Ioannis Tirkides

Saturday 13 June | 13:00

The June 2026 Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Cyprus and France, and the 2024–2029 US–Cyprus Defence Roadmap, mark a radical departure from Nicosia’s historic military neutrality. While Cyprus hopes ...

Wednesday 13 May | 08:30

Scheduled for a 2029 debut, the digital euro is designed to fundamentally redefine European finance as the digital twin of physical cash. Functioning as the third pillar of the European monetary ...

Saturday 25 April | 11:30

The global governance landscape in 2026 is increasingly defined by a “rule of law recession,” forcing a severe institutional reckoning within the Republic of Cyprus as well. While Cyprus maintains the ...

Saturday 18 April | 11:00

The 2026 Iran War marks a turning point in modern geopolitics and shows how the West’s attempts to maintain dominance through military intervention destabilise the region, hastening the rise of ...

Saturday 11 April | 11:30

In a previous article, we examined the concentration of power and erosion of democracy in Cyprus. This article advances that discussion, focusing on the 2025 Democracy Index from the Economist Intelligence ...

Sunday 05 April | 11:30

The Republic of Cyprus is currently at a significant constitutional juncture. The legislative debate on amending Article 17 of the Constitution, which guarantees the secrecy of correspondence, for a new surveillance ...

Saturday 28 March | 11:18

The escalating conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran has transcended a localised military intervention to become a systemic disruption of the global order. International observers now reach a ...

Tuesday 24 March | 08:00

A balance sheet analysis of the Cyprus economic experiment (2013–2026) Looking back from the vantage point of 2026, the official narrative surrounding the Cypriot economy’s post-crisis recovery is broadcast as a ...

Saturday 14 March | 14:00

In the wake of the March 2, 2026, drone strike on the British Sovereign Base at Akrotiri, President Nikos Christodoulides has moved to reorient the Republic of Cyprus’s grand strategy. His ...

Sunday 08 March | 14:47

As the conflict unfolds, it is becoming clearer that war with Iran will not be a quick, surgical operation as initially expected. Instead, it signifies a deeper struggle and a ...

Sunday 18 January | 11:40

The geopolitical landscape remains defined by unrelenting tension. Established norms are being challenged, and the traditional structures of international relations are in a state of visible decay. From the brazen ...

Saturday 20 December 2025 | 10:30

By Ioannis Tirkides The Cypriot tax system, which was designed almost a quarter of a century ago, in 2002, is facing problems of ageing. Although it was originally designed to be ...

Saturday 29 November 2025 | 09:30

By Ioannis Tirkides It is widely acknowledged by diplomatic observers and historians alike that the Conference on Cyprus held in Crans-Montana in July 2017 represented the high-water mark, the closest the ...

Saturday 22 November 2025 | 09:30

An automatic cost-of-living adjustment, or CoLA, is effectively a system of wage indexation designed to address inflation, yet there is no universal application nor a unified model for its implementation. ...

Monday 29 September 2025 | 13:21

In a move that echoes one of the most perilous moments in its recent history, the Republic of Cyprus is acquiring the Barak MX, a sophisticated integrated air defense system ...

Monday 22 September 2025 | 10:49

Despite the early optimism they generated, the meetings in Alaska and Washington in mid-August, achieved nothing of substance, except that in their aftermath we may be nearer to an escalation ...

Saturday 16 August 2025 | 12:48

The trade agreement between the EU and the United States was greeted as a humiliating event in European media. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met President Trump at ...

Saturday 14 June 2025 | 10:10

Taxation is perhaps the ultimate political act in a democratic society. It’s not just about raising revenue and spending it; it’s also about the kind of society we ...

Monday 09 June 2025 | 11:30

This year’s annual lecture in economics from the Cyprus Economic Society, featured Sir Paul Collier, a pre-eminent global development economist and professor of Economics and Public Policy at the ...

Sunday 04 May 2025 | 08:32

Trade is structural and its implications for policy and markets alike are pervasive, especially when deficits have been persistent and accumulating for a long time. Currencies and trade imbalances are ...

Tuesday 25 February 2025 | 08:30

‘There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.’ This quote often attributed to Lenin, may capture the moment. It is now a little more than ...

Saturday 28 December 2024 | 08:00

By Ioannis Tirkides History is not just the outcome of personalities, competing platforms, or a matter of chance. It can be all of that at times. But history is cumulative ...

Saturday 19 October 2024 | 11:00

By Ioannis Tirkides The Middle East is currently embroiled in a complex and potentially explosive situation that could spiral out of control. Iran’s retaliatory strike against Israel on October 1 ...

Saturday 28 September 2024 | 08:00

By Ioannis Tirkides We use summary indicators to conveniently measure the performance and health of the economy. But while these can be useful in some respects, they have their drawbacks ...