MEP hails Mitsotakis, Macron visit, calls on EU to do more for Cyprus’ security

Cypriot member of the European Parliament Costas Mavrides, of Diko, late on Monday night hailed the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the island and called on the European Union to do more to aid the island’s security, after it was struck by an Iranian-made drone last week.

“History was made in Cyprus today. Three leaders of European Union states … on the occasion of the war in Iran, to which Cyprus is not a party, sent a message through President Macron: When Cyprus is attacked, all of Europe is attacked,” he told the parliament’s plenary session.

He added that “the most important thing is the construction of a Euro-Mediterranean defence within the framework of European defence against any aggressor, and of course, against Turkish expansionism with the occupation of European Union territory in Cyprus”.

However, he said, “as strong as the practical support from various European Union states was, the absence of the European Union’s institutions was equally resounding”.

“Where are Ms Kallas and Ms von der Leyen?” he asked, in reference to the European Union’s foreign affairs chief and the European Commission president, adding, “their obstructionism and absence were recorded as a shame in the history of Europe”.

“Do they prefer cooperation with [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, the patron of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Syrian jihadist who wore a suit?”, he asked, in a likely reference to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

He added that Kallas and von der Leyen “have failed”, but that nonetheless, “we are moving forward step by step towards the Europe we deserve”.

During the same debate, German MEP Ozlem Demirel of the country’s left-wing Die Linke party, said that “once again, the United States and Israel are violating international law by attacking another country”, before warning of the possible impacts on the region at large, including Cyprus.

“The air war is increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure – schools, hospital, everything, and Iran is firing back. Meanwhile, more and more military forces are amassing around Iran. Fighter jets are being deployed to Cyprus, and warships from several European countries are being sent to the region,” she said.

She added that “this war must be ended immediately”, and that “we cannot continue to stand by while Israel attacks more and more countries in the Middle East”.

Her reference to fighter jets in Cyprus comes with Greece having deployed four F-16 fighter jets to the island last Monday, and Turkey having then deployed six F-16s of its own, which arrived on the island a week later.

Warships sent to the region include the French aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle, the Greek frigate Kimon, which was described by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his visit to the island on Monday as the “pride of the Greek fleet”, and other vessels from the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.