Armed men seized the regional government headquarters and parliament in Ukraine’s Crimea on Thursday and raised the Russian flag, alarming Kiev’s new rulers, who urged Moscow not to abuse its navy base rights on the peninsula by moving troops around.

“I am appealing to the military leadership of the Russian Black Sea fleet,” said Olexander Turchinov, acting president since the removal of Viktor Yanukovich last week. “Any military movements, the more so if they are with weapons, beyond the boundaries of this territory (the base) will be seen by us as military aggression

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry also summoned Russia’s acting envoy in Kiev for immediate consultations.

There were mixed signals from Moscow, which put fighter jets along its western borders on combat alert, but earlier said it would take part in discussions on an International Monetary Fund (IMF) financial package for Ukraine. Ukraine has said it needs $35 billion over the next two years to stave off bankruptcy.

The fear of military escalation prompted expressions of concern from the West, with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urging Russia not to do anything that would “escalate tension or create misunderstanding”.

Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski called the seizure of government buildings in the Crimea a “very dangerous game”.

“This is a drastic step, and I’m warning those who did this and those who allowed them to do this, because this is how regional conflicts begin,” he told a news conference.

It was not immediately known who was occupying the buildings in the regional capital Simferopol and they issued no demands, but witnesses said they spoke Russian and appeared to be ethnic Russian separatists.

Interfax news agency quoted a witness as saying there were about 60 people inside and they had many weapons. It said no one had been hurt when the buildings were seized in the early hours by Russian speakers in uniforms that did not carry identification markings.

“We were building barricades in the night to protect parliament. Then this young Russian guy came up with a pistol … we all lay down, some more ran up, there was some shooting and around 50 went in through the window,” Leonid Khazanov, an ethnic Russian, told Reuters.

“They’re still there … Then the police came, they seemed scared. I asked them (the armed men) what they wanted, and they said ‘To make our own decisions, not to have Kiev telling us what to do’,” said Khazanov.

About 100 police were gathered in front of the parliament building, and a similar number of people carrying Russian flags later marched up to the building chanting “Russia, Russia” and holding a sign calling for a Crimean referendum.

One of them, Alexei, 30, said: “We have our own constitution, Crimea is autonomous. The government in Kiev are fascists, and what they’re doing is illegal … We need to show our support for the guys inside (parliament). Power should be ours.”

Crimea, the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority, is the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership in Kiev following the ouster of Yanukovich on Saturday.

Part of Russia’s Black Sea fleet is based in Crimea, in the port of Sevastopol

Ukraine’s new leaders have been voicing alarm over signs of separatism there. The seizure of the building was confirmed by acting interior minister Arsen Avakov, who said the attackers had automatic weapons and machine guns.

“Provocateurs are on the march. It is the time for cool heads,” he said on Facebook.

Turchinov, speaking in Kiev to parliament, which had been called to name a new government, described the attackers as “criminals in military fatigues with automatic weapons”.

He also called on Moscow not to violate the terms of an agreement that gives the Russian Black Sea fleet basing rights at Sevastopol until 2042.

The regional prime minister said he had spoken to the people inside the building by telephone, but they had not made any demands or said why they were inside. They had promised to call him back but had not done so, he said.

RUSSIAN WARNINGS

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ignored calls by some ethnic Russians in Crimea to reclaim the territory handed to then Soviet Ukraine by Soviet Communist leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1954.

The United States says any Russian military action would be a grave mistake.

But Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Moscow would defend the rights of its compatriots and react without compromise to any violation of those rights.

It expressed concern about “large-scale human rights violations”, attacks and vandalism in the former Soviet republic.

Ethnic Tatars who support Ukraine’s new leaders and pro-Russia separatists had confronted each other outside the regional parliament on Wednesday.

Yanukovich was toppled after three months of unrest led by protesters in Kiev. He is now on the run and being sought by the new authorities for murder in connection with the deaths of around 100 people during the conflict.

Crimea is the only region of Ukraine where ethnic Russians are the majority, though many ethnic Ukrainians in other eastern areas speak Russian as their first language.

The Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group, were victimised by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in World War Two and deported en masse to Soviet Central Asia in 1944 on suspicion of collaborating with Nazi Germany.

Tens of thousands of them returned to their homeland after Ukraine gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.

By Nemanja Bjedov
MARCOS Baghdatis has been beaten 6-1 6-4 by fourth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the Round of 16 of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco.

This was Dimitrov’s fifth win over Baghdatis in their six meetings, in a match which lasted just over an hour.

After this win Dimitrov secured at least 90 ranking points which could help him break into the Top 20 once again, while Baghdatis could also improve his ranking.
The 28-year-old Cypriot secured 45 points at this 500-event. He is currently ranked 149th with 365 points.

In the quarter-finals, Dimitrov will now take on in-form Latvian Ernest Gulbis who defeated him two weeks ago in Rotterdam at the same stage of the tournament, while Baghdatis is expected to feature in the qualifiers for the first Masters event of the season – the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

 By Constantinos Psillides

It will be a long day for the House and workers in semi-governmental organisations on Thursday as MPs decide the future of the EAC, CyTA and the Cyprus Ports Authority.

In the afternoon plenum session, starting at around 4:00 pm, parliamentary parties will be called upon to vote on the much debated privatisation plan for the SGOs, while hundreds of workers will be protesting outside.

The proposed plan is expected to pass, with support by the ruling coalition DISY, DIKO and EVROKO. In total, the governing coalition controls 29 seats in the House (DISY 20, DIKO 8 and EVROKO 1) which guarantees a majority.

But it won’t be an easy afternoon for the government. DIKO might officially have eight votes but some of them may break ranks after the party’s bitterly contested decision to finally leave the ruling coalition on Wednesday.

Former DIKO MP  Zacharias Koulias, considered an ally of leader Nicolas Papadopoulos,  has given no clear indication of what he plans to vote while Athena Kyriakidou went on CyBC radio on Thursday morning to say that some DIKO parliamentarians won’t necessarily obey party directives. Kyriakidou has always voiced her opposition against party leader Papadopoulos, having supported his long-time opponent Marios Garoyian in every major party conflict.

DIKO’s position will be made clear at around 3:00 p.m., after the meeting of the party parliamentary group.

Speaking ahead of that meeting, Papadopoulos said the parliamentary group would examine the proposed plan and act accordingly.

