The government of Cyprus has approved the changed action plan for resumption of flights at airports, and it has replaced groups that are currently being used to permit internationals enter Cyprus, with four other categories.
Earlier on Friday, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that internationals wishing to enter Cyprus from March 1, 2021, will be permitted to do so, without the need to present a negative result of the PCR test, if they have been vaccinated against the disease, Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos has revealed.
“The amended action plan is expected to further boost the interest of airline companies to carry out additional flights to Cyprus, improve connectivity and increase passenger traffic,” the minister said.
According to the latest Cyprus government, category A will be replaced by the “green category”. Countries included in this group will not be required to follow testing procedure or quarantine measures, upon their arrival in Cyprus.
Category B, which is being currently used, will be replaced by the “orange category”. Citizens of countries who are listed in this category will be required to present a negative result of the Coronavirus test, not older than 72 hours.
As for category C, it will be replaced by the “red category”. Citizens of countries who belong in this category will be required to present two negative results of the PCR test. However, citizens of these countries will not be required to follow quarantine rules.
The last category is the “grey” one, also known as the “special permit category”. Travellers arriving in Cyprus from any country included in this group will have to present a negative result of the Coronavirus test, and complete with quarantine requirements introduced by Cyprus’ Health Ministry.
The countries will be categorized based on the weekly report evaluation of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
European Union countries, the United Kingdom, the European Economic countries, Switzerland, lands on the European Council group of third countries, together with Ukraine, Russia, Israel, UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Belarus, will be categorized in the green, orange and red groups.
As for the countries not mentioned above, they will be placed in the Gray category, while travellers from these countries will be obliged to have a special permit to enter Cyprus.
6 Dec 2020 HARAVGI newspaper
T. Tsielepis: The UN Secretary General has no intention of failing
The Head of the Cyprus Problem Office of the C.C. of AKEL and Political Bureau member Toumazos Tsielepis underlines that the informal five-party conference, if it does takes place, will be a preparation for a conference on the substance that will subsequently follow. At the same time he also noted that even if it the informal five-party meeting takes place, it is obvious that the Secretary General of the UN has no intention of convening a conference focusing on the substance unless he is convinced that this time he will have serious possibilities of reaching a successful outcome.
Toumazos Tsielepis explained that it will be an informal meeting of the Geneva type held in January 2017 that will prepare the ground for a conference on the substance, such as the one at Crans Montana.
Asked to comment on the government spokesman’s statement that the two sides will submit their positions, T. Tsielepis said that this is to be expected, otherwise it will not be possible to determine whether the preconditions and the ground exist so we can move on to the substance.
T. Tsielepis pointed out that the procedure for a resumption of talks will not be able to proceed if Tatar and Ankara repeat at the table, and before the UN Secretary General himself, what they are declaring in public. Antonio Guterres, states T. Tsielepis, cannot go to a conference on the substance if one side is talking about a two states solution or a confederation and the other side does not have a clear position.
In such a case, he noted, the informal conference’s failure is predetermined and Mr. Guterres will certainly not want to risk convening it.
Furthermore, T. Tsielepis also noted that to have a chance of success, the Greek Cypriot side must be very clear, namely, that it means what it says that it is seeking a solution of Bizonal, Bicommunal Federation with political equality, continuing from where we had remained at Crans Montana, with the convergences that have been agreed so far, the joint declaration and the Framework submitted by the UN Secretary General.
AKEL will not accept confederation
Regarding decentralized federation, T. Tsielepis pointed out that first and foremost the federal solution must be saved, which is in danger, and then we will move on to details on how centralized or decentralized federation can be. He also reiterated that so far the government has not explained what competences it wants to decentralize. In addition, with regards the intentions for the form of the solution, T. Tsielepis said that “there is a prevailing atmosphere about joint representation abroad, while on the domestic front there will be no substantial central competences”. This, he stressed, “would mean confederation, that is to say, two separate states with a loose cooperation between them.” Such a settlement, he underlined, will not be accepted by AKEL and this is a message to many recipients.
