H.E. Dr. Michalis Stavrinos:

The feeling expressed by the Deputy's friend is widespread. However, the Cypriot people were always pro-European. Zeno of Citium, a Cypriot of the fourth century BC, was the philosopher who came up with Stoic philosophy. Many of today's philosophical values such as tolerance, acceptance of difference, cosmopolitanism and so on, were initially preached by a Cypriot. All Cypriots have felt like Europeans since long ago. There is a mixture of disappointment. They were expecting more from the European Union, especially on the solidarity issue, which was not seen. There is a feeling that Cyprus was used as an experimental project without any thought for the human aspect. Nevertheless, the Cypriots decided to play by the rules of the game. They are working very hard. They suffer a lot and the results of the economy show that despite any weaknesses and shortcomings in the programme, by following it they can come out of it.

I should talk about the economic situation in Cyprus. The total population of the country is less than 1 million people, so we can make the analogy with Ireland. It was dependent mainly on tourism and services. Because of the damage to the banking sector, half of the economy was destroyed. Nevertheless, people are trying to find new avenues for getting back to growth with the guidance of the Government. The results up until now show that this is possible. We are very optimistic that in the foreseeable future we will be able to come out of it.