“With the amendments we included in the plan, we believe that we have achieved our goals and we are hoping for the support of all the other parties. So we can keep our promises and regain our market credibility,” the DIKO leader said.

Just minutes earlier, Kyriakidou was asked how DIKO could side with the government on economy issues while dissolving the coalition because of the Cyprus problem. “It’s time every one of us takes responsibility for what is happening,” the DIKO MP told CyBC radio, but she refused to reveal how she intended to vote.

Opposition parties, AKEL (19), EDEK (5), Citizen’s Alliance (1) and the Green party (1) all said they would be voting against the proposed plan. Their total of 26 votes though isn’t enough to throw off the government’s plan. And to make matters worse for the opposition, House president Yiannakis Omirou and Roula Mavronikola, both members of EDEK, are absent abroad and can’t vote.

The afternoon plenum session will prove to be a long one, as every single party announced that it would propose an amendment to the privatisation plan. Both AKEL and EDEK asked for the government to renegotiate with the troika of lenders (European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Union) for a different privatisation plan.

Opposition parties are expected to back-up AKEL’s proposal for a renegotiation with the troika as well as the EDEK proposal to delay the vote.

The privatisation plan needs to be voted in before March 10, when the next Eurogroup will be in session. The plan is an obligation Cyprus has towards the troika, in order to release the next installment of the bailout aid. Troika set March 5 as the deadline with abiding with the bailout plan’s requirements.

Sixteen sheep were killed on Wednesday evening when cars ploughed into a herd that wandered onto the motorway near Pissouri, police said.

Police received a call at around 7.30pm that a flock of sheep belonging to a 52-year-old farmer had wandered onto the highway near the Pissouri exit causing a collision involving three cars.

A small stretch of highway near the Pissouri exit was closed for more than an hour while clean-up crews cleared the road.

The 52-year-old, whose farm is close to the highway, told police that a gate had accidentally opened and the sheep had wandered off.

He was held by the police for questioning but later released.

By Elias Hazou

PARLIAMENT on Thursday failed to adopt a controversial privatisation plan, potentially throwing into disarray an international bailout programme of the island and endangering the next tranche of a €10bn loan.

As hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside parliament, the vote was split evenly, with 25 lawmakers in favour and 25 against, and five abstentions. The bill needed a simply majority to pass. AKEL, EDEK and the Greens voted against.

Approval of a privatisation plan is mandatory under terms of an EU/IMF bailout Cyprus secured in March 2013. Without approval of the legislation, Cyprus is not eligible for a fourth tranche of about €236m in aid next month. The state has already received almost half its bailout amount.

As part of its commitments to pay down debt, Cyprus is expected to privatise three major public utility corporations, raising some €1.4bn by 2018. Those earmarked for sale include the Telecommunications Authority, the Electricity Authority and the Ports Authority.

The Eurogroup was due to green-light the disbursement of the next instalment when it next met on March 5. That is now uncertain.

The deal breaker in parliament was an amendment, brought by DIKO, to the government bill. It sought to secure the status of SGO employees as civil servants even once the SGOs are turned into private concerns.

Under the proposal – inserted to mollify trade unions – current SGO workers would get to keep their salaries and benefits until retirement or promotion, irrespective of whether certain jobs are axed in a privately-owned organisation.

Earlier in the day, the troika of international lenders made it clear that this clause was unacceptable.

In an email sent to the finance minister in the morning, European Commission official Maarten Verwey said the amendment constituted a “material change” to the bailout deal that went “beyond what is applicable.”

Should the privatisation bill pass with DIKO’s alteration tagged to it, the relevant requirement (privatisation of SGOs) “will be assessed as not being met,” Verwey said.

The government spokesman meanwhile was warning of the dangers of altering the privatisation bill beyond recognition.

“There exists a serious prospect that, should our lenders not disburse the [next] instalment, the government will next month, or the month after, be unable to keep paying salaries and pensions,” Christos Stylianides said hours before the plenum convened.

What decided Thursday’s outcome in parliament was the stance of some of the DIKO MPs. Only three of their deputies – including party leader Nicholas Papadopoulos – voted for the bill, whereas the other five chose to abstain.

One more ‘yea’ from DIKO would have enabled the bill to pass.

The DIKO ranks were split after all of their proposed amendments were voted down by ruling DISY.

It was not immediately clear what happens next. Late Thursday the President called a crisis meeting at the Palace. Summoned there were the ministers of finance, foreign affairs, the interior, the under-secretary to the President and the government spokesman.

It was decided to convene an extraordinary session of the cabinet for Friday to discuss how to tackle the issue.

A possible way out might be to convene a new session of the plenum for Monday or Tuesday – just 24 hours short of the March 5 deadline.

That would violate parliamentary regulations, which state that the parliament cannot during the same legislative season vote twice on the same subject if legislation has already been defeated.

This applies to government bills and legislative proposals alike. But given the stakes, the rules may have to be bent.

However, unless DIKO agrees to withdraw their contentious clause, there would be little point in putting a new bill to the vote.

Even if politicians are to somehow pull it off, the fact remains that Cyprus has lost credibility with its international creditors, DISY MP Prodromos Prodromou told the Mail.

“Having received praise and three positive reviews for implementing the bailout programme, we go and ruin everything with this caper,” he said, referring to parliament’s rejection of the bill.

Whether the bailout programme as a whole is disrupted remains to be seen.

But that’s almost a moot point, said Prodromou:

“If the lenders don’t OK the next tranche, as they likely won’t as things stand, we’re bankrupt. The treasury may last for a couple of months. After that the government won’t be able to pay salaries, or will have to pay some but not others. I suspect that the other parties will then come back with their tails tucked between their legs and do the right thing.”

Security around the parliament building was tight on Thursday, as hundreds of protesters gathered to shout down the bill.

There was none of the violence witnessed on Monday, but one man was arrested for insulting a police officer.

NICOLAS Papadopoulos may have considered his election as DIKO leader last December the crowning achievement of his political career. This was the ideal launching pad for his presidential ambitions and an opportunity to establish himself as a credible candidate. He had raised his profile as chairman of the House finance committee, speaking sensibly on economic issues and often issuing warnings against the short-sighted, populist policies pursued by the previous president.

