Fidias PANAYIOTOU

Policy topics Fidias PANAYIOTOU is active on

What Fidias PANAYIOTOU has said (20)

• 2026-02-06 “E-000494/2026 Answer given by Mr Jørgensen on behalf of the European Commission The Commission is reviewing the EU’s energy security framework to adapt it to the current complex geopolitical context and to increase its resilience against emerging risks posed by climate change and security-related threats. On resilience, the Commission is looking at areas such as civil-military cooperation, security measures based on risk-assessments and ‘resilience by design’ considerations in new critical energy infrastructure. The Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) is a project of strategic importance aimed at ending Cyprus’ energy isolation. The Commission strongly supports the GSI, which is a Project of Common Interest (PCI) and to which a EUR 657 million grant under the Connecting Europe Facility has been allocated. The Commission is in regular contact with the parties involved, including on geopolitical risks, to facilitate timely implementation of the project. The EU remains committed to defending its interests and those of its Member States as well as to upholding regional stability. In this context, the EU attaches the greatest importance to safeguarding the sovereign rights of all Member States, in full respect of international law. Unequivocal commitment to international agreements and the UN Charter, as well as abstaining from unilateral actions which violate international law and the sovereign rights of Member States, remains an essential requirement to ensure a stable and secure environment in the Eastern Mediterranean and the development of a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship between the EU and Türkiye. 1 1 JOIN(2023) 50 final, p. 2.”
  EU energy infrastructure integration · EU approach to energy security (home-made vs import sources)
• 2026-01-21 “Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas on behalf of the European Commission 1.4.2026 Written question The High Representative/Vice-President is aware of the matter raised by the Honourable Member. The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is the mandated authority in the buffer zone, managing civilian activity in this zone. It conducted an investigation into the incident. According to the latest report of the UN Secretary General on the UN Operation in Cyprus, [1] managing authorised and unauthorised civilian activity in the buffer zone to prevent possible civil-military tensions has increasingly taken outsized attention and resources from the mission. From 2 June to 15 December 2025 the mission held 35 outreach meetings with the local communities and published regular media campaigns to raise awareness on the parameters and conditions to enable safe farming in the buffer zone, and escorted farmers in some sensitive areas. In several instances, Turkish Forces reacted to Greek Cypriot hunters and farmers coming too close to the northern ceasefire line. In November 2025, Turkish Forces entered the buffer zone on five occasions to challenge the presence of Greek Cypriot farmers and to contest the delineation of the ceasefire line in Déneia, an area west of Nicosia. UNFICYP presence on the ground quickly defused the situations on all occasions. [1] https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n25/359/79/pdf/n2535979.pdf.”
  EU competences on foreign affairs · EU-Turkey relations
• 2026-01-14 “E-000157/2026 Answer given by Ms Albuquerque on behalf of the European Commission Article 32(2) of the Non-Performing Loans Directive (NPLD) (EU) 2021/2167 1 provides a derogation for Member States, according to which they may allow entities providing credit servicing activities under national regimes equivalent to or stricter than that established by NPLD to be automatically recognised as authorised credit servicers under the national rules transposing NPLD. Pursuant to Article 32(3) and (4), when adopting measures transposing the Directive, Member States are required to make an explicit reference thereto and communicate to the Commission the text of the principal provisions of national law. This reflects the general obligation on Member States to notify transposition and implementation measures to the Commission in compliance with the principle of sincere cooperation in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. They have a responsibility to monitor the application of the relevant legal provisions and to take the necessary steps for enforcement. The Commission monitors the situation and may decide to take action. NPLD expressly allows Member States whose pre-existing national regimes are stricter than or equivalent to the regime established by NPLD to automatically recognise entities already carrying out credit servicing activities, to avoid the imposition of unjustified administrative burdens on service providers already subject to those regimes. Cyprus notified the complete transposition of NPLD on 12 November 2024. The Commission has opened an informal dialogue to seek clarifications on various issues arising from national transposition measures. The Commission may raise questions concerning the implementation of authorisation regimes as part of this broader verification exercise. 1 OJ L 438, 8.12.2021, pp. 1–37.”
