Nicosia, Cyprus. Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis on Friday sharply criticized parliament after lawmakers rejected a government request to extend European Affairs Deputy Minister Marilena Raouna’s term in office until the end of this year.
Rejected extension
Parliament on Thursday night refused to approve the government’s request to extend Raouna’s term. Raouna had been appointed deputy minister ahead of and for the purpose of overseeing Cyprus’ six-month term holding the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency during the first half of this year.
She took office in January 2024. The legislation creating the post provided that it would cease to exist at the end of this month, one month after the end of Cyprus’ six-month term.
Previous precedent
The same procedure was followed when late president Demetris Christofias appointed Andreas Mavroyiannis as European affairs deputy minister when Cyprus first held the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency in the second half of 2012. Mavroyiannis ceased to be deputy minister on January 31, 2013.
On this occasion, however, the government had sought to extend Raouna’s term, and Letymbiotis responded tersely after parliament rejected the proposal.
Letymbiotis’ remarks
“A two-page bill which, however, had great importance for this country and its national aspirations, was rejected. Yesterday [Disy MP Demetris] Demetriou said that the problem was the urgent nature of the procedure. There was no time to ‘study’ it. Except that essentially, there was one change they had to study,” Letymbiotis said.
He said the change was “replacing the date of July 31, 2026 with the date of December 13, 2026”.
“This is the change that they did not have time to study,” he said.
Debate over the deputy ministry
Letymbiotis also referred to comments made on Friday by Disy MP Onoufrios Koulla, saying Koulla had stated that “the European affairs deputy ministry is not needed either”.
“Obviously, the 22 European Union member states which have an organised political structure for European issues have got something wrong, and obviously, by the same token, Cyprus does not need such a structure either, even though it is a country with a national issue, with critical European negotiations ahead of it, and with the Cyprus problem’s European dimension gaining even greater importance,” Letymbiotis said.