After the Eurogroup meetings and the haircut, he shunned the populism embraced by most other politicians, supporting the government’s austerity measures, irrespective of the political cost. In short, he made a name for himself as a responsible, young politician who gained public respect without resorting to the shabby, petty-minded practices of the old guard. What a pity that in the space of three months, since becoming party leader, he managed to destroy the image he had built, acting like a wheeler-dealing politician of the old guard as well as displaying poor judgment.

This poor judgment was exemplified by his knee-jerk reaction to the joint declaration and insistence on leaving the government alliance, on the flimsy grounds that the president had not honoured his agreement on the Cyprus problem. His abject negativity and scare-mongering showed him up as just another old school politician intent on making political capital out of a hard line on the Cyprus problem. Like his father Tassos, Spyros Kyprianou and Vassos Lyssarides he flew the flag of negativity, offering nothing other than maintenance of the status quo as an alternative.

In the end, he managed to impose his will on his party, but only just. His proposal for quitting the government received 97 votes in favour and 81 against on Wednesday night, not exactly a vote of confidence in the new leader. Worse still, was how he secured the majority. He made the scandalous amendment to the SGO privatisation bill – preventing SGOs laying off redundant workers and guaranteeing their inflated pensions even after privatisation – in exchange for securing the support of a CyTA union boss, who was a member of the DIKO central committee, in the Wednesday night vote.

This was the type of absurd amendment that he would have spoken out against, if he was just the chairman of the House finance committee. But he had to win the vote and the end justified the means. And for what? Essentially, he wanted to punish Anastasiades for wanting to solve the Cyprus problem and take the mantle of the leading hardliner? In the process he managed to split his party, after just three months as leader, and prove to everyone that despite being young, he thinks and acts, like a politician of a bygone era, that had nothing to offer apart from vacuous, hard-line rhetoric.

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE TWO negotiators tasked with ending the island’s ongoing division yesterday held “historic” parallel meetings with Greek and Turkish diplomats in Athens and Ankara, breaking the ice with the so-called respective “motherlands”.

Andreas Mavroyiannis met with Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu in Ankara while at the same time Kudret Ozersay met the General Secretary of the Greek Foreign Ministry, Anastassis Mitsialis, in Athens, far from the watchful eye of the media.

No statements were made after both meetings, while the media were kept at a distance from the buildings where the negotiations took place.

Prior to his Athens visit, Ozersay had highighted that the last Turkish Cypriot negotiator to visit Greece was the late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in 1959. Also, the last official visit by a Greek Cypriot to Ankara was made by then President Archbishop Makarios in 1962.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides yesterday said the meeting in Ankara was “a very important meeting”, and expressed hope that more would follow.

“This is the first time a Cypriot negotiator arrives in Ankara for such a meeting with a Turkish official. We hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of many more to come. This was the intention of the government and the President, who proposed this procedure and we believe it can still yield more positive results for both sides,” he said.

Deputy spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos described it as a “historic day” as President Nicos Anastasiades succeeded in achieving what the Greek Cypriots have been demanding for 40 years, to have direct contact with the country occupying the island’s northern third.

According to reports from various media in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, both negotiators were warmly received by their hosts while the meetings were held in a positive climate.

Public broadcaster CyBC yesterday cited reports saying that the Mavroyiannis-Sinirlioglu meeting was held in a very good and friendly climate. The two had a constructive discussion in a climate of understanding and cooperation where Turkey expressed its support to the peace process, said the broadcaster.

The CyBC’s Istanbul correspondent also reported that Mavroyiannis did not raise specific issues during the meeting- earlier reports had him ready to discuss Turkish troops, settlers, guarantees and the opening of Varosha with Ankara- but instead laid out Anastasiades’ political vision and determination for a solution.

According to Hurriyet Daily News, a Turkish diplomat said the meeting was “a positive beginning”, noting particularly the importance of the “psychological influence” of these mutual meetings.

Asked if the visits would continue, the same source said they foresee they will, though no date has been set.

Ozersay was reportedly going to discuss the need to lift the ‘embargo’ on the Turkish Cypriots. Before meeting with the Greek diplomat, the Turkish Cypriot negotiator was quoted saying he was going to Athens with a “briefcase full of surprises”.

He also said the mutual visits would help to remove prejudices.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the visits would have a positive impact on the talks, and called for their continuation and in greater depth.

“The island of Cyprus belongs to both communities. The Cyprus Republic was established by the 1959-1960 agreements and by the two communities. Today, both communities have the political will to overcome this problem. Turkey and Greece support this political will,” he said.

Ozersay was quoted by Turkish Cypriot paper Realist saying that Davutoglu would visit the island on Monday, though this could not be confirmed yesterday.

Greek paper To Vima yesterday reported that Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was uncomfortable with the decision taken last September to initiate parallel visits of the two negotiators to Athens and Ankara, but had agreed not to become an obstacle to Anastasiades’ aim to open direct lines of communication with Ankara.

It remains to be seen how often visits to Athens and Ankara will take place, and whether they will always be simultaneous. The two negotiators are also likely to visit other capitals, such as London and possibly Washington, as part of the peace process.

Mavroyiannis was accompanied yesterday by lawyer Polys Polyviou and head of his office Polly Ioannou.

Ozersay took with him political affairs head at the Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign ministry’ Gunes Onar and Gulfem Veziroglu Svikili.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet said on Friday its forces had not seized or taken any other action at a military airport near Sevastopol, the port on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula where the fleet is based, Interfax news agency reported.

“No Black Sea Fleet units have moved toward (the airport), let alone taking any part in blockading it,” Interfax quoted a spokesman for the fleet as saying after Ukraine’s interior minister said Russian forces had take control of two airports in Crimea and called it an invasion.

Armed men took control of two airports in the Crimea region on Friday in what Ukraine’s government described as an invasion and occupation by Russian forces, stoking tension between Moscow and the West.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Russian naval forces had taken over a military airport near the port of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea fleet has a base, and other Russian forces had taken over Simferopol international airport.

However, amid the confusion one man who said he was helping the group at Simferopol airport described them as simple people from the “People’s Militia of Crimea”.

Avakov said tension was rising on the Black Sea peninsula, the only Ukrainian region that has an ethnic Russian majority and the last major bastion of resistance to the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovich as president almost a week go.

“I consider what has happened to be an armed invasion and occupation in violation of all international agreements and norms,” Avakov said on his Facebook page, describing it as a “provocation” and calling for talks.