  Financial regulation
• 2026-01-13 “P-000108/2026 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission The Commission does not comment on ongoing investigations. Member State authorities are responsible for the investigation and prosecution of corruption offences and the enforcement of other rules mentioned by the Honourable Member, such as those concerning electoral campaign finance. This must be done according to the Member State’s constitutional and legislative rules, subject to EU law and its international obligations. Strengthening the rule of law and the fight against corruption are key priorities for the Commission. The annual Rule of Law Report is a key tool enabling the Commission to monitor developments in all Member States, including their anti-corruption framework, through active dialogue with the national authorities. The Report includes concrete recommendations to all Member States, including Cyprus, helping them identify what improvements are needed. The Directive on combatting corruption 1 , which is expected to enter into force in the first half of 2026, will greatly facilitate the investigation and prosecution of corruption offences in and across Member States. It will also help strengthen Member States’ preventive and integrity measures. As announced in the European Democracy Shield 2 , the Commission will further support common work with the Member States on the transparency and integrity of funding in politics 3 , looking at issues of common interest such as anonymous donations and cryptocurrency. 1 COM(2023) 234 final https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52023PC0234. 2 JOIN(2025) 791 final https://commission.europa.eu/document/2539eb53-9485-4199-bfdc-97166893ff45_en. 3 This will notably rely on the work to support the application of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2023/2829 on inclusive and resilient electoral processes in the Union and enhancing the European nature and efficient conduct of the elections to the European Parliament, the proposed Directive on combating corruption COM(2023)234 final, EU anti-money laundering and other relevant EU rules.”
  Rule of law and democracy in the EU (political compass) · EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• 2025-09-18 “P-003618/2025 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission The Commission does not comment on individual cases. Article 20 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines into EU law that everyone is equal before the law. Its Article 47 recognises that everyone whose rights and freedoms guaranteed under EU law are violated has the right to an effective remedy. The Charter applies to Member States when implementing EU law. It is for the Member States to ensure that fundamental rights are protected in individual cases.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law · Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• 2025-07-31 “P-003162/2025 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission It is not the role of the Commission to intervene in individual procedures before national courts or to examine how individual cases are addressed by prosecutorial and judicial authorities of a Member State. The investigation and adjudication in specific cases comes under the responsibility of national authorities of each Member State. Efficient, well-functioning and independent justice systems are a pivotal part of the rule of law. The Commission will continue monitoring significant developments concerning the rule of law in Cyprus in the context of the annual Rule of Law Report, and working with the Cypriot authorities to promote and enhance the rule of law.”
  Rule of law and democracy in the EU (political compass) · EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• 2025-04-16 “P-001545/2025 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission In line with the ruling in Case C-283/81 Cilfit v Ministerio della Sanità 1 , national supreme courts are not required to request a preliminary ruling if the EU legislation in question has already been the subject of interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union or if the issue of the correct application of EU law leaves no scope for any reasonable doubt as to the manner in which the question will be resolved. The Commission does not, in principle, initiate infringement proceedings under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) if the infringement of obligations under Article 267(3) TFEU constitutes an isolated case. The Commission monitors significant developments concerning the rule of law in Member States, including on the anti-corruption framework in the context of the annual Rule of Law Report. The Commission follows closely developments in this area and will provide an up-todate assessment in its 2025 Rule of Law Report, planned to be published in July 2025. 1 ECLI:EU:C:1982:335.”
