President calls meeting of National Council

President Nicos Anastasiades had called a meeting of the national council at the presidential palace on Thursday, government spokesman Marios Pelekanos said on Friday.

He said the advisory body would discuss the latest developments in the Cyprus issue as well as inflationary pressures as a result of the global economic crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Political parties have urged the national council meet in the wake of a letter the president sent to Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar proposing confidence building measures between the two communities to break a protracted deadlock on the Cyprus issue. Tatar has turned down the proposed measures saying these had been floated before, without success.

The government, which recently announced another €103m in one-off grants and other actions to cushion the rise in cost of living, is also under pressure to do more to address spiralling prices.

Pelekanos said Thursday’s meeting will also discuss the need to approve and adopt reforms in various sectors that are considered prerequisites for Cyprus to access funds from the EU’s recovery and resilience plan and are included in the €4.4b national Cyprus-Tomorrow plan.