The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, and the President of the Democratic Party, Nikolas Papadopoulos, spoke by phone, while the former is in New York for the 81st UN General Assembly, regarding recent developments on the political scene due to the intense confrontation with Finance Minister Makis Keravnos over the Cyprus-Greece electricity interconnectionwith Greece via the GSI pipeline.
“I expressed my dissatisfaction to him regarding the Finance Minister’s stance. I regret that this discussion has begun—or that the Finance Minister chose to initiate it— at a time when the President of the Republic is in New York, holding meetings with the UN Secretary-General and trying to give new impetus to efforts regarding the Cyprus issue. It is with genuine regret that we are compelled to discuss such issues while our country is fighting battles abroad.”
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Speaking on the “Alpha News” program, Mr. Papadopoulos said he is waiting for the President of the Republic to return from the major U.S. city to clarify the issue and revealed that the causes of the conflict between himself and MinisterKeravnos also include other issues.
“Let me give you a list of decisions by the Christodoulides government that are not being implemented because of the Ministry of Finance. We had the agreement on the welfare funds; the President announced it, but the Ministry of Finance isn’t implementing it. We had the agreement regarding depositors who suffered haircuts and bondholders. Some payments were made in 2025, and since then no one has followed up with them. The Ministry of Finance is not implementing the agreement. We have an agreement between the Union of Municipalities and the Ministry of the Interior stipulating that local government expenditures will amount to 1.5% of actual budget expenditures; a fair agreement, but the Ministry of Finance is not implementing it. We have the case of the agreements with livestock farmers regarding loss of income due to foot-and-mouth disease; the Ministry of Finance disagreed with this agreement. The GSI is yet another example.”
Mr. Papadopoulos called on the Minister of Finance to clarify whether he disagrees with the President of the Republic and to explain whether he truly considers this ambitious project to be “disastrous,” why he does not resign.
“We’re no longer talking in theoretical terms. We have the numbers. And based on the time the liberalized electricity market has been in operation—we have data from Greece and Cyprus—and if we had the GSI, we would have electricity that is 30% cheaper. This translates to a benefit of 185 million for the Cypriot economy. Just imagine having this benefit for the next 35 years. We’re talking about billions.”
When asked whether he believes the government’s position on the GSI pipeline issue is unclear—and why he has not resigned from the government— he replied that the President of the Republic’s position is the same as that of DIKO, which states that “as soon as the NAVTEX is issued, the 25 million euros will be paid.”
“This impression being conveyed—that the government agrees to one thing and the Ministry of Finance implements another—we believe that the first to suffer damage from this is the President of the Republic. These are issues he must address himself, in relation to the functioning of his government. And I will set aside the unacceptable and disparaging remarks he used against me, against DIKO, and against the policies we believe lower the standard of politics in our country.”
Mr. Papadopoulos noted that the issues that arise are not personal, but political, both with the President of the Republic and with the Minister of Finance.
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