Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides described tomorrow’s extraordinary European Council in Brussels as crucial.

In his statements he cited a quote from a European official who said, “as the EU we depend for our defence and security on a third state, we depend for our energy on another third state, we depend for our raw materials on another third state. And without wishing to enter into any competition, I think that as an EU if we want to stand, if we want to talk about strategic autonomy of the EU we have to finally take decisions. And I am glad, I have been saying this for so long, that there were announcements to this effect from the President of the Commission yesterday. All this will be discussed tomorrow.”

The Cypriot President said that instructions have been given to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence and the Secretariat dealing with European programs, so that they can see how the Cypriot Republic can make use in particular of the package concerning the loan for arms. He added that the Cyprus has not escaped from the fiscal rules, as the public debt is at 68% with a downward trend.

“So,” Nikos Christodoulides concluded, “we need to see how we can make use of these EU programs, which I welcome publicly, in order to strengthen the deterrent power of our country.“