The Cyprus Confederation of Professional Craftsmen and Shopkeepers reacted after parliament discussed the possibility of raising drinking age in Cyprus from 17 to 18.
President of the Confederation, Fanos Leventis, said that “our child which will graduate at 18 and will go study abroad in a big country in two months, will be unprepared for its first contact with drinking, will not have antibodies or any knowledge on how to behave and what is the establishment he or she is entering.”
“We are a tourist country and I can’t imagine the police entering a nightclub or a beach bar to ask for identification. We care about our children, we care about society and we must think correctly,” Leventis said.
“We have to adapt the law to our country, our culture. The state should equip the family and the education, with the right skills to make the children able to say no to alcohol and not be under the impression that we can discipline them with laws,” he added.
According to Leventis, the proposed change will create problems as the police is not allowed to run checks in establishments such as wedding venues, so the law will be a priori disadvantageous to some business owners.
The issue was tabled by Green Party MP Charalambos Theopemptou and was discussed in parliament today.
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