Yanukovich is expected to appear before reporters in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don later on Friday, although President Vladimir Putin has not said whether Moscow will harbour the former leader who is on the run and wanted for mass murder.

The United States has told Russia to demonstrate in the next few days that it is sincere about a promise not to intervene in Ukraine, saying using force would be a grave mistake.

“We believe that everybody now needs to take a step back and avoid any kind of provocations,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “We want to see in the next days ahead that the choices Russia makes conform to this affirmation we received today.”

The Kremlin said Putin had ordered his government to continue talks with Ukraine on economic and trade relations and to consult foreign partners including the International Monetary Fund on financial aid.

It also said Putin ordered the government to consider a request from Crimea for humanitarian aid but made no direct reference to the latest events.

Yanukovich provoked protests in Ukraine in November by backing out of plans to sign landmark deals with the European Union and instead saying Kiev would seek closer economic and trade ties with its former Soviet master Russia.

In December, Putin promised Yanukovich a $15 billion bailout, but Russia has put the deal on hold after releasing an initial instalment, saying it wants more clarity about the new government and its policies.

ARMED FORCES IN CRIMEA

Kiev’s new rulers have said any movement by Russian forces beyond the Black Sea fleet base in Sevastopol would be tantamount to aggression.

But it faces a major challenge in Crimea which was Russian territory until it was transferred to Ukraine in 1954, during the Soviet era. Separatism there has often flared up at times of tension between Moscow and Kiev.

Unidentified gunmen seized the Crimean parliament and raised a Russian flag on Thursday. The gunmen issued no demands and police were casually guarding the building.

Armed men took control of Simferopol airport overnight and were patrolling its grounds on Friday morning.

A Reuters eyewitness at the scene said the men, dressed in full battle gear and carrying assault rifles and machine guns, were moving freely in an out of the control tower.

A man called Vladimir, who said he was a volunteer helping the group, said: “I’m with the People’s Militia of Crimea. We’re simple people, volunteers … We’re here at the airport to maintain order. We’ll meet the planes with a nice smile – the airport is working as normal.”

The Belbek military airport near Sevastopol was taken over by what Avakov said were military units of the Russian fleet and armed men in camouflage were guarding the perimeter fence.

One of the men was quoted as saying the aim was to prevent Avakov flying to Crimea.

“Tension is rising,” Avakov said. “While we don’t have direct military clashes, diplomats should talk.”

SOVEREIGNTY CALL

The regional parliament in Crimea managed to hold a session inside the building on Thursday despite the siege, where it voted to stage a referendum on “sovereignty” for Crimea.

Russia’s flag still flew from its roof and lights were on in the windows of its top floor. It was not clear whether the armed men were still inside.

Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine’s acting president, warned Russia on Thursday not to move personnel beyond areas permitted by treaty for those using its naval base.

“Any military movements, the more so if they are with weapons, beyond the boundaries of this territory will be seen by us as military aggression,” he said.

Russia has repeatedly declared it will defend the interests of its citizens in Ukraine, and announced war games on Wednesday near the border, involving 150,000 troops on high alert. Kerry said Lavrov told him the exercises had been pre-planned.

Although Moscow says it will not intervene by force, its rhetoric since the removal of its ally Yanukovich has echoed the run-up to its invasion of Georgia in 2008, when it sent its troops to protect two self-declared independent regions and then recognised them as independent states.

Witness accounts suggest those who captured the Crimean parliament building in the early hours of Thursday were pro-Russian gunmen of some kind.

By Toby Davis
EMMANUEL Adebayor scored twice in four minutes as Tottenham Hotspur overturned a two-goal aggregate deficit to beat 10-man Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-2 over two legs on Thursday to reach the last 16 of the Europa League.

It was a painful return to London for Tottenham’s former coach Juande Ramos whose side took the lead on the night through Roman Zozulya.
Forward Zozulya was then sent off in the 62nd minute, six minutes after Christian Eriksen had levelled, and Adebayor grabbed his quickfire double to give twice UEFA Cup winners Spurs a 3-1 second-leg victory.

Nabil Ghilas, of twice former champions Porto, netted in the 86th minute to secure a 3-3 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt, the Portuguese side going through on away goals after the tie ended 5-5 on aggregate.

Napoli, with coach Rafa Benitez attempting to win back-to-back Europa Leagues after picking up the trophy with Chelsea last season, and Ludogorets also came out on top in thrilling second-leg matches.

The Serie A team scored two late goals to beat Swansea City 3-1 on the night and on aggregate while Bulgarians Ludogorets ousted Lazio after an 88th-minute goal from Juninho Quixada gave them a 3-3 home draw and a 4-3 win overall.

Ramos looked on course for revenge over the club that sacked him five years ago when his Dnipro team took the lead on the night through Zozulya who headed in unmarked early in the second half.
Joy soon turned to despair for the Spanish coach, who led Tottenham to their last trophy when they won the English League Cup in 2008, as Eriksen scored with a free kick and Zozulya saw red for appearing to head-butt defender Jan Vertonghen.

Tottenham were then firmly in command and Adebayor converted an Eriksen cross from close range on 65 minutes before grabbing his second after collecting a long-ball and finishing with a clever flick.
The Togo striker now has 11 goals from his last 15 games, making it harder to see why he was left out earlier in the season under former manager Andre-Villas Boas before being brought back into the fold by new boss Tim Sherwood.

“I’m very glad to be back scoring goals and happy with my team,” Adebayor told ITV Sport.
“I have to keep focused and keep going. I want to say thank you to the new manager who came in and gave me my stage to perform.”

Porto looked to be heading out when they trailed 2-0 in Frankfurt, Stefan Aigner prodding the German side ahead from close range and Alexander Meier converting a cross to double the lead.
Two second-half headers from defender Eliaquim Mangala made it 2-2 and levelled the tie 4-4 on aggregate.
Eintracht regained the advantage through Meier but Ghilas latched on to a loose ball when keeper Kevin Trapp could only parry a shot and slid the ball into the empty net to give the visitors an away-goal victory.

Ludogorets had won the first leg against Lazio 1-0 but were quickly behind in the return game when Balde Diao Keita bundled the ball into the net after a minute and Brayan Perea converted an Ogenyi Onazi pass to make it 2-0 on the night early in the second half.

