By Timothy Spyrou

THE EU parliamentary elections to be held next month are being hailed as a great opportunity. For decades, critics and arch-supporters of the European Project alike have been saying that the EU is too remote from the citizenry. The drafters of the Lisbon Treaty decided that the way to fix this “democratic deficit” was to have the presidency of the European Commission determined by results of future elections to the European parliament (EP).

The candidate of the European coalition that wins a plurality of seats will be the first choice for the job. For the first time, the future of the EU will be in the hands of the electorate, and the EU’s institutions will have faces that are made recognisable, relevant and responsive to the public through the act of voting.
Although I support the EU, I have to be honest. The line of thought presented above is simply not credible in a time of multiple existential crises. Even in non-crisis years, it is hard to believe that polls for the parliament in Strasbourg should be given the clout to decide on who should hold the most powerful posts in the EU’s bureaucracy.
For one thing, EP elections are often treated as the equivalent of mid-terms, as an opportunity to give incumbent national governments a bloody nose and to vent frustration. It is a poor measurement of people’s commitment to Europe. Even people who would vote ‘no’ in any referendum on whether their country should exit the EU hardly show up at the polling stations. In fact, it is doubtful as to whether those who are passionately pro-European turn out to vote.

Look at Britain for example. True, Britain was always a Eurosceptic outlier, but you would think that the Liberal Democrats would score highly in these elections given that they are the party that is most consistent in supporting the idea of Britain being a key partner within the EU. Logic would dictate that the Lib Dems would be able to push its voters to the polls.

Yet, in the Euro elections of 2009, the liberals got a middling 13.7 per cent. A lot of voters who may be pro-European are disinclined to vote based on Europe because they are motivated by local concerns like health care, education, crime and jobs and have little time to contemplate European issues.

They have even less time or inclination to see how European issues could impact the same local issues that they care about. Very few people spend time thinking about whether this or that EU measure or project will boost their economies’ prospects or make their lives more secure from criminal and terrorist networks. Brussels’ bureaucratic complexity is hardly helpful when it comes to motivating pro-Europeans to go to the polls.

On top of that, the EP elections act as a magnet for those who are resolutely opposed to further EU integration, whatever form it should take, making the turnout disproportionate compared to regular elections. Although the EU parliament may be useful, before we start using European elections as the most important instrument for deciding the future of Europe, national parties have to make a greater commitment towards campaigning on Europe during regular elections. Rather than keeping Europe marginalised because the discussions are often perceived as uninteresting and potentially unpleasant, mainstream politicians in Britain, Germany and wherever should commit themselves to putting Europe at the centre of debate, rather than let it be dominated by people who are engaged in hysterical populism.

We are not in a non-crisis year. We are in the fifth year of the Eurocrisis and the sixth year after the events that sparked the Great Recession of 2008. If you thought that previous EU parliamentary elections were exhibition matches for Eurosceptic parties, this one is going to be the UEFA European championships. The fringe parties of the left and the right have gained ground by bashing globalisation, immigration, the euro, bank bailouts, and austerity.
In Greece, democracy and social stability are literally under threat because of the rise of Golden Dawn as a neo-Nazi like paramilitary party. The mainstream Greek coalition government could lose the EU elections to SYRIZA by a margin large enough to force it to call early general elections. This would spark a repeat of the Eurocrisis’ most intense period in summer 2012, when there was a real chance that Greece would be unceremoniously kicked out of the eurozone and EU altogether. Meanwhile, Geert Wilders of The Netherlands and Jean Marie Le Pen’s daughter Marine are gallivanting around Western Europe with their pledge to “wreck” the EU from within the parliament.

For the first time in years, the talk about a referendum in which the British vote to leave the EU is not just talk – it is a real possibility that would result in both Britain and Europe being diminished on the world stage. Britain’s divided Conservative Party is demanding that Brussels cede back some as yet undefined powers back to Westminster in exchange for a strong campaign on the part of Cameron to ‘stay’. It is unclear as to whether the EU partners are in a mood to negotiate.

The reader may find this statement odd, but the EU economy could have experienced an even harsher recession. Furthermore, the fog of a harsher recession, far from dissipating, may be getting even murkier. From Brazil to Turkey to India, the emerging markets are groaning from their own failures to make necessary reforms. Even mighty China may stumble because overinvestment has led to a tsunami of bad debts.

This will hurt Europe’s ‘recovery’ because European manufacturers will see the drying up of export orders from these countries; Germany’s massive trade surplus will shrink, reducing its ability to prop up the rest of the eurozone. It is already happening, with Germany growing at a meagre 0.4 per cent in 2013. Youth unemployment may even increase beyond its already terrifying levels in some countries as the prospects of recovery in Greece, Spain and Ireland evaporate due to a decline in confidence.

Finally, we have the crisis of the big, growling, drunk Russian Bear threatening to rampage through our common European backyard. It just so happens that, by being dependent on hundreds of billions of euros worth of Russian energy and finance, we are inadvertently sharpening the claws and jaws with which Russia can threaten our security. Putin thinks the EU and US are both on a path of permanent decline because of their internal political dysfunction.
Do you honestly believe that Putin and his cronies would be so nonchalant at the threat of sanctions if the US hadn’t been consumed by five years of energy sapping rows in the US Congress? Do you honestly believe that Russia would be smirking at the Europeans if they had spent the last five years of crisis by becoming more dynamic and resilient rather than engage in kicking the can down the road?

It is time we got serious about the challenges facing Europe. I am not arguing against ever using EU elections as a basis for choosing Europe’s direction. I am merely arguing that we are far from ready from doing it now after five years of ever growing anger at the whole European project.

The three main candidates for the European Commission presidency and the chairman of the European Council [Herman Van Rompuy’s term ends in November 2014, so it is widely suspected that the runner up to the Commission will take that job] do not cut impressive, inspiring or dynamic figures. If anything, the selection of former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker, European parliament speaker Marten Schulz, and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt could make the EU’s problems worse. None of them possess the leadership qualities needed to: keep Britain from leaving the EU, send a message to Russia that we are not a collection of pushovers or reform Brussels so that its initiatives will actually be taken seriously. They don’t have the abilities to close divisions between debtor and creditor economies or re-consolidate Europe’s position on the world stage as the second pillar of the West alongside the United States. That is not to say that these fellows aren’t fundamentally decent chaps. What I am saying is we need someone who can conciliate, inspire and knock heads together. These three can’t do any of the above.

By Loucas Charalambous

I HAVE WRITTEN this before, but I think this is suitable time to repeat it: if the Cyprus problem can be solved, it can be solved in 30 days. As long as we want to solve it. If we do not want to solve it we can negotiate for another 40 years.

After 40 years of negotiations, proposals, ideas and plans, it is logical to conclude that everything has been said. Whatever the two sides ever had to say to each other has been said. The interminable meetings and talks cannot offer anything more. They are more like chit-chat to pass the time.

The government spokesman stated last Monday, after the Eroglu-Anastasiades meeting, that “there was a review of the progress or non-progress so far, based on the positions submitted by the two sides.” I wonder what positions the two sides are still bringing to the negotiating table. After 40 years of negotiations, are there still new positions to submit?

There is no doubt that if the two sides carry on submitting positions to the negotiating table, they just re-submitting the same ones they have been submitting for 40 years. It is time we stopped these games and got serious.
If we really want a settlement there is no other way than for the two sides to put on the table the 2004 plan, the most comprehensive plan prepared in the last 40 years, and discuss which and how many changes can be made to it. And by changes I mean those that have been made necessary by the fact that 10 years have passed.

During these 10 years, many things have happened that have certainly changed conditions prevailing in 2004. Apart from the lost time, those who opposed the plan should just consider two things.

First, in 2004 the buildings on Greek Cypriot properties were one tenth of what they are now. Second, in 2004 the number of non-Turkish Cypriots in the north the Turkish side had asked to stay on after a settlement was 41,000. Today, the number of non-Turkish Cypriots, based on the last official census, is estimated to be at least 150,000.
I mention this for all those who are under the illusion that we could secure a more favourable settlement today than the one we rejected 10 years ago. The ‘suffocating time-frames’ that we demonised over the last decade have also played their role.

There are two factors that would facilitate the pursuit of an agreed settlement now. One is the factor everyone is highlighting – the natural gas deposits, possibly oil, which we hope will be in adequate quantities for their profitable exploitation. This provides a very strong incentive for the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey.

The other factor is the continued strong showing of Tayyip Erdogan in Turkish elections. Regardless of his style of government and how good or bad he is for Turkey – that is not our business – nobody can deny that with him in power the chances of a Cyprus settlement are much greater. The need for us seize the opportunity while he is still in charge is an imperative.

