Cyprus is changing and moving forward, with self-confidence and assurance, creating hope and perspective for all of our people, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis said in his televised New Year’s message shortly before welcoming the new year, saying that we welcome 2025 and the central goal , remains the improvement of every citizen’s daily life.

Today, he said, “waiting for the arrival of 2025, looking you, as always in the eyes, with sincerity and responsibility, I assure you that Cyprus is changing. Cyprus is changing and moving forward, with confidence and assurance, creating hope and perspective for the whole of our people”.

Saying goodbye to 2024, he added, “it is clear that hard work, planning, dedication, methodicality and persistence, focusing on key areas that affect the whole of society, the many not the few, our children and families , is bearing fruit and leading our Cyprus to where it deserves, together with all my colleagues in the Council of Ministers, who work hard and with dedication, always with me the Human being at the center of our policies, we are changing Cyprus”.

“We welcome 2025 and the central goal remains the improvement of every citizen’s daily life. Let us therefore look to the future with vision, with optimism, with hope and with perspective, stronger than ever and always united.”

Christodoulidis took stock of 2024 both for the Cyprus issue and for internal governance, the economy and foreign policy.

Cypriot

Noting that the strengthening of our country’s power factors, both internally and externally, contributes decisively to our effort to achieve our top priority which is none other than ending the occupation, liberating and reuniting our homeland, the President stated that from the first day of assuming his duties he is making every possible effort to resume the talks from where they were interrupted and to resolve the Cyprus issue on the basis of the agreed framework, using the negotiated acquis and respecting EU principles and values.

This year especially, he said, “when the year was marked by the sad 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion and the continued occupation of 37% of our homeland, we remember and honor all those who sacrificed for the Republic of Cyprus to exist today, the displaced and the victims, our heroic internees, the relatives of the fallen and missing, and we are further intensifying our efforts to end the unacceptable status quo.”

The president stated that despite the challenges, problems, intransigence and the demand of the Turkish side to change the basis of the solution, we succeeded with persistent and coordinated diplomatic moves and after first being convinced of our clear and sincere political will, the seriousness of intentions and the constructive undertaking of initiatives, the reactivation of the international actor and the re-engagement, personally of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in a new initiative for lifting the impasse and resuming talks.

“In this direction we worked on the basis of specific planning, leveraging the strengthening of our international footprint and our status as an EU member state, creating incentives and conditions for a change in Turkish attitude. We succeeded in connecting in a clear, gradual, proportional and reversible way , in the Conclusions of the European Council, the course of Euro-Turkish relations with the substantial progress towards resolving the Cyprus issue, a framework which, yes, can lead to a mutual advantageous state of affairs through the resolution of the Cyprus issue”.

He said he expects and is “all ready for my meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader but much more for the expanded meeting under the auspices of the UN, ready to work with the sole aim of ending the occupation and reuniting our homeland. I am ready to undertake the my historic responsibility, reuniting our country and our people, fully exploiting the prospects of our homeland for the benefit of of the entire Cypriot people, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins”.

Foreign policy

“Cyprus is changing domestically but also internationally,” the president emphasized, saying that in our Foreign Policy, “with actions and not words, we have effectively strengthened the international footprint of our country, taking bold initiatives, such as Amalthia, our election for first time in the Human Rights Council, the establishment of our strategic dialogue with the United States, the institutionalization of our cooperation with Greece, with neighboring states and powerful actors of the international system, with the successful exercise of the presidency of the 9 Mediterranean States of the EU”.

“Within this context, my visit to the White House took place after 28 years, the visit of the British Prime Minister to our country after 53 years, the visits of the German and Italian Presidents to our country and many others. With the same seriousness, we strengthened our role in the European Union with specific initiatives, while with a plan and method we are preparing for the great challenge of assuming the Presidency of Council of the EU on January 1, 2026,” he pointed out.

Internal governance-society

2024, he said, was the year we felt the first substantial, tangible results of our policies. Those policies that put Man at the center, emphasizing the many and not the few.

