President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides has outlined the government's actions aiming to modernise the state, stressing the importance of reforms going ahead.
Speaking before the start of the 10 September Cabinet meeting, he spoke of the "very good" meeting he had with the Fiscal Council on the pensions reform on 9 September, pointing out that the last time the pensions system was substantially reformed was in 1980.
Today, he added, the public consultation on tax reform concludes while a discussion begins in the House of Representatives for the Law Office reform, and a discussion on the Audit Office reform is expected to begin soon.
"Reforms, modernising the state established in 1960 through substantive reforms, is one of the key priorities our government has," the President said.
He referred to other important reforms that the government has pushed through or is promoting, such as the digitisation of the state, the reduction of bureaucracy, the automatic enrollment on the electoral register, the right of vote to people from the age of 17, the education reform and the national sanctions implementation unit.
Therefore, President Christodoulides pointed out, "we are going ahead with reforms in all areas.
He noted that inevitably there are always reactions to reforms, adding that the key criterion the government has in promoting the big reform with COLA is "to modernise the state of 1960 always for the benefit of citizens."
Because, he noted, all these reforms, the tax reform, CoLA, and the pensions system "always seek to serve the citizens to whom we are accountable."
He urged his Ministers to "intensify our effort for reforms", adding that "it is important to move forward."
The President also expressed satisfaction over the approval by the EU of over one billion euro from the SAFE programme for the Republic of Cyprus, which, as he sai,d "we should approach as part of our great effort tο enhance the Republic of Cyprus' deterrent power."
He added that consultations are ongoing with the US government so that the Republic of Cyprus can take part in American programmes.
Members of the National Guard, he said, must visit the US immediately in order to evaluate what is on offer in relation to what we have asked for.
At the same time, he referred to the new approach of the European Investment Bank to include defence in its lending policy. "Therefore, this is a second priority area we want to make the most of," he said.
(Source: CNA)