I will stress it once again. It is us that should be in a hurry for a settlement. The passing of time is working against us. We should put aside the tactical manoeuvring and filibustering. The stage reached by the Cyprus problem does not require much time or many committees. All it requires is political will.

The Cyprus problem can be solved in 30 days as long as we take the courageous decisions that are necessary. Everything else is fairy-tales. If we are not ready to take the necessary decisions and would rather play with words and slogans, we should have the courage to say that we prefer partition, which is the harsh reality. Sadly, this seems to be the secret choice of most of us.

By Alexia Evripidou

AFTER A harsh year of job losses, service closures and the forced ejection of chronically ill cancer patients, Arodafnousa Hospice has now finally become fully operational again, thanks to the committed efforts of charity organisations and donations.
Vassos Shiarly, the chairman of the Anticancer Society and former finance minister during some of last year’s crucial troika negotiations, said that the Anti Cancer Society suffered heavy losses as a result of the haircut on deposits. The society’s own bank account was badly hit by the bail-in, and it is also suffering from the knock-on effect it had on the charities raising revenue for this free access hospice.

Vassos Shiarly

“It’s bad enough to take money from a person’s bank account but it’s totally inexcusable to take money from a charitable institution, it’s close to criminality,” said Shiarly. “When it comes to charitable institutions, I feel very strongly about this.”

Established in 1971, Arodafnousa Hospice is a non-governmental, charity organisation created to fight cancer and offer palliative care to its patients and their families. It has 15 high standard modern bedrooms, offering the necessary comforts and equipment and round-the-clock hour individual nursing care. It cares for an average of 350 people annually who are suffering with cancer.

But the ‘haircut’ and lack of funding last year took a terrible toll on hospice facilities with some important services forced to close. Staff had salaries and benefits cut by 25 per cent with eight nurses being made redundant, and in May 2013 three out of the 15 rooms were closed.

This left the hospice with the heartbreaking task of having to deny cancer patients into their care. Cancer patients had to be sent away from the security of the hospice to their own beds at home, with only some community care to support them as best as they could.

This year the tide has turned with a number of generous donations and the sponsorship of three new nurses, once again allowing the Anti Cancer Society to become fully operational.

It will also be boosted by the generosity and hard work of charitable organisations such as the annual islandwide Christodoula March, which is celebrating its 39th year on April 13. Last year in the wake of the economic crisis, the March managed to raise 447,000 euros, only half the amount usually raised.
“People are still giving generously,”’ said Shiarly. “However people are giving less than they could before.”
Although the hospice is now back on its feet, it is still working at reduced capability. Shiarly’s long term goals are to get the government to take their share of the responsibility.
“Everywhere in Europe, cancer care is looked after by the government. In Cyprus, it has been taken care of by charitable organisations,” he said.

On April 10 fund raisers will set up 44 kiosks on main road junctions to raise funds for the hospice and help a cause which according to Shiarly “effects nearly every household” in some shape or form in everyone’s lifetime.
On April 13, the actual march takes place in towns across the island.

By Bejay Browne

AS A LOCAL ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS group warn of a burgeoning drinking culture in Cyprus, a three day AA International convention is being held at a Paphos hotel this weekend.
Secretary of the Paphos branch of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and recovering addict, Nigel Radcliffe, 61, says he believes there is an acceptance of excessive drinking in Cyprus; in particular amongst the British expat community.
“There are big drinkers in the UK – there’s no doubt – but here it seems to be quite acceptable, there is a lot of habitual drinking,” said Radcliffe. “People are retired, like me, so they have fewer responsibilities; they don’t have to get up for work.”
Radcliffe, who forfeited his driving licence twice in the UK due to drink driving, says that the stigma attached to the act isn’t the same in Cyprus.
“Drink driving is more lax here and it’s not seen as anti social as it is in Britain,” he said.
Radcliffe had his last drink on August 2, 1987 when he managed to turn his life around and stresses that help is out there to enable others to do the same. Describing himself as a recovering alcohol and drug addict, he now spends his life helping others to cope with the disease.
“Addiction is a disease; physical, spiritual and mental, but help is here for anyone who needs it.”
The trained drug and alcohol counsellor was a manager of a treatment centre in London for over 20 years before retiring to Paphos in 2012, where he now heads an AA home group.
This weekend’s AA event is one of many held annually around the world and sees the participation of Al-Anon, which provides support for families of alcoholics.
Radcliffe first experimented with drugs at the age of 14.This led to serious drug and alcohol abuse
“In the 1960s so many drugs were easily available, although it was illegal. My drug of choice was amphetamines, such as purple hearts. They were everywhere.”
In his early 20s, he found himself homeless on the streets of London before he entered a rehab centre which he says taught him a number of important life skills.
“Rehab in the early 1980s was harsh, not like now, and there was nothing available for alcohol uses, only drug addicts. It helped me as it taught me about self discipline.”
In terms of alcohol abuse, he said that although some UK health authorities had ‘drying out units’, chronic alcoholics often ended up in psychiatric hospitals as there were no treatment resources as such. Addiction was seen as a psychological flaw and behaviour that could be unlearned.
Radcliffe says that after leaving the facility, although he didn’t touch drugs again, he instead replaced one addiction for another, this time alcohol.
“My drinking became progressively worse and slipped away from me. I became increasingly crippled by my drinking and my underlying problems hadn’t been dealt with.”
In a bid to try and introduce a level of normality in his life, Radcliffe joined a jogging club, where a chance encounter with a member who was attending AA meetings led him to join.
“I lived crippled with fear and couldn’t imagine how I would cope without a drink. I was frightened of how I felt. It didn’t cross my mind I could live a life without it.”
With the help of a sponsor and the AA twelve step programme, Radcliffe had his last drink in August 1987. From then on, he became involved with AA and NA – going on to train as a drug and alcohol counsellor. He still attends meetings, stressing their importance, no matter how long addicts remain ‘clean’.
“When recovering addicts are planning a holiday they need to find meetings they can attend whilst on holiday, we have many holiday makers who attend the Paphos meetings,” he said.
Paphos meetings are held on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and average between 12-20 in a group, which consists of people of all ages and backgrounds ranging from their early 20s to 80 years of age.
“There is no judgement only unconditional support and acceptance,” he said of the meetings. “I continue to be in recovery and help others but I also have my life. I run marathons now and have just completed the Cyprus marathon.”

The International AA convention is being held between April 4-6 at the Avanti hotel in Paphos.
Paphos AA confidential helpline 99399240 (English).

By Andreas Vou

There are a number of talented Cypriot athletes who are creating a huge impact away from home. One of those who fall into that category is Limassol native Costas Philippou, an MMA fighter ranked no.12 in the middleweight rankings who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the United States.

Along the road to success, there have been plenty of twists and turns, as well as highs and lows, but the bottom line is that Philippou’s career proves that any goal can be achieved regardless of its magnitude or feasibility.

Philippou’s journey to the top really began in 1996 when he met his boxing coach Polis Potamitis. The two became close friends and Potamitis held Philippou in such high regard that he convinced him to move to the United States to pursue a professional boxing career.

Philippou never believed he would get into professional fighting but Potamitis bought him a ticket to travel to New York, which Philippou says changed his life.

Then, another life-changing moment would occur for Philippou. In September 2005, his mentor and best friend Polis was shot and killed in Cyprus. Philippou struggled for a significant period after the incident, recently stating: “I think I was dead for a couple of years after that.”

Soon after moving to the Big Apple, Philippou took part in an amateur boxing tournament called Golden Gloves which he eventually lost in the final at Madison Square Garden by a split decision.

He turned pro shortly thereafter and went on to achieve three consecutive victories, but then opted to quit boxing and turned to Mixed Martial Arts following a dispute with his manager in 2007.

In May 2008, Philippou made his professional MMA debut – becoming the first ever Cypriot to do so – when he competed for what is known as the Ring of Combat promotion which he lost, again by a split decision.

The defeat, however, seemed to buoy the Cypriot after subsequently going on to achieve seven wins and just one defeat en route to promotion.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, better known as simply UFC, is the largest mixed martial arts organisation in the world which hosts the very best fighters in the industry, based in the United States. Each main event averages around 4million viewers.

Philippou switched to UFC and made his debut in March 2011 but lost out to Nick Catone via a unanimous decision. The defeat did not discourage the Limassol native as he bounced back in the best possible way, winning his next five bouts in a run which stretched from August 2011 to December 2012.

The main ambition of most competitors in individual sports is to become king of the hill, the world-champion. Philippou reached as high as No.5 in the middleweight division in the first half of 2013. However, the Limassol native says he is not too bothered about being the top dog in the sport as he has already surpassed his own expectations.

