a very positive development and a “historic” achievement.

Inflation in November 2025 decreased at a rate of 0.5%, according to the Statistical Service. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased by 0.68 points, reaching 117.57 units compared to 118.25 units in October 2025.

The largest increase in the economic categories compared with November 2024 was recorded in Services (3.1%), while the largest negative changes were observed in Electricity (-7.9%) and Agricultural Products (-6.2%).

Compared with October 2025, the largest change was recorded in Agricultural Products (-7.6%).

Analysis of Percentage Changes

Compared to November 2024, the largest increases were recorded in the categories Restaurants and Hotels (5%) and Education (3.3%). The largest drops were recorded in the categories Clothing and Footwear (-7.6%), and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-3.1%).

Compared to October 2025, the largest increase was recorded in the categories Clothing and Footwear (0.9%) and the largest decrease in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-3.2%).

For the period January – November 2025, compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, the largest increases were recorded in the categories Restaurants and Hotels (4.7%), Education (3.7%) and Recreation and Culture (3.2%). The largest drop was recorded in Clothing and Footwear (-6.4%).

Analysis of Effects in Units

The largest positive impact on the change of the CPI in November 2025 compared to November 2024 was recorded in the categories Restaurants and Hotels (0.54), Education (0.15) and Recreation and Culture (0.14), while the largest negative impact on the change of the CPI in November 2025 compared to November 2024 was recorded in the categories Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-0.74) and Clothing and Footwear (-0.59).

The largest impact on the change of the CPI in November 2025 compared to October 2025 was recorded in the categories Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-0.77).

The largest positive impact on the change of the CPI in November 2025 compared to the index of November 2024 was recorded in Catering Services (0.53), while the largest negative impact was recorded in Clothing (-0.47) and Electricity (-0.45).

Potatoes (0.10) had the largest positive impact on the change of the CPI in November 2025 compared to the corresponding index of October 2025, while Fresh Vegetables (-0.79) had the largest negative impact.