Nicos Tornaritis

He was elected as MP of Nicosia constituency under the banner of Democratic Rally (DISY) in the parliamentary elections that were held on May 27, 2001, May 21, 2006 and 22 May 2011[1]. He was elected for a fourth consecutive term in the parliamentary elections of 22 May 2016. Despite the extremely high abstention rate, he took the second place on the Nicosia ballot with 10534 votes[3].

He was chairman of the House Education Committee from 2004 until 14 May 2013 when he became the Parliamentary Representative of Democratic Rally and a member of the Committees of the Interior, Institutions, Securities and Commissioner for Administration and Environment.

He is the third principal the party, focusing on parliamentary issues. He is a member of the Executive Office of the Politburo and the Supreme Council, and Commissioner of Education and Coordinator Division of Culture and Sport. Among other things, he helped create a permanent contact between the Education Committee of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Cultural Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament.

He contributed substantially to the necessary consensus for adoption of law on the functioning of private universities (2007). He was Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development DISY and Chairman of the Economic Management Committee.

The election of the parliamentary mandate (2001) suspended the operation of the lawyer's office supporting the principle of incompatibility between the advisory capacity and the legal profession.

At the parliamentary elections held on 22 May 2011, which revealed that the first Democratic Rally party at rates in Cyprus, Tornaritis was reelected. Tornaritis was enlisted in the fifth rank. With reformation in the House of Representatives of Cyprus Tornaritis retained his position as Chairman of the House Education Committee and a member of the Committee on Environment and Human Rights Commission.

He represents DISY on the European level by participating in the Summits of Chairmen of EPP Parliamentary Groups in the National Parliaments of the EU and the European Parliament (Summits of EPP Parliamentary Leaders) since 2013.

He is the Head of the Parliament’s delegation to the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) since 2013. In October 2017 he was elected APA Vice President and President of the APA Standing Committee on Economic and Sustainable Development. Following his election, this APA Committee met for the first time in Cyprus in June 2018. More than 100 MPs and Senators from 20 Asian Countries attended the meeting.

As Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign and European Affairs, he participates in the Summits of Chairmen of European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC), which are the most important link of the EU to the national parliaments. He also participates in the Trilateral Meetings of the Committees on Foreign Affairs of the Parliaments of Cyprus, Greece and Israel.

He is also a member of the Parliament’s delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and to the Interparliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the European Union (IPC SECG).

In March 2018 he participated in the first Commonwealth Parliamentarians’ Forum which took place in London. The Forum set the scene for the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and was attended by more than 70 MPs from more than 25 Commonwealth countries.

In September 2018, he was one of the main speakers in the plenary session of the 10th Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting (ASEP 10), as Vice President of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly. This Meeting took place in the European Parliament in Brussels and prepared the ground for the subsequent 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit, which brought together the leaders of many European and Asian countries.  

In November 2018 he participated in the High-Level Conference on Sustainable Blue Economy that was held in Nairobi, Kenya. The Conference promoted the global debate on the Blue Economy and was attended by more than 30 Heads of State and Government and over 3000 representatives from around the world, from member states and UN agencies, multilateral development banks, international organizations, private companies and non-governmental organizations.

He is member of the Executive Bureau, of the Political Bureau and of the Supreme Council of the Democratic Rally (DISY). He is also Vice President of the Institute of Byzantine Culture and board member of the Marine Life Foundation.

He is the Honorary Consul of Kenya in Cyprus since 1998. As Honorary Consul he contributed to the establishment of hospitals and schools in the African country.

As Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Educational Affairs (2004-2013), he contributed to the formation of the necessary consensus for the adoption of the law on the operation of private universities (2007). He also contributed substantially to the creation of a permanent contact between the Parliamentary Education Committee of Cyprus and the Parliamentary Committee on Cultural Affairs of Greece.

He served as Vice President of the Democratic Rally (2006-2013), DISY Commissioner for Educational Affairs and Co-ordinator of the Culture and Athletics Sector, DISY Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development (2001-2005), President of the Nicosia District Financial Management Committee of DISY (1995-1999), as well as member of the board of the Cyprus State Fairs Authority (1994-2000).

He stopped working as a lawyer when he was elected parliamentarian for the first time in 2001, as he supports in practice the principle of incompatibility between the parliamentary status and the legal profession.

Tornaritis published in Greek a study entitled “The Cyprus Shipping Industry”.

He is also the author of many published articles in the local and international press regarding the Cyprus problem, the reform of education, modern European framework, sustainable development and environmental protection, participatory democracy, the role of the younger generation and the modernization of the state and its institutions.

He was awarded the Medal of the City of Athens for his contribution to the organization of the Conference of Southeast Europe, and he has received top honours of the Patriarchate of Alexandria for his contribution to the Orthodox Mission in Kenya.

Tornaritis is married with two children.[1]

• parliament.com.cy
• disy.org.cy