Cyprus

The accord forged by the Cypriot Ministry of Labor alongside employer and trade union representatives to tackle workforce shortages, especially prevalent during the summer months, seems poised to confront a long-standing challenge head-on.

Cyprus' Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis traveled to Guangzhou, China, to attend the naming ceremony of the newly built cargo ship AAL Limassol.

The vessel is owned by AAL Shipping, a part of the Schoeller Holdings group of companies, chaired by Heinrich Schoeller.

Cypriot electricity consumers should not be burdened with a surcharge before the operation of the electricity interconnector linking Greece and Cyprus and the consequent reduction of electricity costs, Cypriot Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry George Papanastasiou said on Monday.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Chile's counterpart Gabriel Boric shake hands at La Moneda government palace in Santiago, Chile, on April 24, 2024. Sakellaropoulou is on an official visit to Chile, following an invitation by Boric.

The European Commission has taken action against Greece and Cyprus for their failure to properly implement rules aimed at combating fraud within the EU's budget. 

Eurostat data indicates that Greece (161.9%), Italy (137.3%), France (110.6%), Spain (107.7%), and Belgium reported the highest public debt-to-GDP ratios among EU member states by the conclusion of 2023.

Cyprus ended 2023 with a fiscal surplus of 918.7 million euros, the country's Statistical Service (CyStat) said on Monday.

However, the country still has a significant debt of €23.03 billion, which is about 77.3% of its total economic output.

A week after Cyprus suspended the processing of asylum applications from Syrians due to a sharp increase in arrivals, the president of the Mediterranean island, Nikos Christodoulides, warned that the EU country cannot accommodate more refugees from the war-torn country.

The ongoing debate over multiple pensions for former and current state officials has taken center stage in Cyprus, with the Cypriot government facing criticism from political parties and the country's Audit Office.

The lack of goodwill from the Turkish side does not bode well for the reunification prospects of Cyprus, its Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said in an interview with Kathimerini. One cannot expect a gesture of goodwill, he said, when Ankara recently described not occupying all of Cyprus in 1974 as a mistake.