Fidias Panayiotou was one of four Cypriot members of the European parliament who voted against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen when her nomination was ratified by the European parliament on Thursday.
Von der Leyen won 401 votes, 41 more than the eventually required 360, with 284 MEPs voting against her, and 15 abstaining.
However, a majority of Cypriot MEPs voted against her, citing an array of different reasons.
Fidias voted against her as the majority of votes in polls he had posted to his social media had told him to do so. He explained his position in a video published on X, the social media platform better known as Twitter, titled “People don’t want von der Leyen”.
He said a total of 50,000 people had voted on his Greek-language social media polls with clear results.
A total of 71 per cent of voters in the polls combined voted that they did not want Fidias to vote for von der Leyen, while polls on his English-language social media showed that from 200,000 participants, 82 per cent voted against von der Leyen.
“So, I am going to vote against her,” he declared.
Meanwhile, Akel’s Giorgos Georgiou, who sits with Eurogroup The Left, said he had not voted for von der Leyen. The Left had formally announced its MEPs would vote against her.
Explaining his decision, he said “she is accused by the European Union itself, by [outgoing EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs] Josep Borrell, and her own party the European People’s Party (EPP), that on the matter of Palestine, she has behaved in a callous and one-sided way, seeing only the side of Israel.”
He also criticised her policies on issues such as poverty, housing, health, and education.
“Here again, von der Leyen is accused of ordering €35 million worth of vaccines outside of legal procedures, of which €4m worth were never used and destroyed. It is a terrible waste. When it’s about the farmers, she tells them ‘I have no money to give you’,” he said.
Additionally, he accused her of “going backwards” on the matter of the environment and said the “Nato-isation of Europe is on its way”.
Diko’s Costas Mavrides, who sits with the Socialists & Democrats, also voted against von der Leyen, despite his Eurogroup’s official position being in favour.
“I could hide it, since it is a secret ballot and my group will support her, but I preferred to be honest,” he said.
Elam’s Geadis Geadi, who sits with the European Conservatives and Reformists, also voted against von der Leyen after the group allowed its MEPs a free vote on her ratification.
Two Cypriot MEPs, Loukas Fourlas and Michalis Hadjipantela, voted in favour of von der Leyen’s ratification. Both are Disy members and therefore sit with von der Leyen’s group the EPP.
Hadjipantela said that on the matter of immigration, her positions regarding Cyprus are “excellent”, while also making reference to her visit with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides to Lebanon, saying that “migration flows to Cyprus stopped” thereafter.
He also spoke positively of von der Leyen’s plans for a common European defence policy and the creation of a European defence commissioner, and also warned of the instability that not ratifying von der Leyen could have created.
Outside of the European parliament, Nikos Christodoulides offered von der Leyen his “warmest congratulations” after the vote’s results were made public.
“Your exceptional leadership in the past five years was instrumental in overcoming challenges and building a stronger union,” he said, adding that he is “eager to continue our close and productive cooperation.”
House President Annita Demetriou also offered her congratulations, saying, “together we can build a stronger, better, and more prosperous Europe.”
