Institutional reforms are a key component of the current administration, the President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides stressed on Tuesday evening, during his interview for the first year of his administration, while admitting mistakes made during that time, noting, however, that the mistakes were corrected immediately.

The President also said, among other things, that there is a specific plan to separate the powers of the Attorney General and that the Government is contemplating the creation of a Court of Audit.

Asked about the negative evaluation of the government's work through the latest polls and whether he is ready, within the framework of accountability and transparency, to list some of the mistakes he believes he has made since the beginning of his assumption of office as President of the Republic, President Christodoulides replied that "of course mistakes were made".

He indicated that the admission was, after all, made by him first. "Mistakes were not made in policies, but in attitudes and choices, and these mistakes were corrected immediately", he added, explaining that it is for this reason that institutional reforms are a key component of the current administration, so that, as he noted, such mistakes are not made.

Asked in relation to the announcement on the modernization of the Law Office and the Audit Office and more specifically whether the dual role of the Attorney General's Office will eventually be separated, the President reiterated that institutional reforms are one of the components of the Government's political philosophy and recalled that he himself as President of the Republic was "the first to set an example with the establishment of the Advisory Council, which was in a sense granted powers that were exclusive to the President of the Republic", assuring that the powers of the Advisory Council will be further expanded, as in no service and in no institution can one person alone have all the wisdom to be able to respond to the society’s demands.

He added that in the immediate future there will be appointments of Commissioners and again the Advisory Council will have the power to make recommendations to the executive.

He also noted that the whole process concerning the Legal and Audit Offices is about a transformation that will take place over a certain period of time. "We are discussing internally, I have spoken with external partners, with legal experts," he said, while also referring to what is in place in other EU member states.

Responding to a clarifying question whether the Court of Audit is on the government's mind, President Christodoulides answered in the affirmative, clarifying that the reform has nothing to do with the current heads of the departments under review, nor with their abilities or the work they do.

Asked to comment on the unaccountability of the Attorney General, the President said that there is a specific plan for separation (of powers), clarifying that we are not talking about a decade's horizon in terms of the implementation of this change but earlier and reiterated that "we are in the final stage of processing", adding that the immediate next stage of the process is to discuss the changes with the heads of these institutions and then the relevant bills will be submitted to Parliament.

In response to a question regarding the increase in the cost of living, with the journalist noting that the assessment of citizens according to all measurements is that the measures are not enough, the President stressed that fiscal responsibility is non-negotiable for the Government.

He added that although he was urged by all parties to announce measures when he took over the reins of the country, he did not do so because he had to wait for the Cyprus economy to achieve an investment grade rating and to have the first surplus budget.

"Immediately afterwards, behaving responsibly, we announced measures, we announced a second package of measures and we will announce more measures if and when needed," he added, indicating that the measures must be and are targeted and not horizontal.