Goals from Roman Bezjak and Hristo Zlatinski made it 2-2 but the Italians again looked set to advance when Miroslav Klose poked in a rebound with eight minutes remaining.
Quixada then pounced on a long pass to flick the ball over the on-rushing Lazio keeper and put the hosts into the last 16.

Napoli scored early through Lorenzo Insigne’s dinked finish but Swansea equalised through Jonathan de Guzman.
Gonzalo Higuain’s predatory instincts then came to Benitez’s rescue as the Argentine swivelled and volleyed home with 12 minutes remaining before Napoli keeper Jose Reina pulled off a remarkable reflex save from Dwight Tiendalli’s header.
Gokhan Inler netted deep into injury time to take the tie out of Swansea’s reach.

Serie A champions Juventus comfortably beat Trabzonspor 2-0 in Turkey to progress after winning by the same scoreline in Italy last week while Benfica scored three goals in nine second-half minutes to beat PAOK Salonika 3-0 on the night, 4-0 overall.

Salzburg, who won all six group matches earlier in the competition, thrashed Ajax Amsterdam 6-1 on aggregate after winning 3-1 in Austria in the second leg.
Spanish club Real Betis secured a 3-1 aggregate victory over Russians Rubin Kazan, winning 2-0 away with Nono and Ruben Castro on target.

Sevilla beat Slovenians Maribor 2-1 with goals from Jose Antonio Reyes and Kevin Gameiro to go through 4-3 on aggregate while Viktoria Plzen defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 to advance 3-2 overall.

Alexandre Lacazette scored in the 80th minute for Olympique Lyon against Chernomorets Odessa to progress 1-0 on aggregate and Fiorentina drew 1-1 at home to Esbjerg but went through 4-2 overall.

A car used by a football referee was bombed in the early hours of Friday in Nicosia, reports said.

The vehicle is used by Leontios Trattos, a first division and international ref.

Police said the device exploded at around 2.45am causing damage to the car’s windshield, hood and engine, police said.

The car was parked in the underground lot of an apartment block in Latsia.

A car parked nearby was also damaged.

The government will re-submit privatisation legislation to parliament, the spokesman said on Friday, a day after lawmakers rejected the roadmap and put an international bailout programme at risk.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides said legislation, amended to accommodate concerns over workers legacy rights, would be submitted to the House of Representatives on Friday.

Shortly afterwards, President Nicos Anastasiades used his Twitter account to state that he was “determined to keep the country on the path of stabilisation and recovery.”

Parliament will discuss the bill on Tuesday.

The new bill that will be submitted by the government on Friday incorporates all the amendments discussed during the consultations with the parties so that the bill was approved, Stylianides said.

“The matters are critical, the developments are dramatic, and we hope to have the parliament’s consent to avoid incidents that affect the credibility of the Republic of Cyprus at a moment when it is already regaining its credibility and the situation is stabilising,” he added.

Parliament on Thursday rejected the privatisation plan, potentially throwing into disarray an international bailout programme of the island and endangering the next tranche of a €10bn loan.

The vote was split evenly, with 25 lawmakers in favour and 25 against, and five abstentions — out of eight MPs — from DIKO. The bill needed a simple majority to pass.

AKEL, EDEK and the Greens voted against.

Approval of a privatisation plan is mandatory under terms of an EU/IMF bailout Cyprus secured in March 2013. Without approval of the legislation, Cyprus is not eligible for a fourth tranche of about €236m in aid next month.

The state has already received almost half its bailout amount.

As part of its commitments to pay down debt, Cyprus is expected to privatise three major public utility corporations, raising some €1.4bn by 2018.

Those earmarked for sale include the Telecommunications Authority, the Electricity Authority and the Ports Authority.

The Eurogroup was due to green-light the disbursement of the next instalment when it next met on March 5. That is now uncertain.

The deal breaker in parliament was an amendment, brought by DIKO, to the government bill. It sought to secure the status of SGO employees as civil servants even once the SGOs are turned into private concerns.

The spokesman said the rights of the workers were secured, as was the role of parliament.

The entire cabinet submitted its resignation on Friday but President Nicos Anastasiades asked them to remain in place until March 15.

Ministers put their resignations at the disposal of the president ahead of an expected reshuffle following DIKO’s departure from the coalition government.

Anastasiades did not say what his next move would be.

“I will decide what to do in 15 days,” he told reporters outside the presidential palace.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides said that the president had asked the ministers to remain in office because of various pending issues.

Anastasiades will also be away — travelling to Ireland next week — the spokesman said.

DIKO abandoned the government on Wednesday over disagreements with the president’s handling of the Cyprus problem.

Chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos had asked the four ministers belonging to his party to resign immediately.

One of the four, Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis, stressed that what was important was the country’s stability.
“… either with DIKO in the government or not, the administration must proceed with the difficult task it has assumed and take the country out of the deadlock.”

Reports suggested that Lakkotrypis will announce on Saturday that he was quitting DIKO.

Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said he was duty-bound, in light of developments, especially as regards the Cyprus problem, to remain at the side of the president, if he was offered the ministry again on March 15.

By Michael Hann
TOP meets bottom in the Premier League on Saturday when leaders Chelsea make the short trip across west London to Fulham (5pm) looking to consolidate their title bid and increase the relegation worries of their neighbours.

With third-placed Manchester City playing Sunderland in the Capital One (League) Cup final at Wembley on Sunday (4pm) , Chelsea can increase their advantage over Manuel Pellegrini’s side to six points.

Chelsea top the table with 60 points from 27 games, one more than Arsenal (59), who are away at Stoke this afternoon (5pm), and three clear of City, who have 57 from 26 games. Liverpool are fourth on 56.

Jose Mourinho’s side last lost to Fulham in 2006, the year they won their second successive league title, and they drew 1-1 at Galatasaray in the Champions league on Wednesday.
“We just want to try to keep our position and not give it up for free to our opponents,” said the Portuguese, whose side went top three weeks ago.
“We have to fight, we have to play. Every victory keeps us there, every defeat or draw we lose our position.”

Fulham, without a win in seven, will be hoping to give new German coach Felix Magath a victory in his second game in charge after drawing against West Bromwich Albion last weekend.