“They think I’m crazy when I tell them I don’t care,” said Philippou. “Yes, if the title shot comes, good. If not, it is what it is. Even if I don’t get to fight again, I did more than I expected. You’ve got to remember, I came from a totally different sport. I never imagined I would compete in MMA.”

Philippou also mentioned that the fact he came from such a small nation like Cyprus and to become a professional in the United States is a huge achievement in itself, for which he is grateful.

“I am coming from the middle of nowhere, in a huge country that I never expected myself to make it and I made a life for myself. And I can honestly say I’m living a dream.”

Despite losing his last two fights, Philippou is back and feeling better than ever. His next fight is just around the corner as he prepares to take on Lorenz Larkin on May 10 at Cincinnati’s US Bank Arena.

By Zoe Christodoulides

THE humble public bench has become a symbol of Nicosia old town’s rapid transformation from being the edgy hangout for alternative teens to the chosen social destination for the masses.

The teenagers, the hippy, arty types, the immigrants and the original older residents, who for years had made the area no-one else wanted their own, are in danger of being squeezed out of the picturesque narrow streets as newly opened, packed cafes and bars spread in all directions.

An area transformed, cafes in the old town are now packed

Similar gentrification projects in neglected urban spaces elsewhere usually mean an increased number of free places to sit. In Nicosia, it has meant the opposite. The first to disappear were some of the benches on Ledra Street. The cafes came, demanded outside space, and the benches vanished.

A few weeks ago, the public tables and benches in a space at nearby Ochi roundabout, which used to be crowded with elderly men playing backgammon, were removed and replaced with tables belonging to another new restaurant.

But the centre of the public bench battle has been focused on Phaneromeni Square. The beautiful historic buildings and large outdoor spaces make it particularly attractive commercially, and cafes and bars have rushed to conquer the area. In the process they have taken over the space that hundreds of teenagers and young adults saw as their own – free place – to socialise. Amid protest, first one bench was removed to make space for café tables and chairs. In February, another bench disappeared to accommodate even more.

The lamented public bench that was removed to make way for cafe tables

When Nicosia mayor, Constantinos Yiorkadjis, addressed Nicosia residents in an open discussion last month, disgruntled youths gathered together to voice their anger that businesses were taking over.

“It’s all about catering to capitalist needs,” one young girl told the mayor.

“Where will the poor sit now?” asked another.

In a heated exchange that lasted more than 20 minutes, the mayor denied favouring the interests of private business and insisted that all public complaints were being taken into serious consideration and would be appropriately addressed.

“But we must also remember that all private businesses are entitled to their own space and they are allowed to have chairs in the outside area allocated to them, each with a specific limitation depending on the size of their business,” said Yiorkadjis. “We simply cannot stop people who choose to develop their business in the old town.”

The teenagers, however, have not been appeased. Down at the square, a crowd of teens make their voices heard. “A couple of years ago we would come here and just enjoy hanging out,” says a 17-year-old, holding onto his colourful skateboard. “Sometimes there would be complaints about us making noise if it was late and stuff but we still used to just chill out here. We used play guitar and games.

Favourite teenaged hangout under threat

“Now, we can’t. I mean, not unless we want to sit at one of these posh cafes and spend €5 on a coffee. And then people also look at us a bit funny, as if we’re not meant to be here, as if this area is not for us anymore.”

Another young girl is more aggressive. “The fact that these places can take over public spaces and make money from it is disgraceful,” she exclaims.

A Facebook page named “Claiming Back the Public Spaces in Old Nicosia” has also been set up, criticising the municipality and demanding more public areas. Many of the posts declare that: “The square belongs to everyone.”

The public space debate is only part of a more general one over the future of the old town. And on that, public opinion is divided.

“I’ve enjoyed this area for at least 10 years,” says Nikos, a 30-year-old graphic designer. “And I remember when some people would think I was mad, calling this the run down part of town. But I loved it. It was quiet, and a little different; less commercial you could say. Now I dread coming down here. The place is just not what it used to be. It all looks a bit samey.”

Forty-eight-year-old Maria Andreou speaks out against the approach of the Nicosia municipality. “The whole attitude towards the regeneration of the old town has been very aggressive. Not one cultural space has opened up in this hullabaloo, it all revolves around the consumption of food and drink, with a random shop in between. No crafts, no arts, no proper town planning, no nothing,” she says.

Residents are also becoming increasingly frustrated.

“Cars are parked right outside our front doors due to lack of parking spaces. Have the authorities even thought about the quality of life of people living in the old town?” asks one middle-aged lady.

Nikos Nikolaou, the owner of the Hurricane tea shop that has been serving up its famous pastries just a stone’s throw from Phaneromeni Square since 1945, believes the changes are spiralling out of control.

“This is all a bubble that will eventually burst. People have been opening up shop at a manic rate and they can’t possibly all stay busy,” he says.

And for Nikos, the old town boom has not improved custom in any way. On the contrary, many of his old customers no longer frequent his establishment because they are put off by the lack of parking.

Nikos Nikolaou, the owner of the Hurricane tea shop

“I may now have ten new customers, but I’ve lost twenty. I think that the people who really truly used to love the old town because of its history and character, hardly step foot in the area now come the weekend.”

Like many residents, he is trusting to the fickle nature of public taste.

“I think these new crowds will go just as easily as they came. It’s all about a trend,” he says. “Once Eleftheria Square opens up, I bet Makarios Avenue will become cool again,” he adds, referring to the long delayed renovation project on Nicosia’s central square which has cut the old town off from Makarios Avenue, once the main shopping street.

Many of the café-goers are positive about the old town boom and have little sympathy for those like the teenagers who feel they’ve been ousted.

“I recognise the right of the kids to be in this area but it used to be chaos down here, at least it has cleaned up now,” says one man, sitting outside a café in Phaneromeni Square. “Teens used to light fires down here, throw their cigarette butts everywhere, get drunk and smash bottles, and spray paint the walls of the area with ugly graffiti. They have to learn to accommodate the change. It’s not all about them. The youth need to be more accommodating and not turn everything into a dramatic riot.”

“I really don’t know why some people are complaining,” says a 40-year-old passer-by. “We finally have life in the old town. It used to feel abandoned and depressing down here. Now there is a buzz, a bit like in other old European centres. If people want to relax on benches and look up at the stars or play music on their guitars, then there are parks they can go to or quieter sports in town.”

A man sitting at a nearby table nods in agreement.

“Isn’t it a nice progression that these buildings that were practically crumbling a few years ago have now been renovated? Does the area not look better? I think that the recent change has been a great one – finally somewhere that feels alive in this country,” he says. “The only thing that I would suggest is more parking; that can be a pain.”

Those who have new businesses in the area are inevitably extremely pleased with the crowds that have gravitated towards the old town.

“We would be mad not be happy,” says Christos, the manager of Coffee and Liquor, a new café that opened down Onasagorou Street in December. “We’re doing well in hard times and offering clients true quality coffee. That’s surely a good thing.”

Restaurant tables and chairs in an area where until a few weeks ago elderly men would play backgammon on public benches

“We opened up down here because this is where the crowds are and this is what people consider is the hot spot,” says the owner of a nearby eatery. “If we tried to open elsewhere then we wouldn’t get any customers. And the competition down here is a good thing. At the end of the day, the best enterprises will be the ones standing.”

The manager of Cerutti il Caffe, situated right on Phaneromeni Square, is adamant that a place that was once practically abandoned has now become beautiful and full of life. “This is our historic centre and I think it’s a good thing that people are now enjoying their days and nights in the area. They used to be scared to come down here but now it’s clean and approachable.”

As for the youth who are up in arms about all the new cafes, the Cerutti manager emphasises that the cafes were not trying to get rid of them.

“If they don’t have a problem with us, we have no problem with them hanging out here. We are trying to run a business, we are paying our rent and making a living, it’s as simple as that. The municipality has drawn out limits about where to put our chairs and we stick to those limits,” she insists. “The young people have to remember that this is not their space, it’s everyone’s space.”

But that begs a rather important question. If it’s everyone’s space, does everyone have to pay to sit in it?

By Angelos Anastasiou

WHILE DEPUTIES gear up to vote on an ambitious bill that would protect defaulting debtors’ property from foreclosure, the incoming governor of the Central Bank made a dramatic plea to wait as the looming impact on banks could be disastrous – again.

Traditionally, banks in Cyprus have had it rough when it came to dealing with non-performing loans (NPLs). The judicial system is notoriously slow – foreclosure cases took an average of 10 to 12 years to adjudicate – and the legislative framework allows plaintiffs to drag the process out with endless objections and other legal tricks.

Outgoing governor of the Central Bank Panicos Demetriades summed it up nicely in an interview on Wednesday.

“It’s still the case that the banks are not able to basically carry out any repossessions in any meaningful timeframe,” he said.

