Disagreement with government decisions does not constitute an anti-European stance, said AKEL Secretary-General Stefanos Stefanou, commenting on the President of the Republic’s remarks regarding the party’s position on the government’s request for a six-month extension of the Deputy Ministry of European Affairs’ operations, responded to a journalist’s question on the sidelines of the party’s press conference held on Friday to discuss energy issues.

“What is well known is the President’s reaction when he faces criticism. He blames everything on the opposition or on what he perceives as anti-European sentiments. Of course, we have a different perspective. However, that does not mean that anyone who disagrees with the government is anti-European,” he noted.

Referring to AKEL’s stance in Parliament, Mr. Stefanou argued that the government submitted the request for a six-month extension at the last minute and under urgent procedure, rather than introducing it in a timely manner for debate.

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“If there had been proper planning, the government would have known in advance that this extension would be needed. It cannot come at the last minute, using the emergency procedure, and ask Parliament to decide immediately,” she said.

As he explained, AKEL believed that the matter should have been referred to the relevant Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs so that the government could explain the reasons why the extension was deemed necessary. “If the explanations had convinced us, then we would have decided accordingly. First, however, we needed to know the reasons,” he added.

At the same time, the AKEL Secretary-General referred to Cyprus’s first Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2012, noting that the then Deputy Minister of European Affairs, Andreas Mavroyiannis, remained in his position for only one month after the Presidency ended.