President heads to Portugal for EU summit

President Nicos Anastasiades will leave on Thursday for Porto, Portugal to attend the Porto Social Summit hosted by the EU Portuguese Presidency on May 7 and 8.

During a working dinner he will inform his counterparts about the results of the 5+1 Informal Meeting on the Cyprus problem that took place in Geneva on April 27-29.

The Porto Summit comprises two parts. On May 7 the Portuguese Presidency will organise a High-Level conference with the participation of EU leaders and social partners. Participants are expected to reinforce their commitment to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights as well as to discuss European social policy issues, amid a lot of challenges, including the pandemic. Anastasiades will make an intervention at a panel on Employment and Jobs.

The second part will be the informal EU Heads of State and Government meeting, that will begin with a working dinner on May 7 and will continue on May 8.

Anastasiades will be accompanied by Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance Minister Zeta Emilianidou, Government Spokesman Kyriacos Koushos and other officials.

He will return on Saturday evening.

The 5+1 Informal Meeting failed to find enough common ground to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations in relation to the settlement of the Cyprus problem.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that he will convene in the near future another meeting of the 5+1, the five plus the United Nations, again with the objective to move in the direction of reaching common ground to allow for formal negotiations to start.