Demetriades should know. According to an April 1 International Monetary Fund staff report, non-performing loans (NPLs) have increased dramatically, approaching 50 per cent of total borrowing – €22 billion or 135 per cent of GDP – and pose a “key challenge” to economic stability. One of the reasons is that there is no immediate consequence to non-payment, resulting in the emergence of so-called ‘strategic’ defaults – instances where debtors intentionally refrain from making repayments even though they can afford to.

“There’s a lot of strategic default happening,” Demetriades said. “Borrowers need to know that there’s a consequence when you don’t pay.”

Of course, combating strategic defaults wasn’t helped much last December, when Demetriades reportedly told journalists at an informal gathering that “debtors who are genuinely unable to repay their loans will see them partially written off.”

Still, the rational conclusion would be that banks must be allowed to credibly wield the threat of repossession if defaulting is to be genuinely disincentivised, and that is precisely what the ex-governor was advocating. In this, he is by no means alone: the IMF and Finance Minister Harris Georgiades have stressed the need to “help the banks towards more effective collection”, and of course the banks themselves can’t wait to have their hands untied – though they all hasten to clarify that they have no appetite for mass foreclosures.

Dismayed, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades

But though things appear straightforward, the picture becomes murky in part because lenders are not without blame in granting loans to people who didn’t have the means to repay them in the first place, but also because the politically sensible thing to do is side with the little people fighting the big, bad banks.

To this end, MPs employed their political prowess and prepared a bill that would allow defaulting debtors who find their primary residence or small-to-medium business premises under threat of foreclosure to seek a temporary court-ordered moratorium on repossession proceedings. Though the bill does provide that such cases can only be referred to court if all the loan restructuring options offered by the bank have been exhausted, it is hardly creative to envisage a scenario where debtors intentionally refuse restructuring proposals with a view to securing a suspension of repayment.

“We are trying to create a tool to be used when all restructuring options have been exhausted,” said DIKO deputy Angelos Votsis. “This would allow the court to determine whether a particular default is a result of the financial crisis or not, so that abuse can be prevented.”

The bill had been announced to be put to a plenum vote on April 10, much to the dismay of Georgiades and various other stakeholders including the associations of banks and employers. The latter’s head, Michalis Pilikos, unleashed a vicious attack on the bill.

“This issue has been heavily politicised, and when that happens it becomes very hard to resolve,” he said.

“It’s not possible that all loans relate to primary residences and poor toilers. Some borrowers are perfectly capable of repaying their loan, but all this debating and uncertainty serves nothing but to discourage them from doing so.”

Incoming Central Bank governor Chrystalla Georghadji

Meanwhile on Friday, in a dramatic last-minute intervention, governor-designate of the Central Bank Chrystalla Georghadji asked the House legal committee to forego pressing ahead with the bill until she has had time to study the issue in detail. Georghadji cited operational risks that could induce recapitalisation needs for banks in light of the upcoming European Central Bank’s stress tests and gently played the troika card, while assuring the deputies that she would work with them to address their issues.

“Don’t do it now, the timing is not good,” she told the committee, implying the existence of a point in the future when the timing would be good.

But her pleas fell on deaf ears, and the committee voted to put the bill to the April 10 plenary vote.

Earlier in March, Georgiades had tried to warn off the committee in a letter arguing that protecting borrowers while jeopardising lenders’ viability constitutes a dangerous half-measure. He informed the deputies that the government is preparing a comprehensive bill that would address insolvency as part of the overhaul of the banking sector, and described a roadmap that included the staffing of the Financial Ombudsman’s office – tasked with bridging disputes between lenders and borrowers out of court – by the end of March, following which the insolvency bill would be put to a House vote.

But March is over and, although the Ombudsman himself has been appointed, he has no staff to work with, drawing irate comments from Votsis and Costas Melas, head of the borrowers’ association. The two argued that the government needs to go after the big fish, namely the few corporations that have billions’ worth in NPLs, before chasing small borrowers.

“The state needs to render its citizens able to repay their loans”, Melas said. “It has been said that the big borrowers must pay first, and rightly so.”

“The banks are supposedly reviewing the government’s insolvency bill, which still hasn’t come to the House,” Votsis protested.

The political world in Cyprus also introduced a strange proposal on Wednesday, when it came out in favour of the Central Bank negotiating with the troika a revision of the definition of NPLs so that their number can be reduced. DIKO leader and chairman of the House finance committee Nicolas Papadopoulos qualified the need to redefine NPLs by arguing that “what constitutes an NPL in the rest of the world cannot possibly constitute an NPL in Cyprus, due to the particular economic conditions prevalent here,” an argument made by all parliamentary parties with the exception of ruling DISY.

The timing of this concerted call seems suspicious. To an outsider, it might look like a rogue strategy to deal with NPLs, where step one is ensuring that any other plan to resolve the problem – facilitating the seizure of assets – is rendered unfeasible, and step two is getting everyone to agree to ignore NPLs by not calling them that – fudging the numbers. Step three is the million-dollar question, but it’s not clear what it is yet, or even if it exists.

The political call to redefine what constitutes an NPL had Pilikos fuming. “Wishful thinking and political dribbles”, he said, serve only as time wasters.

“Changing the definition of NPLs will not help,” he argued. “The risk to the banks and our economy is real, and if loans aren’t repaid in real terms, we are in great danger.”

There are no easy fixes or painless ways out of the NPLs’ noose which threatens to suffocate the banking system and, by virtue of the domino effect, the economy as a whole. Something has to be done, but the Parliament’s proposal flies in the face of this very basic tenet: it seeks to stop anything from being done, freezing the frame in hopes of a deus-ex-machina miracle solution. It’s instantly recognisable as the same old wishful thinking attitude that brought us here in the first place. The sentiment behind the proposal is certainly valid – though driven more by populist politics than any measure of economic sense – but the damage it is bound to cause is equally certain.

By Patroclos

OUR DEPUTIES and political parties could always be trusted to come up with brilliantly popular ideas that are music to the ears of the majority of people. As long as these remain in the realm of theory, as topics of discussion for radio and TV shows we can all enjoy them and have a laugh.

But when deputies start taking these ideas seriously and start drafting legislation for their implementation, it is time to start worrying. Panicking can be put on hold until after the legislation is actually approved and there is nothing that can be done to prevent the destruction that it will wreak.

We are currently at just the worrying stage, regarding the EDEK-AKEL bill for the protection of the primary residence, because the vote is scheduled for Thursday and it could still be defeated. But if it is approved, crazier things have happened in the House, it would provide the legal grounds for people not to repay their housing loans.

The proposed law would set in motion a procedure for non-payment. A borrower would first be obliged to try to agree the restructuring of the loan with the bank, but if there is no agreement the dispute would be referred to some financial ombudsperson for mediation. If again there is no compromise he would be entitled to apply to the court for suspension of loan re-payments, for a specific period.

Nobody knows how long this procedure would take – one, two or three years – but while it is taking place no repayments would be made, as the borrower’s main argument is that he cannot pay the bank or co-op.

What is not clear yet is who would be eligible to apply to court. Would it be owners of homes up to a certain value or everyone? When the bill was being discussed at House legal affairs committee, several weeks ago, the representative of the state legal services said that even someone whose primary residence was valued at a million euro should be eligible to apply to court, because otherwise the law would be discriminatory.

I would guess the value stipulated by the law would have some relation to the value of the houses that deputies on the committee might be paying loans on.

NOBODY picked up the other aspect of the bill that is supposed to protect the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society. It will also prevent the foreclosure of properties occupied by small to medium enterprises (SMEs), defined as those with an annual turnover of up to €2 million, which covers about 90 per cent of businesses, many owners of which are neither poor nor vulnerable.

In fact they would be rich enough to hire an expensive lawyer to argue their case for the suspension of their loan repayments for a year or two at least. Speaking of lawyers, the law would generate plenty of new business for the legal profession which has been badly hit by the recession, even though helping poor and vulnerable lawyers was not the intention of our public-spirited deputies.

So why did the legal affairs committee want to protect businesses that might be housed in premises worth hundreds of thousands of euro? Why do the communists and socialists of AKEL and EDEK want to prevent insolvent businesses that cannot service their loans from going under?

The protection of SMEs was warmly embraced by committee chairman Sotiris Sampson, who has been championing the bill despite the fact that his party, DISY, is not keen on it. Of course this has nothing to do with the fact that Sampson, a lawyer, owns a heavily indebted publishing business for which foreclosure looms large.

OUR DEPUTIES’ pioneering efforts to boost NPLs and make Kyproulla, the only country in the world where individuals and businesses do not have to repay their loans, could attract many foreign businesses to our shores. The only weakness of this ingenious plan is that the banks do not have any money to give as non-repayable loans to new business. If deputies could draft a law to overcome this weakness, we would become a much bigger international business centre than we were before the haircut.

