Short-term advantage trumps long-term implementation in Cyprus

Cyprus undergoes a trade-off between urgent responses to the economic and financial crisis and its sustainable development commitments. As a member of the European Union, Cyprus should be implementing the concepts of Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) and Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD), yet neither of these is mentioned in the country’s official Voluntary National Review, which in fact omits the whole of SDG 17 (on implementation).

According to the alternative report by Charalambos Stergiou, Yolanda Frangou and Charalambos Vrasidas, from CARDET/University of Nicosia, “as a result of the strict austerity measures implemented since March 2013, the Cyprus Aid's Development Cooperation Agency was suspended” and “Cyprus does not have coordination mechanisms on PCD within the national administration and there is no involvement in PCD by the Cyprus Parliament, civil society or the private sector”.

CARDET hopes that “the reinvigoration of the discussion on PCD/PCSD would be a key element leading potentially to long-term positive outcomes in sectors such as migration and climate change”.

By Charalambos Stergiou, Yolanda Frangou and Charalambos Vrasidas, from CARDET/University of Nicosia.

Read this national chapter here.

Source: Report Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2019.