Famagusta EOA chief proposes planning amnesty for Cyprus restaurants, cafés and bars

Yannis Karousos, president of the Famagusta District Local Government Organization (EOA), has submitted a proposal to Cyprus’s interior minister to introduce a planning amnesty for leisure establishments — restaurants, cafés and bars. According to him, any such regulation should cover the tourism industry as a whole: leisure establishments have been at a disadvantage for decades and face serious licensing problems.

“Tourism is not only about hotels. It is restaurants, cafés, bars and the entire ecosystem that shapes the guest experience,” Karousos said in a statement.

The proposal provides for a simple, time-limited legalization procedure, with compliance requirements to be confirmed by licensed planners. At the same time, the amnesty would make no concessions on fire safety, public health or visitor safety.

It also proposes demolishing all unauthorized structures on state-owned land, introducing compensatory payments for additional building volume and insufficient parking spaces, and directing the funds raised to municipalities for work in tourist areas. If an application is rejected, the applicant would retain the right to object.

“The goal is to give leisure establishments a real opportunity to put their affairs in order and resolve a problem that has dragged on for decades. Once the amnesty ends, the rules should apply to everyone,” the president of the Famagusta EOA concluded.