EU Commissioner for Health Androulla Vassiliou has urged Cypriot citizens to cast their vote in the European Parliament elections, which will take place here Saturday.

“We all have to go to the polling stations and elect the candidates we believe will represent Cyprus properly at the European Parliament”, Vassiliou said, addressing Monday evening an open discussion organised in the coastal town of Limassol entitled “Cyprus – EU: 5 years of accession”.

She referred to the importance of Cyprus as an EU member state, saying that one of the reasons Cyprus decided to join the Union was the security the EU offers to its member states.

“If Cyprus was an EU member state in 1974, Turkey would not have dared to invade”, Vasilliou pointed out.

As regards the forthcoming EP elections, the EU Commissioner stressed the role of the European Parliament, noting that EU regulations and legislation depend to a great extent on parliamentary decisions.

Furthermore, she noted that “if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, the list of issues on which a joint decision with the EP is needed will expand”.

“The abilities and the knowledge of our representatives at the EP are important. We all have to go to the polling stations and vote for the ones we believe will represent Cyprus in a correct manner at the EP”, she said.

Vassiliou said that the world economic crisis, the climate change as well as the new flu virus H1NI1 have highlighted the importance of the EU.

“Those examples show that we live in a globalised world, we live in Europe, where member states depend on each other”, she went on to add.

Referring to the new flu virus, the EU Commissioner said that the action taken by the EU has proved to be effective, adding that member states have acted in concert.