IT IS NOT only the legal affairs committee that is trying to help stricken borrowers. Another clique of politicians has been working feverishly behind the scenes to protect the poor and vulnerable big developers and hoteliers that have fallen on hard times and are unable to repay the hundreds of millions they owe the banks.

The biggest obstacle to their plan appears to be the uncooperative CEO of the Bank of Cyprus, John Hourican, who has been unwilling to do any favours to the poor and vulnerable big businessmen that have helped sink the bank and would rather it stayed sunk rather than have to sell off any of their assets that they used as collateral.

Attempts to undermine Hourican are taking place through leaks to the press accusing him of “suspicious and non-transparent actions”, regarding the sale of bank assets; he was keeping the board in the dark. There were also reports about the big fat salary he was being paid, but this failed to spark any reaction against him.

There has been talk that bank’s board, some of the Cypriot members of which are quite sensitive to the needs of the poor and vulnerable big developers, was considering appointing a deputy CEO to be in charge of the NPLs. The idea, reportedly, did not go down well with Russian directors and was abandoned.

INCIDENTALLY, the BoC board met on Friday to discuss the sale of its Ukrainian operations to Greece’s Alpha Bank. The board met in Strovolos which was a bit of a surprise. Perhaps the chairman decided against holding the board meeting in Kiev because of the unstable situation there.

THE RIFT between Hourican and the board was also evident some 10 days ago, after the publication of an interview he gave to Reuters in which he said that he was ready to look at the possibility of the splitting the BoC into a good and bad bank. He felt that this could work especially if private investors could be found to take over the bad bank.

A couple of days later, Phil reported that Hourican’s comments had taken some directors, who were in Moscow, by surprise as the issue had never been discussed at board level. Without naming any of the surprised directors, Phil wrote that the split was not an option is it was not included in the bank’s restructuring plans.

Even if Hourican had mentioned this in the interview to apply some pressure on the big borrowers who were refusing to co-operate with the bank, one of his directors that regularly leaks info to Phil, thought it fit to re-assure the poor and vulnerable developers/hoteliers that this was not an option.

WHAT the departing Governor Professor Panicos failed to do – closing down the BoC – might be achieved by our deputies, with a little help from the bank’s board. And if deputies pass their NPL-boosting bill, the co-ops might also go under because they have a very big share of the housing loan market. But now co-ops have lost their human face, nobody cares for them.

Of course Panicos could still have the last laugh, because the asset quality review and preliminary stress tests of the banks he agreed with the ECB does not offer much hope to the banking sector. His successor Chrystalla Georghadji, will now have the task of persuading the ECB that the professor’s calculations were wrong and that the data needed to be changed.

If she persuades the ECB it would be a big success, but if she does not it would be a case of mission accomplished for the professor as he would have achieved his objective to destroy the Cypriot banks.

SPEAKING of Chrystalla, the weekly Kathimerini, has been expressing its embarrassment over the new Central Bank Governor’s lack of qualifications. A couple of weeks ago, a columnist wrote that, looking through the CVs of all Central Bankers of the Eurozone countries, there was not a single one without a doctorate.

He wrote: “But now, the ECB could boast that it has as a member of its council Chrystalla, almost without a basic degree. Is Argentina a better under bankruptcy country than us, where its central banker did not finish school?” The columnist could not hide his grief over the departure of Professor Panicos, who had given a lot of business to the newspaper’s Limassol-based benefactor.

As for the qualifications, Panicos’ spell at the Central Bank is emphatic proof that no matter how many doctorates, professorships and published articles someone has, he could still be a lousy governor. Ttooulis Ttoouli also had a doctorate.

AFTER its glossy magazine about the challenges of tourism, sponsored to the tune of 35 grand by the CTO, and the about about the challenges of 2014 sponsored by the Bank of Piraeus, Phil published yet another glossy mag last Sunday.

The latest, described as a ‘Collector’s Edition’ was titled ‘They Endure and Persist’. It featured 70 important companies that dynamically declare their presence’ one year after the Eurogroup. It was sponsored by the BoC, which despite its difficulties can still waste money funding Phil’s cash-generating schemes. Interestingly, it sponsored a magazine promoting some of its direct competitors, which is not very smart.

The question some people were asking was, how did Phil choose the 70 important companies that ‘endured and persisted’? It was really very easy. For €700 a company was given two pages in the ‘Collector’s edition’ to write whatever it wanted about itself.

THERE is no end to the pandering of Mother Russia by our politicians. Ten days ago our foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides went to Moscow to see Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and assure him that we were by our Mother’s sides. He was the first foreign minister of an EU member-state to visit Moscow after the Crimea crisis.

As Phil reported, this was greatly appreciated by Moscow as it “sent a message to third parties who had tried to isolate Russia.” There was more good news this week for President Putin. An AKEL delegation, headed by our heavyweight, former president, Comrade Tof would also be heading to Moscow for a meeting with Lavrov. I think we should offer Tof to our Russian brothers to keep, as a token of our appreciation for their unwavering support and as a message to third parties that we have a sense of humour.

IF CHEAP populism could be monetised we would have the strongest economy in the world and turtle-lover Giorgos Perdikis would be richer than George Soros.

This week, the holier-than-thou tree hugger, responded to Chrystalla Georghadji’s exhortations to the House not to pass the primary residence bill by saying that “the message must be sent in every direction that the House has the guts to protect citizens.”

He also came up with a confidence building measure. He urged the government “to promote and adopt the confidence-building measure allowing all Kyrenia residents to return to their homes before a settlement of the Cyprus problem.”

PERDIKIS was outdone by another Yiorkos in the populism stakes this week. Alliance of Citizens’ leader Lillikas yesterday urged Prez Nik to ask Stefan Fule, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, who is scheduled to visit Cyprus tomorrow, for €10 billion in financial assistance.

It was time for the government and the Commission to cut out the wishful thinking and took action, Lillikas declared. Nik “should show Fule, with documentation that the Commission should provide 10 billion euro to support small to medium businesses.” The documentation could be that if the Commission did not give us 10 billion, we would send Comrade Tof to Brussels.

CYPRUS has paid a very high price for the reckless populism of its irresponsible politicians. Former president Demetris Christofias led the state to bankruptcy because he did not want to take unpopular decisions and the struggling banking sector was dealt a fatal blow when short-sighted deputies, a year ago, rejected the first Eurogroup decision for a levy on all deposits.

There have been more manifestations of this deplorable populism since then. A few months ago EDEK and AKEL rejected the bill for the re-structuring of the co-ops, even though they knew approval was a condition for the recapitalisation that would prevent bankruptcy; the bill was passed after an irregular second vote was agreed. In late February, these same parties plus some DIKO deputies voted against the bill for the privatisation of SGOs that was a condition for the release of the fourth bailout tranche of €236 million; a few days later the bill was approved with the vote of the DIKO deputies.

This brinkmanship was on display again on Friday, when deputies of the House legal affairs committee ignored the exhortations of Governor-designate of the Central Bank Chrystalla Georghadji, to shelve the bill on protecting primary residence and business premises, and unanimously decided to send it to the plenum on April 10. Several deputies claimed that Georghadji’s warnings had been taken on board and amendments would be made to the bill before it was sent to the plenum.

The demagogues in the legislature could not be swayed, obdurately refusing to acknowledge the broader implications of such a law for the banks and economy, despite these being spelt out by Georghadji in plain language. Posing as the protectors of home-owners and small businesses was all that mattered for the demagogues, perhaps hoping that there would be enough responsible deputies to defeat their bill.

The law, if passed, would also protect premises of small to medium businesses, originally defined as businesses with up to 10 employees or with an annual turnover of up to €2 million, which may qualify more than 80 per cent of Cypriot companies for protection from foreclosures. On what economic grounds would businesses that cannot repay their loans be protected in what is supposedly a market economy?

The truth is that the bill would be a licence for borrowers not to repay their loans, even if deputies have been assuring everyone that appealing to the court for suspension of loan repayments would be an option of last resort. First there would have to be an attempt at restructuring a loan, then the dispute would go to the mediator and if there was no agreement the borrower would be able to go to court to seek a suspension. It could take a couple of years before the case is heard by court – this is an optimistic estimate considering there would many thousands of people opting not to repay their loans – in which time no repayments would be made to the banks or co-ops.

Things are bad enough for credit institutions – the number of NPLs rising every month – without offering individuals and businesses legal grounds not to repay their loans. As Georghadji pointed out, the passing of the bill preventing asset seizures would worsen the balance sheets of the banks and increase their capital needs. It would also push interest rates even higher and make it almost impossible for the banks to offer loans. Would the Cypriot banks pass the ECB’s stress tests scheduled for later this year if the bill is approved? And who would be covering any additional capital requirements of the banks?

