The National Council convened at around 10:00 under President Nikos Christodoulides, without former President Nicos Anastasiades. This is the first meeting of the body in its new composition following the parliamentary elections of last May.
ALMA Citizens for Cyprus and Direct Democracy are participating for the first time, represented by Odysseas Michaelides and Fidias Panayiotou respectively.
According to CNA, former President Anastasiades informed that he would not attend. It is noted that Volt officials had raised the issue of his participation, arguing that he should not attend due to the findings related to Mafia State.
Participants in the meeting include DISY leader Annita Demetriou, AKEL secretary general Stefanos Stefanou, ELAM president Christos Christou, DIKO president Nicolas Papadopoulos, ALMA leader Odysseas Michaelides and Direct Democracy leader Fidias Panayiotou.
Also present are Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, Government Spokesperson Constantinos Letymbiotis, Deputy Spokesperson Yiannis Antoniou, negotiator Menelaos Menelaou, National Security Adviser and intelligence chief Tasos Tzionis, Presidential Diplomatic Office director Doros Venezes and Presidential Press Office director Victoras Papadopoulos.
Press conference on Mafia State
It is recalled that on Tuesday Nicos Anastasiades will hold a press conference at the Journalists’ House focusing on the Mafia State case. He has reportedly gathered evidence and material concerning issues which he claims are not included in journalist Makarios Drousiotis’ book.
Holguín’s “loose solution” under discussion
Yesterday, Politis cited information regarding contacts by UN envoy María Ángela Holguín, noting that the idea under discussion is not a return to the traditional federal model of previous decades.
Instead, it involves a looser arrangement within the European Union, which Greek Cypriots could refer to as a federation and Turkish Cypriots as a confederation.
The political essence of this formula is to bridge, through deliberate ambiguity, the gap between the Greek Cypriot position for a bizonal, bicommunal federation and the Turkish Cypriot insistence on sovereign equality and recognition of its distinct political status.
Source: CNA
