Cyprus: Glafcos Clerides a great statesman, a great European

The President of the European People’s Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, paid tribute today to the former President of Cyprus and former President of the Democratic Rally (DISY), Glafcos Clerides, who passed away at the age of 94:

“It is with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Glafcos Clerides. Founder of the Democratic Rally, Clerides was elected president of Cyprus in 1993 having one goal in mind: the accession of Cyprus to the European Union. Clerides was a convinced European and understood that EU membership would not only be an anchor of stability for Cyprus, but that it would also promote the reunification process of the island and the end of Turkish military occupation in the north. Thanks to the statesmanship of Clerides, Cyprus finally joined the EU in 2004.

Moreover, during the ten-year presidency of Glafcos Clerides, DISY became a member of the EPP and Clerides was a regular and active participant at the EPP Summit meetings of heads of state and government. He also founded the ‘Glackos Clerides Institute for Eurodemocracy’, which was one of the first European think tanks to join the EPP’s ‘Centre for European Studies’.

On behalf of the entire EPP political family, I offer my sincere condolences to his family and to all Cypriots.”

The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 74 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, 13 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.