The House demagogues, without any economic or banking expertise, are doing the exact opposite of what the IMF and the European Commission had advised – the creation of “a strong legal framework to facilitate foreclosures”. In its Tuesday report, the IMF made it clear that the only way of tackling the increasing number of NPLs, now at a staggering 50 per cent of total loans, was the facilitating of asset seizures. With their bill, the deputies would be doing the exact opposite – making asset seizures even more difficult and helping increase NPLs.

Would banks or co-ops survive such a situation? And if they are on the brink of collapse would deputies pass a law prohibiting their bankruptcy? There seems to be no limit to the damage these ruthless populists are prepared to cause the country for the sake of few votes. If they are not stopped now, things can only become worse.

By Constantinos Psillides

BATTLE lines were being drawn yesterday for Monday’s discussion at the House on the draft bill to protect primary residences from foreclosure, which MPs want to send to the plenum on Thursday.

Accusations flew between the government and opposition parties, and between those parties in favour of the draft bill and those against it.

Those opposing it, including ruling DISY, spoke of another economic disaster and possible new haircuts on innocent depositors if banks were not allowed to recoup non-performing loans (NPLs) by seizing assets.

Detractors responded by accusing the government, of not for the first time, scaremongering with threats that the economy would come crashing down if the House didn’t cease and desist.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides said the state was not immune to the problems of homeowners and was working on a solution to protect vulnerable quarters while still safeguarding the wider economy.

“The worst thing that could happen would be to slide into a bargain mentality, which would smell of populism,” he said.

“Fragmentary approaches to the bill’s philosophy are undermining its wider importance the effect it will have on our country’s financial environment.”

Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos called on deputies to wait until the government’s proposal was completed otherwise what was on the table right now would prove to be a “landmine for the banking system”.  “I trust that cooler heads will prevail in the House in the end so we won’t have a repetition of frivolous, harmful and destructive decisions of the recent past,” he said.

But the deputies were not to be silenced.

Main opposition party AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou said they had asked the government repeatedly to protect primary residences by law but their pleas fell on deaf ears. “The government acts once again in an indifferent, arrogant and irresponsible way. Our intention isn’t to cause trouble but to resolve this issue in a way to protect poor people. To make sure they have a roof over their heads,” he said.

“They are trying to blackmail MPs by saying that we either vote for the government’s plans or we are heading for bankruptcy”.

Kyprianou accused the government of deliberately waiting until the last minute to introduce a bill so the House can’t react to it. They would be given only until Thursday to present it, he said.

DIKO leader Nicolas Papadopoulos said that his party was all for protecting primary residences “but not palaces”. The party would consider proposals by all sides and then decide. DIKO agreed with protecting people who were genuinely suffering but not ready to allow abuse by people who just wanted to get out of paying their debts.

EDEK MP Nicos Nicolaides said that his party’s stance was that the bill should be voted by the plenum, criticising the government for attacking it. “They have demonised a bill that aims to protect poor home owners, saying in short that it will destroy the economy,” Nicoalaides said, adding that the government was lying when they say that they would protect primary residences. “How will they accomplish that, since they have already promised the troika that they won’t oppose repossessing houses?” he said.

Greens MP Giorgos Perdikis suggested the government do more to chase down big debtors. He said the government’s reaction was exaggerated.

But ruling DISY – which will vote against the bill irrespective – said it was not. Party leader Averof Neophytou said he believed the other parties would come to their senses.

“Hasty actions could have completely the opposite result,” he said. Neophytou said all MPs should bear in mind that if they vote in favour of some people not paying their loans, this move would burden others. “I don’t think it’s the intention of any MP, regardless of political affiliation, to trigger an additional deposit haircut,” he said.

THE United Nations chief told a packed stadium of sombre and weeping Rwandans on Monday the world would “never again” let genocide tear their nation apart, at a ceremony marking 20 years since 800,000 people were butchered.

A host of leaders and donors attended the commemoration, but France - an ally of the Rwandan government that ruled before the genocide – did not take part after rebel-turned-president, Paul Kagame, renewed charges of Paris’ “direct role” in the killings.

France has acknowledged mistakes in its dealings with Rwanda. But it has repeatedly dismissed accusations it trained militias to take part in the massacres and Kagame’s comments triggered fresh outrage in Paris on Monday.

Some in the crowd in Kigali were overcome with emotion on hearing a survivor’s account and stewards had to lead them out of the stadium. Many Rwandans lost entire families to killers armed with guns, grenades, machetes and cans of petrol.

A minute’s silence was punctuated by screams of dozens of survivors.

“We must not be left to utter the words ‘never again’, again and again,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the crowd.

“Many United Nations personnel and others showed remarkable bravery. But we could have done much more. We should have done much more,” he added, while citing new challenges in the region.

Conflicts rumble on in South Sudan and Central African Republic, while eastern Democratic Republic of Congo next door remains in turmoil.

Rwanda long complained that Western and other nations – with a few exceptions praised at the memorial – stood idle when massacres that erupted in April 1994 killed mostly people from the Tutsi minority but also moderates among the Hutu majority.

“Behind the words ‘never again’ there is a story whose truth must be told in full,” the president told attendees, who watched performers dressed in grey symbolically re-enacting some of the horrors.

Rwandans carried out the genocide, “but the history and root causes go beyond this beautiful country,” he said.

“No country is powerful enough, even when they think they are, to change the facts,” he said in an apparent swipe at France. In a speech in English and the Kinyarwanda language, he added in French: “Facts are stubborn,” drawing applause.

Kagame, a Tutsi who led an army into Kigali in 1994 to halt the genocide, had in the past accused France of training and arming Hutu extremists. Recently he seemed to have dropped the issue and ties had been slowly improving.

But in an interview in a weekly journal published this month he said France and former colonial power Belgium had a “direct role” in the genocide. In response, France said it would not send a ministerial delegation.

On Monday, France’s foreign minister in 1994, Alain Juppe, demanded President Francois Hollande defend France’s honour against the accusations. “Rwanda’s regime has made a habit of repeatedly falsifying history,” Juppe told reporters.

Hollande avoided reference to the row, saying in a statement: “On this day of commemoration, France stands by all Rwandans to honour the memory of all the victims of the genocide.”

Kagame, who has dropped military fatigues for sharp suits befitting his CEO manner, has been praised for attracting investors, building an efficient health system and reducing poverty, but is also criticised for an authoritarian style.

Western nations, thankful to him for restoring order but irritated by his autocratic approach, cut some aid in 2012 after his government was accused of backing rebels in neighbouring Congo. South Africa has also accused Kigali of sending hit squads to kill exiled opponents on South African soil.

The first Indians cast their votes on Monday in the world’s biggest election, with Hindu nationalist opposition candidate Narendra Modi holding a strong lead but likely to fall short of a majority.

Some 815m people are registered to vote over the next five weeks as the election ripples out in stages from two small states near Myanmar to include northern Himalayan plateaus, western deserts and the tropical south, before ending in the densely-populated northern plains. Results are due on May 16.

Elderly women in saris and young men in jeans and polo shirts lined up outside a dilapidated sports centre in Dibrugarh, a river town in the tea-growing state of Assam, one of two states to vote on Monday.

“We need a change, someone who will come and change the whole scenario,” said handbag shop manager Ashim Sarkar, 35.

During high-octane campaigning at well-attended rallies the length and breadth of India, Modi has been promising to jumpstart a flagging economy and sweep out the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for most of the period since independence in 1947.

“The proposals in the manifesto have the power to lift the nation from the ditch that it has fallen into, it has the power to give momentum to a nation that has stalled,” Modi said at the New Delhi launch of his party’s manifesto.

Turnout in the five constituencies in Assam that went to the polls on Monday was 75 per cent. Voting ended at 5 p.m. and was peaceful, the chief election officer for the state told Reuters.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and allies are forecast to win the biggest chunk of the 543 parliamentary seats up for grabs, but fall shy of a majority, according to a survey released last week by Indian pollsters CSDS. In such an outcome, a coalition government led by the BJP is seen as likely.

An efficient administrator, Modi is liked by big business in a country entangled in red tape.

Overseas investors have bought Indian shares worth $4.46bn and bonds worth $5.8bn in 2014, in part on the hope the BJP will come to power. Indian shares hit a record high on April 3 and the rupee rose to 59.5950 on April 2, its strongest in eight months.

But Modi is tainted by accusations that he failed to stop or even encouraged anti-Muslim riots in 2002 in the state of Gujarat, where he is chief minister. At least 1,000 people died in the violence, most of them Muslims.

