President Nikos Christodoulides said that energy is one of the greatest challenges facing his government, pledging to accelerate structural reforms to reduce electricity costs and ensure supply adequacy, as he addressed the General Assembly of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB).
Christodoulides said the government is pursuing gradual structural interventions in the energy sector, and acknowledged that chronic distortions in the sector would take time to correct but said efforts would be stepped up.
“The operation of a competitive electricity market, the promotion of renewable energy sources and storage systems, as well as the implementation of strategic interconnection projects, will contribute to the gradual creation of a more efficient, diversified and resilient energy system,” he said.
He noted that energy costs were at the centre of discussions at the informal European Council in Ayia Napa. He said the Commission President has presented a package of immediate solutions, and that a broader solution would need to be found through a European energy union.
“It is the immediate solutions, and that is why the Commission President has presented a package of immediate solutions, and beyond that it is a matter of finding an overall solution that can be achieved through Europe’s energy union — an energy union that will also strengthen our competitiveness,” he said.
Christodoulides said specific legislation advancing towards energy union is being promoted through the EU Council presidency. “Because that is our long-term goal — what we have agreed at the level of 27 — to achieve energy union, including, of course, the Republic of Cyprus,” he said.
Asked by a journalist whether von der Leyen’s position that the EU must free itself from fossil fuels left Cyprus’s own natural gas ambitions outside EU planning, Christodoulides said natural gas remained a transitional tool rather than a permanent fixture.
“I have told you on not a few occasions, since the period when I was Foreign Minister, that natural gas is a bridge solution to achieve the final goal. But yes, natural gas is used by many member states — it is not a permanent solution. It is a bridge to achieve the goal the Commission President referred to,” he said.
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