Cypriot President Calls for Measures to Attract Investments in EU

President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades called on Saturday for adoption of measures to battle unemployment and attract investments to the European Union in order to strengthen the bloc and prevent the growth of Euroscepticism.

ATHENS (Sputnik) — On Saturday, the leaders of seven Mediterranean countries met in Lisbon, Portugal at the second gathering of the so-called MED Group. Besides Anastasiades, the meeting was attended by French President Francois Hollande, Prime Ministers of Italy and Spain Paolo Gentiloni and Mariano Rajoy, their counterparts from Greece and Malta Alexis Tsipras and Joseph Muscat and by Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

"We have to restore the dignity of Europe. Currently the populists’ movement and radicalization are on the rise. The best way to deal with it is to restore our dignity by undertaking concrete measures to battle unemployment, create basis for the investment growth, security and development of Europe that we deserved and that we have dreamed of," Anastasiades said at the meeting.

The Cypriot president also informed the other leaders of the Mediterranean countries about the current state of ongoing talks on the settlement of Cyprus Dispute and noted the progress in the negotiations, thanking his counterparts for the support of political settlement on the island, that had been separated since 1974.

The participants of the MED Group meeting also discussed issues of the EU economy and migration on Saturday.

The first meeting of the MED Group took place in September 2016 in Athens.