Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting with President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides 16:30 Press remarks by President António Costa following the[...]

Mr President, dear Nikos, first of all, thank you very much for your warm and friendly welcome to Cyprus, and for this opportunity to work face to face and together to prepare the coming months of the European Union.

These visits are very important for me. First of all, because it is important to bring the European institutions closer to the citizens. Secondly, because it is very important to engage with all the leaders in all the member states, because all matter. And now you matter more than usual, because you are going to assume the rotating presidency in the first semester of 2026. And so we have the opportunity to prepare and to plan together this very important presidency. It comes in a critical moment, in a critical moment for peace in Europe, where we need to manage the situation created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We need to increase our investment in our own security, and security means defence capabilities, but also security to protect our citizens and our societies.

In this regard, I think it is a very good news what president von der Leyen announced last week to install here in Cyprus a new firefighter hub, to protect all of us from the risk of wildfires. That is a common risk in all the Mediterranean area, it is a great risk in all the Southern countries. And unfortunately, climate change has a strong impact on this. And this is also a reminder that climate change is not a fantasy, but unfortunately it is a reality which is already impacting our lives. This is also an important topic for our discussions and actions in the coming months, because we need to continue to have an ambitious agenda on climate.

Of course, taking into account what are the challenges that we need to face to protect the competitiveness of our economy, the competitiveness of our companies and the cohesion in our societies. But we cannot give up in our climate ambition because we are witnessing every year how the risks that increasing in our countries.

We have security and defence, and we have competitiveness. And we count on you to push forward what we are doing on cutting red tape, on deregulation, on increasing our capacity to invest on innovation, to promote trade and to develop our Single Market, namely our Savings and Investment Union that is critical for our common future.

Of course, each presidency apports its own mark. And, we count on Cyprus to ensure that Europe engages more with the Mediterranean and with the Middle East. You are in a very geostrategic position, very important for the Union as a whole. And we count on you to increase our relationship and to start implementing our strategy for the Mediterranean and to engage with our neighbours, because we need to continue to promote multilateralism and a rules based order to increase peace and stability in the world. And for this, I want to commend your clear position on Gaza and your commitment to ensure this humanitarian corridor from Cyprus to Gaza.