Second-placed Arsenal, who beat Sunderland 4-1 in their last outing, travel to Stoke on Saturday (5pm) having found wins hard to come by at the Britannia Stadium.
Arsene Wenger has not seen his side beat Stoke in their last three trips to the Potteries and the Frenchman will be without left back Kieran Gibbs who has a hamstring injury.

“We are still there in the table,” Wenger said after the victory over Sunderland. “It is down to consistency and our performances.”
Stoke, who have won once in their last six league matches, are three points above the relegation zone but will be boosted by the return of German defender Robert Huth.

Liverpool continue to breathe down the necks of the top three and travel to the south coast to play Southampton in Saturday’s late kick-off (7.30pm), with in-form Daniel Sturridge bidding to find the net in his ninth consecutive Premier League match.

“He looks like he can score in every single game,” manager Brendan Rodgers said of Sturridge after he scored twice against Swansea last Sunday.
“He’s got that ability, he’s got the quality and thankfully he plays for us here, and has still got a lot of improving to do.”

Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has triumphed over Liverpool in the last two meetings between the sides, but after slumping to a 3-1 defeat against West Ham United they have now won once in their last six games.

West Ham will have Andy Carroll back in contention for their trip to Everton (5pm) after the England striker served a three-match ban.
Sam Allardyce’s men have eased their relegation fears in recent weeks as four wins in a row has seen them shoot up to 10th in the table.

In contrast, Roberto Martinez’s seventh-placed Everton, who have not lost to West Ham in the last 12 meetings, have dropped off the pace after losing back-to-back league matches.
They will be without injured on-loan striker Lacina Traore, but top scorer Romelu Lukaku is pushing for a return after an ankle problem.

On Sunday, Tottenham host Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s struggling Cardiff City (6.30pm) with head coach Tim Sherwood calling on his side to show “character” following a poor display in a 1-0 defeat at Norwich City last weekend.

“Good players and good teams come back when they’re down and that’s what we’ve got to do straight away,” said Sherwood, whose side are fifth on 50 points.
Norwegian Solskjaer has found life difficult since taking charge of Cardiff and with one win away from home in the league this season, prospects look bleak for the 19th placed side.

A 58 year old man from Peyia, Paphos, was arrested on Thursday for illegal possession of ancient coins and other antiquities, a police spokesman said.

Acting on a tip, Paphos CID detectives conducted a search in the man’s home where a “large quantity of ancient objects, coins and jewellery” were found.

Numerous objects, including 58 amphorae, 20 golden artefacts and six ancient bayonets, were confiscated from the suspect’s home.

According to an antiquities department official, the objects date back to the Hellenistic period.

In addition, six firearms were found and confiscated, one of which was an AK47-type Russian automatic rifle, all manufactured in the early 1900s.

Other suspicious objects identified at the suspect’s residence included a metal detector, several coins and notes from various periods, jewellery and gold chalices, as well as the amount of €9.411 in cash.

The police have announced that a thorough inspection of the evidence collected would be performed by the Antiquities department on Friday.

Following his arrest on suspicion of illegal possession of antiquities, the suspect will be brought before the Paphos district court.

During interrogation, the 58-year old failed to provide convincing explanations as to the origin of the objects, police said.

By Bejay Browne

PAPHOS has been recognised as one of the best wedding destinations in the world by travelers in an online poll.

Traveler feedback and industry research which is collated by FlipKey.com – a vacation and rental company, part of the leading travel site TripAdvisor – found that Paphos ticked many of the important boxes for couples tying the knot.

Claire Fischer of FlipKey told the Cyprus Mail: “We take the feedback of our travelers based on bookings, inquiries, and review data. Each destination is judged on a multitude of criteria.”

She said these included the natural beauty of the location (which helps to make the perfect backdrop to tie the knot), the resources the destination offers for weddings, the wedding planning process, nightlife and entertainment, traditional food and local cultural experiences.

“It also helps that Paphos is in Cyprus which is considered the island of love,” she said.

Fischer added that FlipKey.com was an online vacation rental marketplace that makes it easy, safe, and fun to find and book the perfect place to stay.

“We are part of the TripAdvisor media group and are one of a few companies they own. We focus on vacation rentals backed by traveler reviews.”

The best wedding destinations accolade is new and has only been initiated this year. According to the FlipKey representative, there isn’t a specific rank order for the best destinations, as she says that personality plays a large role in where someone should travel for their wedding destination.

“This is the first time this list has been created and we are not sure how often it will be updated, but it won’t be more frequently than a year,” she said.

Fischer said Paphos would benefit by the attention it would receive from the award.

“This information is shared through social media channels as well as with a variety of other sources to help get the word out,” she said.

Paphos is described on the FlipKey site as: ‘The most fashionable spot for destination weddings in the Mediterranean.”

Hundreds of thousands of euros are generated by couples taking advantage of civil weddings at the four municipalities of the Paphos district every year.

Other top wedding destinations on the site include Tuscany in Italy, Bali in Indonesia and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.

www.flipkey.com/trip-ideas/best-wedding-destinations/

By Stefanos Evripidou

EXTREME weather conditions, such as floods, are expected to intensify in the near future and have multiple catastrophic effects due to the urban development model in Cyprus, according to a study by the Cyprus University of Technology (TEPAK).

The research project titled: ‘Integrated use of satellite remote sensing and hydraulic modelling for flood risk assessment at catchment scale in Cyprus’, also known as the SATFLOOD project, was co-financed by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation and EU, and implemented by TEPAK.

According to a press release, the lack of general spatial planning in Cyprus (where the state influences the distribution of people and activities in various sized spaces) highlights the need to create a comprehensive information system which includes technologies such as satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) for the effective management of this information.

The Technology University’s website on remote sensing and geo-environment research notes that the increase in flood inundation occurring in different regions all over the world has enhanced the need for effective flood risk management.

As the frequency of floods increases at a steady rate due to ever increasing human activities on physical floodplains there is a respective increase in the financial and destructive impact of floods, says the section of the website related to the SATFLOOD project.

The project was launched three years ago with the main purposes of: mapping the change in urban development with the help of satellite remote sensing techniques using high spatial resolution satellites; creating efficient flood risk maps; and contributing to the management and reduction of risk for people, property, and the environment after such phenomena.

The study highlights the need for digital mapping of urban sprawl in a catchment area in Cyprus and assesses its contribution to flood risk. In addition, the project maps potential areas with high risk from floods.

