Collective achievements, shared challenges and the path forward as EU member states and the role of the national parliaments was the title of a panel discussion organized on Friday, by the Cyprus House of Representatives in the framework of an event to mark the 20th anniversary of Cyprus’ accession to the EU.

The Youth Symphony Orchestra opened the event, at THOK building in Nicosia, with a Musical Prelude and addresses followed by the President of the House Annita Demetriou, the First Deputy Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament Ioannis Plakiotakis and EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, while Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, addressed the guests via a video message.

The panel discussion was moderated by Dr Constantinos Adamides, associate professor at the University of Nicosia. In his opening remarks he said that one of biggest milestones of the EU was winning the Nobel peace prize in 2012. But geopolitics, he said, are never steady. Multipolarity and multiculturalism, erosion of trust, populism growth and conflicts demonstrate that more hard power and security are needed. Challenges will not stop and democracy should not be taken for granted, he said, referring to the role of the national parliaments as well.

Annita Demetriou, in her remarks said that challenges will be there and  the issue is how to respond with more democracy. ‘’This is what we do in every forum I attend with my colleagues from EU member states, this is the giant in the room. The populism is there and ignoring the giant is not the answer’’ , she said.

She said that the key to success is having collective achievements and addressing the key challenges and being able to foresee things.

Demetriou said that the reality is that the success is collectivity and being able to tackle and confront the different inequalities. She also said that we need to vote in the upcoming elections and send to the EP the most skillful and capable deputies.

Dr Angelo Farrugia, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta said that the cornerstone of democracy is the voice of the people and in order to engage in proper decision making we need to make people able to be heard. He said that EU is a European family and we need to address its issues by doing more.

‘’Inequalities are there to address them, we have challenges in the Mediterranean, we have the illegal migration and human trafficking and the parliamentary role is very important’’, he said.

Ioannis Plakiotakis, First Deputy Speaker of the Greek Parliament said that EU has confronted many crises, like migration, COVID etc and has managed to tackle them in a successful manner.

He went on to say that the ultimate commitment is in the values of the EU, deepening democracy and the democratic values adding that the role of the national parliaments is to establish a corporation of common understanding in various issues.

Plakiotakis also called on young people especially to vote in the elections because this is the way to shape their future. As regards the decrease of migration flows in Greece, he said that this happened by increasing operational manners.

The Vice President of the Lithuanian Parliament, Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene, said she was pleased to attend today's plenary session of the Cyprus Parliament where MPs shared views on the EU, noting that "the European project is about getting to know each other better and I think we are missing out on some points".

At the same time, she expressed her gratitude to Cyprus for its support to Ukraine, saying that "I share your feelings about the challenges here in Cyprus." She also said that Lithuania's accession to the EU was a huge success adding that "our lives have changed radically, we have five times the GDP, much better salaries and we can all see the difference."

She also pointed out that the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have shown that "without the EU we are nothing", noting that "more Europe" is needed. Referring to Europe's achievements, she said that the citizens of the Union feel the aspect of security and peace, underlining that future generations will face many challenges, such as migration.

Danijel Krivec, Vice-President of the Slovenian National Assembly, said that "we joined the EU 20 years ago and I think we all share the view that the most important step we have taken is that together we have overcome problems" and referred to the economic crisis, Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.

"It proved once again that cooperation and coordination is needed," he said.

At the same time, he said that Europe is not always ready to face challenges, noting that "as national parliaments we need to detect crises before they come to a head, as was the case with migration. We need to take the problems we hear about at national level to the European level."

Asked about the main achievements of the EU, he replied that the most important achievement is peace, saying that "of course we have conflicts near our borders".

Speaking about the digital revolution, he said that it would affect many areas, while warning of the danger of disinformation.

The event concluded with the award ceremony for High School and Technical school students who took part in an essay competition titled ‘’20 years since the accession of Cyprus to the EU’’.