  Jurisdiction conflicts between EU and national courts · EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• 2024-12-11 “P-002870/2024 Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission Directive 93/13/EEC 1 requires Member States to ensure that consumers are not bound by unfair terms and have effective remedies against such terms. It applies to all kinds of contracts on the purchase of goods and services 2 and to contracts concluded in Cyprus since its accession to the EU on 1 May 2004 3 . It is the primary responsibility of national authorities and courts to safeguard consumer rights in individual disputes such as related to mortgage enforcement 4 . The Commission opened in 2013 an infringement procedure 5 against Cyprus for ineffective enforcement of Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 2005/29/EC 6 . While Cyprus responded positively to several concerns, certain unresolved grievances, including concerning the role of the Law Office of the Republic, were addressed in an additional letter of formal notice on 25 July 2019 7 and a reasoned opinion on 18 February 2021 8 . The Commission is finalising its assessment of the case, taking into account inter alia the reply of 16 April 2021 to the reasoned opinion, subsequent changes to Cypriot consumer law last notified to the Commission in November 2022 9 , and further analysis undertaken as part of the preparation of the report on the implementation of the Modernisation Directive, published by the Commission on 18 June 2024 10 . 1 Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts, OJ L 95, 21.4.1993, p. 29‐34. 2 See Section 5 of Commission Notice – Guidance on the interpretation and application of Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts, OJ C 323, 27.9.2019, p. 4–92, COM(2019) 5325 final. 3 See Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 5 May 2022 in Case C-567/20 A.H. v Zagrebačka banka d.d. 4 See for example CJEU judgment of 30 September 2003, Case C-224/01, Köbler. 5 https://ec.europa.eu/atwork/applying-eu-law/infringementsproceedings/infringement_decisions/index.cfm?lang_code=EN&typeOfSearch=false&active_only=0&noncom= 0&r_dossier=INFR%282013%292082&decision_date_from=&decision_date_to=&title=&submit=Search 6 Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’), OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22‐39. 7 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/INF_19_4251 8 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_21_441 9 See in particular the Cypriot Consumer Protection Laws of 2021 to (No 2) 2022. 10 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directives 98/6/EC, 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the better enforcement and modernisation of Union consumer protection rules, (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2024%3A258%3AFIN).”
  EU restrictions on unfair commercial practices · Jurisdiction conflicts between EU and national courts
• 2024-09-24 “P-001794/2024 Answer given by Mr Reynders on behalf of the European Commission Under the EU Treaties, the Commission has no general powers to intervene in individual judicial cases, nor is the Commission in a position to examine how individual cases are addressed by the judicial authorities of a Member State. The adjudication in specific cases comes under the responsibility of judicial authorities of each Member State. The Commission monitors significant developments concerning the rule of law in all Member States, including Cyprus, in the context of the annual Rule of Law Report 1 , which includes country specific recommendations to all Member States. The 2024 Country Chapter on Cyprus, published in July 2024, reported that limited access to relevant information affects the ability of the Audit Office to effectively perform audits on the finance of public institutions. The Commission follows closely developments in this area, also in view of the important oversight role of the Audit Office in checking the expenditure of public institutions and detecting suspicions of corruption, and will provide an up-to-date assessment in its 2025 Rule of Law Report. 1 https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/upholding-rulelaw/rule-law/annual-rule-law-cycle_en”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget · EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Oh. Hello again. I agree with you. We need to regulate AI because in the wrong hands it can be very dangerous, but we need to factor into this discussion a bit. Also, our European security, because if other countries, United States, China are not going to regulate it. If we regulate it too much, we might stop innovation inside Europe. So I'm not saying we should not regulate. I'm just saying we should be cautious to not overregulate and stop innovation inside Europe. Thank you. And I'm curious to hear your thoughts as well.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Um, hello. Um, the question about, uh, I, I when we wrote the regulation, the DSA, it was before the explosion of AI. So it should be possible now with these AI models to be able to fact check better the, the, uh, the social media content. But I want to go to more towards the direction of community note because community notes give more information to the viewer. They don't they they don't censor. They explain what is wrong and factually incorrect and they label it. So, uh, I'm curious to hear your thoughts about AI and how it can moderate content with AI in the future. Thank you all.”
  Transparency and oversight of AI-generated content
• “My country, Cyprus, just took the presidency of the Council of the European Union for such a small country of 1 million population. It's a huge honor to work for all the 450 million European citizens. There are many priorities to work on, like the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Greenland, but I believe the territorial integrity of Cyprus should be also on top priority of the European Union. We are a member state that has been actively occupied by Turkey for 51 years. The Cyprus presidency is an opportunity for the European Union to finally put the Cyprus problem on its top priority, in order to find a just and viable solution, because the Cyprus problem is also a European problem. I love you all.”
  EU-Turkey relations
• “The European Union doesn't care any more about international law, as the. As most EU leaders have failed to condemn the attacks of Israel and the United States against Iran. We can't defend international law only when it benefits us, like it happens in the war in Ukraine. But we need to be critical when our allies violate it on a regular basis. Even if EU leaders don't care about morals, at least they should care about European citizens because they are the ones that are going to pay the consequences of this illegal war. An energy crisis will hit every single European household and on top of this, EU citizens in my country, Cyprus fear for their lives because Iran could keep retaliating with more drone attacks. I truly believe that it is both possible to be against the authoritarian regime in Iran and at the same time against illegal military actions by our allies. So please, colleagues, let's speak up and clearly say no to war. Thank you so much.”