The study area chosen for the project was the c in the Nicosia district. This area, particularly around Pera Chorio-Nisou and Dhali, has seen serious flooding over the years, culminating in the devastating flood of September 2009.

The findings of the project were presented in international scientific journals, as well as scientific conferences in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria and Greece.

The coordinator of the project is head of TEPAK’s civil engineering and geomatics department Diofantos Hadjimitsis. TEPAK worked with the following partners on the project: the Cyprus Meteorological Service, the Technical University of Crete, the Cyprus Water Development Department and the National Observatory of Athens.

By Angelos Anastasiou

THE bailout of co-operative credit institutions (CCIs) with €1.5 billion in troika loans was sealed on Friday with the signing of the recapitalisation agreement between the finance ministry, the Co-operative Central Bank (CCB) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades, CCB president Nicolas Hadjiyiannis and executive director Marios Clerides signed the agreement, along with representatives of the ESM.

Following severe banking and fiscal crises last March, Cyprus was forced to agree to the terms of a €10 billion bailout loan by the troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund), which included a €1.5 billion recapitalisation package for the co-ops in exchange for their consolidation and restructuring.

Speaking after the signing, Georgiades exalted the prospects of fully recapitalised CCIs to drive the country’s economic recovery.

“The signing marks the stabilisation of the co-ops which, coupled with the fact that their restructuring is also underway, allows us the certainty that they will become a major pillar in the effort to restart Cyprus’s economy”, he said.

Clerides said that the government had fulfilled its obligations, and the responsibility to step up now fell on the co-ops’ management.

“The ball is in our court now,” he said. “We must prove worthy of the government’s trust.”

Earlier on Friday, Hadjiyiannis had explained that once the agreement was signed, the €1.5 billion “essentially got introduced to the CCIs’ balance sheet in the form of available cash, facilitating their recapitalisation by the new shareholder, which is the government.”

“The recapitalisation locks the restructuring plan in place and the CCB can move ahead with implementing it, while fully securing deposits totalling roughly €13 billion”, he added.

The finalisation of the deal heralded a new era for the co-ops, which is poised to start offering loan facilities to cover domestic needs, as well as niche cases like green loans, certain categories of housing loans and credit for businesses employing up to five employees.

“This is our strategy and we want to follow it, and by the end of March we should be able to proceed,” Hadjiyiannis said.

Asked to comment on the issue of persistently high interest rates, he said that they related to the issue of non-performing loans.

“We are trying to think of outside-the-box ways of helping our consistent and viable customers,” he said.

In addition to NPLs Hadjiyiannis cited two immediate challenges facing the organisation, namely passing the European Banking Authority’s stress tests next fall, as well as the organisation’s consolidation.

“The restructuring plan called for full functionality by the coming June, but we aim to be fully functional much sooner,” he said.

A voluntary retirement scheme – part of the restructuring plan – is in “the right path”, according to Hadjiyiannis, who added that a clearer picture should be available by the end of March.

Meanwhile, reports surfacing on Friday linking the rejection of the privatisation bill by the House to the co-ops recapitalisation effort were met with Hadjiyiannis’s vehement denial.

“The decision to recapitalise the co-ops has already been approved by the Eurogroup and the €1.5 billion bond, already deposited in the Central Bank of Cyprus, will be incorporated into the co-ops’ balance sheet upon signing the agreement with the ESM,” he said.

“The recapitalisation has nothing to do with the rejection of the privatisation bill, and any reports stating otherwise are groundless.”

By Theo Kyriacou

IT WASN’T supposed to turn out like this when representatives from Germany, France and Poland, along with opposition politicians signed an accord last Friday that envisaged, among other things, the creation of a government of national unity, the withdrawal of armed protesters and armed police from the streets of Kiev and other cities and the holding of elections after September but no later than December.

Many people thought that it was the beginning of a more stable and prosperous Ukraine, attuned to the intricacies of political compromise. The fact that the agreement did not completely please everybody probably meant it was balanced and fair and offered a workable solution given the circumstances.

Then things took a radically different turn: Yanukovich fled from his extravagant residence, the armed militias took control of Ukraine’s parliament and a well orchestrated political takeover ensued. Since then numerous laws have been steamrollered through with few opposition deputies offering or in a position to offer much resistance.

Plans are afoot to ban political parties, and minority languages including Russian, Romanian and Hungarian-Ukraine is made up of many minorities with their own languages and traditions-have had their official status revoked; a move condemned by the OSCE. In the capital and in several other cities some people who have dissented to these measures have been attacked or at the very least shouted down.

This should not come as much of a surprise. Amongst the groups that have played a pivotal, central role in the Maydan occupation have been the Right Sector and Trident-groups that are on the fringes of ultra-right politics. They are anti-semitic, anti-left and anti-democratic, generally against anybody who actively disagrees with their nationalist race-centred ideology. They are descendents of the war time Nazi collaborator, Stephan Bandera, and would do almost anything to achieve their aims.

But what is worrying is the decision of the more mainstream centre-right in Ukraine to work with them.
Take Svoboda or Freedom, one of the three main Maydan (now in power) parties. It is affiliated to the Alliance of European National Movements, an extreme right-wing political grouping within the European parliament. Other affiliated parties include the neo-fascist Greek Dawn, the ultra right Hungarian Jobbik Party and the British National Party. The BNP has been ignored by all of the UK’s mainstream parties for being racist, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant.

On the BBC’s flagship Question Time programme, the views of its leader, Nick Griffin, were rounded on and discredited by the panellists, including a then Conservative Party minister. Yet Udar or Punch (led by the former boxer, Klitscko) and Fatherland (led by the former Prime-minister, Tymoshenko) are in close alliance.

A view amongst certain sections of Ukrainian society might be that forging alliances with the extreme right is necessary in the circumstances of today, and in any case those links can be severed further down the road.

‘We are all nationalists’ is the often used rallying call. In reality it is an ill-conceived strategy because it creates the conditions in which racist and reactionary forces are given a veneer of respectability, enabling them to establish a firmer foothold in society.

Of course this does not absolve the previous government of responsibilities and crimes for maintaining the ancient regime of corruption and patronage, though the practice had not been confined to one faction alone.

A number of politicians of different political persuasions within the country’s parliament have been far from clean in their political and financial dealings over the years. And it might also be argued that what is happening now is merely the transfer of power away from eastern based Ukrainian oligarchs who look to the Russian market to make their vast fortunes towards western orientated business groups, based in the western half of the country.