Modi has denied the charges and a Supreme Court inquiry found no evidence to prosecute him. On Monday he said he would govern for all Indians, but his moderate image-building was dented when election authorities demanded a key campaign manager explain inflammatory statements against Muslims.

Surveys suggest a resounding defeat awaits the ruling Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, after the longest economic slowdown since the 1980s put the brakes on development and job creation in a country where half the population is under 25.

India’s remote northeast, a border region of eight states home to 27.4m voters, is a test case for the appeal of Modi’s promises to fill India with new highways and fast trains and to take a tough line on frontier disputes with neighbours. China claims sections of the region.

Northeast India is one of the few remaining strongholds for Congress. The CSDS poll found that almost half of voters in Assam, who have one of the country’s lowest per capita incomes and often rely on the centre-left Congress’ welfare schemes, are set to support the party.

But Congress might not do as well as in the last election, said Hiren Gohain, a social scientist based in the state capital Guwahati.

By Alexia Evripidou

ROME MAY not have been built in a day, but could Cyprus be cleaned in one? Thanks to the ‘Let’s do it Cyprus!’ campaign, 9,717 volunteers on Sunday made a good stab at it.

Along with Let’s Do it Cyprus!, individuals, communities, the national guard and government organisations, joined forces in over 700 clean up points around the island on Sunday to help clear up dumped garbage.

Environmental Commissioner Ioanna Panayiotou praised the hard work, spirit and determination of all involved.

“We have surpassed our goals. The turn-out of volunteers was very large and a huge amount of garbage was collected…. hopefully not to be seen again!” she said on Monday.

Some 25 tonnes of rubbish was picked up from the countryside and parks. Some pieces were so big, machines were needed to remove them. Seven tonnes of the rubbish was recyclable. Amongst the many offending items, were mattresses, furniture, bedding, several car tyres and suitcases full of clothes.

“The best part for me,” said project manager Stella Michael of Let’s Do it Cyprus! “was the great atmosphere and the desire of the volunteers to get the job done.”

Nicosia had the most volunteers with 2,714. Some 1,331 national guardsmen also took part and 992 hunting club members.

The campaign, part of the global Let’s do it World! whose mission is to rid nature reserves worldwide of garbage, will be organising the event again next year.

The next step is to clean beaches and sea beds. Let’s Do it Mediterranean (http://ldim.net/en/) is taking place on May 10.

NO ONE was in charge of monitoring the state of the munitions cargo at Mari naval base ahead of the July 2011 explosion, the attorney-general’s office told the Supreme Court on Monday.

Nonetheless, responsibility for the proper upkeep of the cargo can and must be identified, argued state prosecutor Polina Efthyvoulou.

She was making her arguments during an ongoing appeals process before the top court, where the attorney-general’s office is seeking harsher sentences for some of the persons convicted for the deadly blast which killed 13.

The containers were seized by customs in early 2009 from a Cyprus-flagged ship en route to Syria and subsequently delivered to the naval base. According to Efthyvoulou, the cargo was consigned neither to the national guard nor to any other agency, and it was not logged in the army’s computers.

Though the freight was placed under the care of the national guard, the latter was in charge of security alone.

Asked by the court whether the army regardless was obligated to look after the cargo, Efthyvoulou said the military’s hands were tied.

“A royal order was handed down, but the guard dogs were put on a leash,” she said, citing a Greek adage.

She submitted that the military, which had no responsibility for the safekeeping of the munitions, even wanted to “rid itself” of the cargo.

“The republic was the owner of the cargo. It was all a muddle, no one was responsible,” the state prosecutor said in her arguments.

Efthyvoulou said the minutes of the contentious cabinet meeting – where it was decided to confiscate the cargo – do not exist or are not available. However, she noted, on February 12, 2009 then-defence minister Costas Papacostas issued an announcement stating merely that the government had decided to seize the freight and place it at Mari naval base.

The state prosecutor went on to argue that Marcos Kyprianou – foreign minister at the time in question – ought to bear administrative – and thus legal – responsibility for the cargo.

Last year the criminal court found that Kyprianou had no authority over the cargo, and that he was handling the political dimension of the issue, implementing the policy of the president.

The attorney-general’s office is appealing the criminal court’s decision which had cleared Kyprianou of the charge of causing death through reckless and dangerous acts.

It is also appealing the earlier acquittal of two other persons of the charges of manslaughter, and is seeking longer jail sentences for three persons found guilty of causing death through reckless and dangerous acts.

During the trial last year, Papacostas was declared guilty of manslaughter. He was found to have direct responsibility over the safekeeping of the munitions.

The appeals process at the Supreme Court resumes on April 14.

The munitions at Mari exploded on July 11, 2011, killing seven sailors and six firemen. After being confiscated in 2009 from a Cyprus-flagged ship en route to Syria, the containers were stacked in an open space at the naval base and left exposed to the elements until the day of the explosion, despite repeated warnings of the risks as well as visible signs of deterioration.

HUNGARIAN Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has clashed repeatedly with the European Union and foreign investors over economic policy, said on Monday a weekend poll victory gave him a clear mandate to “continue what we have started”.

A 20 per cent vote for the far-right opposition Jobbik party, accused of anti-Semitism, raised concern among ethnic minorities. That outcome will be noted also in other EU countries expecting a rise in right-wing and anti-immigration parties in next month’s European Parliament elections.

Orban has raised concern among foreign investors and in the EU with policies including a windfall tax on the banking sector, and reductions in household energy prices.

But many Hungarians see Orban, a 50-year-old former dissident under Communism, as a champion of national interests.

After 99 per cent of ballots were counted from Sunday’s vote, an official projection gave Orban’s Fidesz party 133 of 199 parliament seats, guaranteeing it will form the next government.

That tally also gave Orban’s party the two-thirds majority needed for it to change the constitution, but only by one seat. Final results could still push Fidesz back below the threshold.

The same projection gave the Socialist-led leftist alliance 38 seats, while far-right Jobbik was on 23 seats.

Orban said he planned to retain a windfall tax on the bank sector he has introduced over the past four years,

When asked about the forint’s exchange rate, he declined to comment, saying it was a matter for the central bank.

Some market players believe the bank, led by a close Orban ally, could weaken the currency further, a risky strategy at a time when investors are already jittery about emerging markets.

Hungary’s forint weakened 0.4 per cent by late Monday trading.

Jobbik’s performance is being watched closely for clues about how other nationalist right-wing parties, such as France’s Front National and the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom, will perform in European Parliament elections next month.

In terms of its share of the national vote on party lists, Jobbik won 20.54 per cent, up from 15.86 per cent of all votes four years ago.

Its showing was the strongest of any far-right party in the EU in the past few years, according to Cas Mudde, Assistant Professor at the School for Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia in the U.S.

He said the previous strongest result for a far-right group was the 20.5 per cent won by Austria’s Freedom Party last year.

“There is no doubt that Jobbik will be among the strongest far-right parties in Europe, which is particularly striking because it is also one of the most extreme of Europe’s far-right parties,” Mudde told Reuters.

Jobbik has pledged to create jobs, be tough on crime, renegotiate state debt and hold a referendum on EU membership. While it denies being racist, it provides a lightning rod for suspicion among some Hungarians towards the Roma and Jews.

In the past four years, Orban’s policies have included a nationalisation of private pension funds, swingeing “crisis taxes” on big business, and a relief scheme for mortgage holders for which the banks, mostly foreign-owned, had to pay.

Orban has pledged more of the same if re-elected, and the business community expects him in particular to press ahead with a plan to transfer big chunks of the banking sector into Hungarian hands, and impose more burdens on foreign power firms.

By Constantinos Psillides

THE NEW Greek Cypriot member of the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP) officially took up his post on Monday with a pledge to overcome the many obstacles the committee still faces.

Nestoras Nestoros, who was appointed by President Nicos Anastasiades to replace long-time member Theophilos Theophilou, said it was an honour to be appointed to the CMP but that there were many difficulties to overcome.

“The committee’s work is extremely complex and it won’t be easy to cope but we have to surpass every obstacle,” Nestoros told a press conference.

CMP members thanked Theophilou for his service, noting that during his tenure the CMP had achieved its best performance to date.

“With 140 identified missing persons returned to their families and an unprecedented €2.5 million in donor funding, 2013 was the most successful year for the CMP. The committee is looking forward to work with Mr Nestoros in order to build on these achievements,” they said.

The committee also announced an open invitation for a major public event scheduled for April 12 from 10am until 4pm in the garden of the Goethe-Institut in the UN buffer zone in Nicosia. The public will have a chance to meet with the 60 young CMP scientists and to learn more about the committee’s work.