  EU foreign policy approach
• “Um, I'm not sure if I understood your question. You said how many likes and how many shares I got from these platforms. So we upload videos to all the platforms and we weaker. And so far we got billions of views talking about the most boring thing, the European Union. So in all the platforms. So I don't understand really your question, but I think X and telegram took some good steps closer to freedom of speech. And before Elon Musk acquired X it was uh, I think, uh, other platforms got inspired, like meta, to use, uh, these community notes and all this stuff. So I think, uh, it was a step to the right direction. Still, we need to improve fact checkers in. End of the story. Thank you so much. I love.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Hello, friends. Um, this might be a big problem. Like this year, 30 or 40% of the content online is made by AI and projected 2026. The content online were made by, I might be at 90%. So I think a good step forward might be labeling. When something is made by AI for the users to know that they read some things from AI. Uh, then the question is, do you think this is a good step forward? Thank you so much and I love you all.”
  Transparency and oversight of AI-generated content
• “Um, Mr. Toby, you accused me of going to Russia, and I will take a second to respond. I went to Russia with another five members of the European Parliament because we want to start some kind of diplomacy. Us did similar things. Israel did similar things. Turkey invaded my country, Cyprus, and we still are talking. And we have diplomacy. We want to start diplomacy to end this war. And because I believe this, I went to speak with actions and to start myself diplomacy because the European Union doesn't do it. That's why I went there. And I just want from the bottom of my heart to ask you, not this disagreement, that we have to stop us from working together in this committee. Thank you. And I love you all.”
  EU-Russia relations (from March 2022)
• “Hello. As far as I understand social media, the fact checking mechanism that we have in Europe, they are funded by the European Union. So how we ensure that these funded organisations that don't have political influence to do fact checking? This is my question. Thank you so much and I love you all.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “The European Union wants to take money from its development in development funds and use it for war. Yes, my friend is true. The European Union intends to take money from his cohesion policy, which accounts for 30% of his total budget. This budget is meant for the development of Europe's poorest region, but they will use part of it for defence, which essentially means war. In fact, the reason why we are here today in the European Parliament debating about it is because of an initiative signed upon more by more than 1.2 million European citizens who have got together to give a clear message to us, the European politicians. They want our cohesion policy to focus on the development of our regions and the preservation of their culture. But here comes the European Commission and instead of listening to its citizens, it proposes to use its cohesion funds for rearm and war. I will be very clear with my message. Forget about using our money for warmongering. Be more creative. Thank you. I love you all.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• “The EU wants to use censorship to protect our democracy. This is the essence behind the last proposal of our president, Ursula von der Leyen, to build a democracy shield with tools that go directly against freedom of speech. Von der Leyen was to reinforce sanctions against individuals based on their opinions, if she considers they are misinforming. On top of this, our president wants to give more power to fact checkers, to moderate social media who are nothing else than people with their own biases. I believe we should follow more people like we should follow people like Pavel Durov and Elon Musk have done to allow more freedom of speech online. Things like community nodes have helped to empower the citizens themselves to decide what's right and what's wrong, instead of biased fact checkers. So please, von der Leyen, let Europeans express themselves freely, even if you don't like their opinion. Thank you so much. I love you all.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Energy is the backbone of our economy. From driving our cars to taking a shower and even powering the AI factories of tomorrow. Everything depends on reliable energy. We need to reduce the cost of energy. To achieve this, we must invest heavily in nuclear power. I know people have concerns, but nuclear is safer than you might think. We need to focus also in renewables, especially solar energy, and just as importantly in batteries to store the energy. So we always have the power day and night. We must also recognise that not all countries start from the same place. Current green regulations and timelines are often too aggressive, leaving little room for regions for regions still heavily dependent on fossil fuels to catch up. Like my country, Cyprus, if we get energy right, we will make Europeans richer and improve everyone's quality of life. I love you all.”
  Energy (green transition)