A seasoned Kiev watcher recently said that what is needed to save Ukraine is a strong man (being sexist, he didn’t mention a woman) who knows what he’s doing. In fact what is needed is a national unity government which is more comfortable with consensus rather than confrontation, and which (unlike the current one) properly represents the different segments of Ukraine’s body politic.

Only a few days ago there was an attack against a synagogue in Dniporpetrovsk and the offices of a local communist party were firebombed. Armed men have also taken control of the parliament and airports in the once Russian controlled Crimea. Could this be a prelude to a foreign invasion?

For Cypriot historians it all sounds tragically familiar. The next few days and weeks in Ukraine will certainly be telling.

Theo Kyriacou has a Masters degree in Peace Studies and has worked in Ukraine in the past as a teacher

By Stelios Papadopoulos

ANY observer of the Greek political scene is aware of the fact that the radical leftwing SYRIZA party is leading the polls by large margins raising the probability that the next Prime Minister will in fact be its leader Mr Alexis Tsipras.

Furthermore the scenario of a SYRIZA government may materialize sooner than we think given the current government’s marginal parliamentary majority.

SYRIZA has pledged to renegotiate the bailout terms and force the EU to rethink its current policy programme through the unilateral suspension of the Troika’s austerity policies, by threatening to use its veto power in the European Council.

In addition the party wants to combine this tough bargaining stance with a radical agenda for social change including the re-introduction of a minimum wage and more funding for social security and public health.

However it is hard to understand the effectiveness of a veto as a bargaining chip when effective control over financing rests with the European Central Bank, and when the Greek state lacks a central bank that could allow it to create credit.

Cash could be found via taxation, but as pointed out in a Boston Review article by Greek economist and advisor to Tsipras, Dr Yanis Varoufakis , ‘’the rich have taken their euros to Switzerland, Frankfurt, London and New York.’’

Yet suppose SYRIZA decides to use the veto anyway. Research by political scientist Jonas Tallberg of Stockholm University shows that even if a veto puts an end to a political process conflicts are eventually resolved and proposals adopted. In essence a veto simply buys time and in the case of SYRIZA it will only buy time until they eventually compromise on their social democratic agenda.

Is there another way for Greece? According to Mr Varoufakis there is. He has paradoxically been supportive of SYRIZA’s decision to use the veto, despite the fact that he proposes a far more effective proposal for giving the Greek state some leeway in its negotiations with the EU.

According to this proposal the Greek ministry of finance would create a payment system backed by future taxes and denominated in euros. Specifically, citizens could buy electronically euro-denominated coins from the website of the Ministry of Finance, which could be redeemed anytime and sold back to the ministry two years after they were issued at a multiple of the original price.

In addition every year the Ministry would issue a new batch of such digital coins to replace the ones that were extinguished (as taxpayers use them, two years after its inauguration, to pay taxes) on the understanding that the nominal value of the total number of these coins does not exceed a certain percentage of GDP. Otherwise there is the risk that if all these coins are redeemed simultaneously the government will end up with no taxes.

Therefore according to the proposal, the Greek ministry of finance would create digital euros out of thin air bypassing both the ECB and the domestic private banks. Science fiction you may say? Not really given that a system of non-bank electronic payments already exists in Kenya where 60% of transactions are carried out via mobile, and the proposal is not that radical given that 90% of American dollars are digital and created out of nothing by private banks.

Additional examples of digital currencies include Amazon points and airline flyer points. However there is one issue with the proposal which Mr Varoufakis does not address. If the Greek state can create its own digital euros then why can it not create its own digital drachmas?

The biggest fear of the Greeks from an exit is a massive devaluation of the drachma which would drastically reduce the value of their savings. But if the state is in a position to create its own digital currency then surely it is in a position to fix an exchange rate and maintain it by controlling its own digital money supply. The proposal after all allows for that given the limits over the circulation of its digital Euros. So it is not clear why this electronic, non-banking payment system cannot allow for a return to the drachma.

I am not saying that Greece should return to the drachma but I do think that Varoufakis’s proposal offers Greece the bargaining leverage it currently lacks and the option of getting out of the euro. The question is whether Greece should stay in the euro which is both an economic and a political question.

It is a difficult question that requires a knowledgeable, democratic and extensive debate and it is one that is necessary for the sake of both Greece and Europe.

Stelios Papadopoulos MSc Political Economy, is a Political Risk Analyst

PERHAPS the political situation has improved a bit. A year after the heroic ‘no’ of our deputies that led to the hair-cut of deposits some sense of responsibility was evident at legislature on Thursday night. At least 25 deputies voted in favour of the privatisation bill, approval of which is a condition for the release of the next instalment of the €10 billion loan.

It may have not been enough votes to take the bill through, but it was a positive sign, an indication that at least one political party, DISY, was prepared to put the national interest above petty populist considerations. It was also a positive development that there were 25 deputies, who refused to give in to the blackmail, bullying and intimidation of the SGO unions – about time the arrogant union bosses were shown that they cannot always impose their diktats on all the politicians.

The troika had helped by sending the letter informing the government that it would not accept the union-imposed amendment, added to the bill by DIKO. The amendment, essentially would give SGO workers a right they did not have – it would make it illegal for their employer to make any of them redundant, even if a department or service was closed down. This is a right enjoyed by the labour aristocrats of the civil service but it was never extended to SGO workers.

The other privilege included in the amendment, was a state guarantee of workers’ pension payments. In other words, if the pension fund could not afford to pay the full pension, the taxpayer would have to contribute so as to ensure the high standard of living of the SGO pensioner. Thanks to the troika these preposterous privileges will not be in the next bill being submitted for approval.

There should be a slightly amended privatisation bill, with a different title, submitted next week and the likelihood is that it will be approved. If it’s not, there will be no money from our lenders and the government warned it would be unable to pay public sector salaries and pensions in full this month.
It is doubtful that this prospect would persuade the shameless populists of AKEL and EDEK to show a sense of responsibility and support the bill. As champions of state-owned SGOs they would still oppose the bill and probably hope that two or three of the five DIKO deputies that voted against it on Thursday night, to punish their leader for withdrawing from the Anastasiades government, would behave as mature politicians – something beyond the deputies of EDEK and AKEL.