France has “many expectations” for Cyprus’ six-month term as the holder of the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency, the country’s minister delegate for internal affairs Marie-Pierre Vedrenne said on Thursday.

Speaking after a meeting with Cypriot Justice Minister Costas Fitiris in Nicosia, she said she was satisfied with the “strengthening of relations” between Cyprus and France in recent years.

Her comments echo those of the country’s President Emmanuel Macron, who said last month that France “knows that we can count on [Cyprus] to ensure that Europe asserts its own interests and strategic autonomy” during President Nikos Christodoulides’ visit to Paris.

He said both countries “share the same vision for a strong and sovereign Europe, facing our challenges and security threats”, with those threats including unfair trade practices and threats to our democracy and to our youth, as well as electoral interference and the protection of our children in the age of social media.

Additionally, he said, Christodoulides “can count on France’s support to strengthen security and defence on our continent”.

He also said that Cyprus can count on France to help in the implementation of “an agenda of competitiveness, regulatory simplification, European preference, investment in strategic sectors, and the defence of the capital markets union”.

In this, the “European preference” refers to businesses, individuals and governments being incentivised into electing to purchase goods and services from within the European single market rather than without, while the “capital markets union” is an EU initiative which aims to integrate and unite the bloc’s member states’ capital markets.

Were the initiative to be completed, investments and savings would be able to flow more easily across the bloc.

“You know that for this presidency, France will be by your side, supporting your initiatives, and acting in an advisory capacity with you,” he said.