Speaking about the internal governance, he said that we launched bold solutions to achieve our central goal, that is, improving the everyday life and quality of life of every Cypriot citizen, moving into a new era, more modern, more inclusive.

Very indicatively, he mentioned the seven Housing Policy Plans that are fully utilized, especially by the New Generation of the place, the Plans to deal with the Energy Cost for households, businesses and farmers, which are used every day, the increase in the number of Optional All-Day Schools, the gradual expansion of free compulsory pre-primary education, as well as the expansion of the tuition subsidy scheme and feeding, and the essential measures to deal with the Demographic, such as the increase of maternity leave, the allowance for mothers with many children, the childbirth allowance, the parental leave allowance and many others, with the amount of the measures exceeding €100 million.

Also, the president referred to the road map for an investment of more than 128 million for Public Hospitals and especially for the upgrade of First Aid Departments in all provinces, in the “holistic successful and effective” treatment of the Immigration for which, as he said, we were allocated the credit internationally, for the start of Digitization of the state through the operation of the Digital Citizen, which in combination with the continuous simplification of the relevant licensing procedures from the Ministry of the Interior deal with the bureaucracy and make the State more friendly to the Citizen, and in the acceleration and modernization of public procedures resulting in the payment of maternity, maternity, paternity, unemployment benefits, as well as the payment of the statutory pension within 30 days.

President Christodoulidis also spoke about the measures to deal with the accuracy and inflationary trends to support households, beyond 700 million euros, the strengthening of Accountability and Transparency with the establishment and operation of the Advisory Council, the operation of electronic platforms for timely and centralized information of the society and the preparation of the bills for the modernization of the Legal and Audit Service, the strengthening of deterrent power of the homeland, including the upgrading of the working conditions concerning the officers of the National Guard, the completion of a series of important bills and their submission to the House of Representatives for health issues, the activation of the National Solidarity Fund.

Regarding the Refugee Policy, he said that in addition to ktiZO, which is the largest housing intervention by the state since the 70s, we moved forward with a new management framework for Turkish Cypriot properties, based on merit, with full assurance of equality and transparency, while the same moment we modified the criteria of the Housing Schemes, offering the possibility to more beneficiaries.

“There is a lot that has been done on the basis of the Social Contract that we signed together on February 12, 2023, and I will have the opportunity with the completion of two years since taking over the governance of the country, to make a detailed assessment,” he said.

Economy

As the president said, in order to achieve all this, in order to have a Welfare State and meaningful Social Policies, a strong, resilient and competitive economy is a necessary condition.

In these 22 months of governance, he said, “we have proven that our responsible approach brings results, and our country is on a remarkable economic path.”

“In 2024 we are forecast to achieve the third-highest growth rate in the Eurozone, while inflation for 2024 is expected to be below 2%, down from 3.5% last year. Our fiscal position is also strong, with a surplus of approx. 4%, while at the same time we achieved the largest reduction in public debt among the member states of the European Union between the first and second quarters of 2024,” he emphasized.

At the same time, he added, we are approaching full employment conditions, with unemployment at its lowest rate in 15 years, while at the same time new jobs are increasing significantly.

He said that a vote of confidence in our economic policy but also in the strong prospects of our country, are of course the continuous upgrades of Cyprus’s credit rating by all the Rating Houses which now rank it, after 13 years, in investment grade A.

The upward trajectory of our economy, he added, and the continuous upgrades translate into concrete benefits, into tangible advantages for businesses, households and the entire Cypriot people, such as, for example, the attraction of high-quality investments, which create new, well-paid jobs work, especially for the young generation, with the aim of our young men and women looking to their future in our country and not abroad and the lowest interest rates, as the countries with strong credit ratings tend to enjoy more favorable lending terms.

Also, he said that there is improved economic stability, leading to greater job security and better wages, and of course, and the possibility for the State, in the State to exercise a targeted social policy and invest in sectors that we have an obligation to improve quality, such as Health, Education, the Welfare State, Digital Transformation and, in general, actions for the benefit of the entire Cypriot people.

“Welcome to Set 2025. Happy and blessed year to all! Happy Birthday”, concluded the president of the Republic.