Fidias Panayiotou did not attend today’s National Council meeting ahead of next week’s UN talks on the Cyprus problem, claiming he did not possess sufficient knowledge to advise President Nikos Christodoulides and instead appointed businessman Mike Spanos to represent his party.

The decision, announced in a video published on Thursday night, has prompted debate over Spanos’ role after reports that he is not a party official.

However, any registered party member may represent a political party at the National Council, whose role is advisory rather than in actual decision making.

Panayiotou said he had chosen not to attend because of the importance of the upcoming discussions before UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ visit to Cyprus next week.

“Because I have self-awareness, and like Socrates used to say, know thyself, I recognise that I don’t know enough about the Cyprus issue so as to advise the president,” he said.

The MEP said Direct Democracy would instead be represented by Spanos, whom he described as someone with extensive knowledge of the Cyprus problem, Turkey and the economy.

“He is someone I trust because he has a great deal of knowledge about Turkey, the Cyprus problem and the economy,” Panayiotou said.

Questions were initially raised over whether Spanos could attend because he is not part of the party leadership.

Spanos is a registered member of Direct Democracy through the party’s digital membership platform, with the party’s constitution recognising all registered users as members.

Spanos is an established business figure, having married into the Lanitis family and previously led Coca Cola’s operations in Cyprus from 1981 before becoming chief executive of Coca Cola Turkey until 2008.

He has also served on the boards of the Central Bank of Cyprus and Bank of Cyprus in 2014 and is the founder of consultancy firm MS Business Power Ltd and founding chairman of Green Dot Cyprus.

In 2017, Akel selected Spanos as its preferred candidate for the 2018 presidential election before the agreement collapsed within a week over differences on economic policy as well as Spanos’ position on the Cyprus issue.

Friday’s National Council meeting was held ahead of Guterres’ arrival on Monday for a new round of discussions aimed at restarting negotiations on the Cyprus problem.