Overwhelming majority: Cypriot MP’s would like to improve relations with Russia
The Parliament of Cyprus has voted to lift sanctions from Russia. The relevant resolution was adopted by the majority of MPs on Thursday. The voting was initiated by the Progressive Communist Party– this is the second largest party in the Parliament. However, the MPs from other political parties have also supported the resolution.
According to the authors the sanctions not only proven themselves to be ineffective, but also damaged the economic situation in the EU. Cyprus was among the countries who suffered from that backfire the most- the counter-sanctions of Moscow resulted in significant losses in different spheres of economy. Cyprus products lost their markets in Russia and the cooperation in financial matters has declined. However the crisis in Ukraine, which was the reason why sanctions were introduced in the first place, only deteriorated. However, the trade embargo imposed by Russia has left thousands of farmers across the EU without income- the economic damages is counted in billions of Euros.
It is worth noting that the adopted resolution is a mere recommendation. There is no obligation to enforce it, however according to the authors, it should serve as the signal to the government of Cyprus and to the EU governments alike, that there foreign policy of the EU become ever less popular.
Similar document was earlier adopted by the French Senate and a number of regional parliaments in different parts of Italy.
The Cyprus authorities condemned that strike in the Paphos Airport
The passengers of 23 flights have suffered from the strike of the ground services in the Paphos airport. Around 350 individuals left heir working places in the middle of the work for 2 hours. This has placed the already problematic airport on the verge of total collapse.
Travelers were unable to get their luggage or check-in for their flight. Moreover, the Taxi drivers refused to serve passengers because they were having their own strike, which was organized due to problems of implementation of the new collective agreement.
The Cyprus authorities have already called this strike as serious impact on the image of the island in the heat of the tourist season.
Police is looking for a gang of burglars.
The Cyprus police is called the public to be on lookout, due to a gang of burglars operating in Limassol. There are not many details available yet- the number and features of the burglars remain unknown. It has only been reported that the criminals are probably foreigners and they choose the houses of wealthy Russians as their targets. At least this is the statistical data.
The first victim was a businessmen, who lost valuables for almost 500,000 Euros. The losses of other vistims are much smaller.
Due to the above, police is urging the public to be extremely cautious.
New rules developed by the government to combat smoking.
The Cyprus authorities have decided to combat smoking and they developed the new rules which comply with the EU regulations.
From now own, it is strictly forbidden to smoke near the hospitals and schools- the fine for the violation is quite significant- 850 EUR. 65% of the area of the packaging will have to contain warnings about the dangers of smoking.
Another restriction concerns electronic cigarettes- they are now considered as ordinary cigarettes, so people will only be allowed to smoke them in the allocated places.