Large photos installations will illustrate every stage of CMP’s work, from investigations, excavation of burial sites, exhumation and analysis of human remains, to the identification and return of missing persons to their families. CMP scientists will deliver presentations in Greek and in Turkish to explain each stage of the work in detail and answer questions from the audience.

Although it was officially announced that Theophilou was resigning for personal reasons last month, the former Greek Cypriot representative said in a public statement that he quit his post in protest at the dysfunctional state of the organisation.

In his statement, Theophilou said he would not have resigned had certain conditions been met, such as the improved functioning of his office; an understanding of the tremendous difficulties faced; a change to the procedures and practices concerning the operation and mission of the CMP and the prospect of completing the CMP’s mission within a timeframe acceptable to the relatives of the missing persons.

By Sarah Young and Michael Roddy

Peaches Geldof, second daughter of Band Aid founder and musician Bob Geldof and a media and fashion personality in her own right, has died at her home in Kent, southern England, aged 25, her family said on Monday.

Kent police issued a statement saying the death of a 25-year-old woman, whom they did not identify, was being treated as a “non-suspicious but unexplained sudden death”.

Bob Geldof, the Irish singer who rose to prominence as the leader of the 1970s-1980s band the Boomtown Rats, and later organised the charity Band Aid and the Live Aid concerts to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, said in a statement that the family were “beyond pain”.

Peaches’ husband, rock musician Thomas Cohen, issued a statement saying: “My beloved wife Peaches was adored by myself and her two sons … I shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts every day. We shall love her forever.”

Making an early debut in the London glamour and society scene, Peaches Geldof wrote a weekly social and political column for the Daily Telegraph from the ages of 14 to 17 and also contributed to the Guardian.

She was often seen partying and clubbing in London’s vibrant night scene but firmly denied using drugs.

Married for the second time after a first marriage that lasted only six months, she had two sons with Cohen, both under 2 years old.

LOST MOTHER AT 11

Peaches was only 11 when she and her two sisters, Pixie and Fifi Trixibelle, lost their mother, the television presenter Paula Yates.

Yates was married to Geldof from 1986 to 1996 but left him for the Australian rock star Michael Hutchence, who committed suicide in 1997. Yates died three years later from a heroin overdose, aged 41.

After Yates’s death, Geldof brought up Tiger Lily, Yates’s daughter with Hutchence, alongside her three half-sisters.

Peaches’ last Twitter post, on Sunday, was a photograph of herself and her mother. In an interview with Elle magazine in 2013, Geldof had said that, when her mother died, “I just blocked it out”.

“I didn’t grieve. I didn’t cry at her funeral. I couldn’t express anything because I was just numb to it all. I didn’t start grieving for my mother properly until I was maybe 16.”

Her father issued a statement on behalf of the family that said: “She was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us. What a beautiful child. How is this possible that we will not see her again? How is that bearable? We loved her and will cherish her forever.”

He described the family as “fractured so often but never broken”.

Twitter was immediately filled with messages from fans and followers, including one that read: “Heaven gained a beautiful angel R.I.P beautiful girl.”

Peaches Geldof also wrote a column for the British magazine ”Mother & Baby”, whose editor Claire Irvin told Sky News:

“She was absolutely unique and she brought her own thinking and take on anything I ever had to do with her. But the biggest legacy is going to be those two boys, and the love that she poured into them.”

EUROPEAN Council Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks expressed his concern on Monday over reports that Cyprus continues the practice of detaining and separating migrant women from their children.

In a letter to the head of communication unit, at the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights Council of Europe Stefano Montanari, Muižnieks said this practice is irreconcilable with Cyprus` legal obligation to ensure the best interests of the child and must be ended.

“Depriving migrants, especially women accompanied by dependent children, of their liberty without examining alternatives to detention is not in line with international human rights standards,” he said.

“I urge the government of Cyprus to put an end to these practices and to fully align law and practice with international standards. This effort would highly benefit from taking duly into account the views of the ombudsman, the child commissioner and the civil society with expertise in this area,” he concluded.

By Angelos Anastasiou

PARTIES OPPOSING the bill to protect primary residences from foreclosure pulled a fast one on the legislation’s supporters at committee level on Monday, ensuring the controversial document would not be sent to the plenum this Thursday.

Despite pleas that the bill, if passed, would cause a new crisis as banks would not be able to seize assets to recoup on non-performing loans, AKEL and EDEK, which tabled the bill, had managed to defeat the naysayers at the House Legal Affairs Committee last Friday by force of numbers.

With a full roster the committee has nine members. But last Friday two DIKO members were missing and three deputies from ruling DISY – going against the party line – joined with the bill’s supporters to push through the vote to send it to the plenum.

At yesterday’s extraordinary session of the committee however, DISY and former coalition partner DIKO, showed up with a full complement of their members. Together they held five of the nine votes, easily defeating AKEL and EDEK. And to make sure his three deputies toed the line this time, DISY leader Averof Neophytou went along to keep an eye on them.

And if the message had not been made clear enough by his attendance alone, on arrival, Neophytou awkwardly placed himself at the edge of the table on the right of DISY MP and committee chairman Sotiris Sampson. Yet another sign of his attempt to strong-arm the deputy came during the ensuing discussion, when Neophytou charged that the committee had taken advantage of a “circumstantial majority” – alluding to the absence of DIKO’s two deputies from Friday’s session, which allowed the opposition parties de facto majority – in order to put the bill to the plenum. When AKEL MP Aristos Damianou protested the implication of underhand tactics, Neophytou impulsively erupted. “Fine – if not you, then the committee’s chairman,” he snapped.

Immediately reasserting his composed demeanour and usual indoor voice, Neophytou made the point that as discussion on the bill had not yet been exhausted at committee level when the Friday decision was made, it could not possibly be submitted for plenary discussion, he said, and offered the need to hold a further meeting on Monday as evidence of his logical assertion.

“Let public opinion believe that AKEL and EDEK want to protect homeowners and small businesses and that DISY is socially insensitive,” Neophytou said. “We don’t mind.”

“But this is an incomplete bill that cannot be voted on.”

Yesterday’s session had been scheduled as an extraordinary session in order for the two parties that introduced the bill – left-wing AKEL and socialist EDEK – to submit three amendments that would address the concerns voiced by Finance Minister Harris Georgiades and new Central Bank Governor Chrystalls Georghadji.

When the two opposition parties realised the line of argument that was being employed by DISY deputies, they tactically refrained from presenting any amendments by invoking their right to submit them to the plenary session on Thursday. This was an attempt to negate Neophytou’s argument and prevent any new vote that could effectively overturn Friday’s decision.

But it was all too little, too late. Before hijacking the meeting, Neophytou had come to an understanding with the DIKO leader and committee member Nicolas Papadopoulos. As soon as Papadopoulos described his party’s position, the outcome of the session had become obvious, even though his political instinct was to refrain from owning the decision to back Neophytou and DISY through careful use of the third person.

“DIKO does not disregard the incoming governor’s concerns,” he said. “She has asked for some time to study the issue in detail, which is understandable. Also, the need for amendments to the bill indicates that it is not ready for the plenum. DIKO would consent to a motion to postpone.”

Speaking to the press after the session, Sampson was visibly dejected.

“Since amendments to the bill are being prepared, the committee felt that discussion has not been concluded,” he said. “Therefore the committee has decided to postpone the submission of the bill to the plenum.”

Nonetheless, the duo’s collaboration to defeat the Friday decision caused political furore, so much so that AKEL and EDEK’s four committee members abstained from yesterday’s  vote in protest of the “DISY-DIKO collusion”. Not that the abstention helped their cause.

AKEL MP and committee member Yiannos Lamaris unleashed a scathing criticism, implying that DISY and DIKO were trying to protect big-business loan defaulters by allowing banks to go after  small borrowers.

“Two months ago it was reported that 22 major borrowers owe €6.5 billion in loans,” he said. “We call on the central bank to tell us what they owe now and what DISY and DIKO plan to do about them.”

EDEK MP Roulla Mavronikola, who was filling in for committee member Nicos Nicolaides, said that while the bill was being discussed for eight months, none of the now-dissenting parties offered any objection or amendment at committee level.

“This was a subversion of democracy,” she said. “A decision was made on Friday but the well-known game of blackmail at the last minute was played again by DISY and DIKO. What happened here speaks for itself.”

AN EXPLOSIVE device was found in a ditch along the Nicosia-Larnaca highway on Monday night, police said.

The explosive device was found near the highway close to Lympia village.

The police immediately closed off the area, barricading both sides of the highway near the site where the explosive device was found. Police cars swarmed the area and ambulances and fire department trucks were also present near the site.

After examining the device, police bomb squad officers decided to destroy it in a controlled explosion.

The police were acting on a tip-off.