A 19-YEAR-OLD man pushing a motorbike with no registration plate tried to run from the police on Monday night. He was arrested after he could not say how he got the bike.
The police’s rapid reaction unit MMAD saw the 19-year-old at 8.15pm on an avenue in Nicosia’s suburb of Aglandjia. “As soon as MMAD police officers approached him… he tried to flee. But he was intercepted by the police,” a police announcement said. Police said the bike had been stolen from a house in Nicosia.
A LARNACA village resident told the police that last weekend his storehouse got broken into. The man lost nine hydraulic drill motors and a compressor, collectively worth about €18,000.
TWO MEN tried to rob a bakery in Limassol in the early hours of yesterday but left after their efforts to open the till were frustrated.
The pair aged around 20, with their faces covered with tights, walked in the bakery at 2.30am. One of the men threatened the shop’s one employee with a knife while another tried to open the till. “The employee started screaming and the perpetrators fled on a motorbike of unknown registration, without stealing anything,” the police said.
POLICE have launched a seatbelt campaign, which will last until July 1. It is compulsory for passengers in both front and back seats to wear seat belts, police said. Police reports conclude that out of eight out of 11 victims of road death did not wear a seatbelt which is an equivalent of 72.72 per cent.
POSTAL services will send SMS text messages to people when their items arrive so that they can be picked up at any time from automatic post office boxes, Communications Minister Efthymios Flourentzos yesterday said.
He was talking at the Nicosia offices in Prodromos, which inaugurated Parcel24 on a pilot basis. Customers will be sent a code through SMS to access the post boxes.
Flourentzos said that postal services were trying to innovate even though there was a financial crisis. Other cities should get the service later in the year, he said.
To find out more call postal services at 22805802.
CYPRUS continues to experience an energy crisis as the Vassilikos units that were destroyed in the Mari naval base blast last year are still not ready, said Transmissions System Operator Christos Christodoulides yesterday.
He sent a plea to consumers to be as frugal as possible, adding that Cyprus was currently depending on mobile units and units with archaic equipment.
If no significant malfunction occurs, he said the summer’s power needs would be covered without problem.
The first unit in Vassilikos is expected to be up and running in the next few days, he added, so there shouldn’t be a problem.
Christodoulides said maximum demand so far reached 850 megawatts, while in July and August it is expected to reach 1,100 MW.
HEALTH Minister Stavros Malas said yesterday that he was honoured that ruling party AKEL was considering him as a presidential candidate for the upcoming February elections.
He was responding to an announcement by AKEL’s leader Andros Kyprianou who said on Monday that the party’s political bureau will propose to the central committee that they support Malas’ candidacy.
Malas said that he would only comment when the party completes its proceedings: Malas’ name has been put forth by the bureau for approval by the central committee today, then will be discussed at the district committees and then referred back to the committee with comments. The final decision will be taken at a party conference on July 21.
“The road is long and we have not come to any conclusions,” Malas said when asked to say whether he wanted to run for President.
INLAND Revenue collections during the first five months of 2012 increased by €56.5m or nine per cent to reach €688.7m, compared to €632.2m in the corresponding period of 2011.
However, based on data released yesterday the Department’s collections recorded a decrease in May of €17.79m or 14.7 per cent and stood at €102.64m, compared to €120.4m in May 2011.
For the first five months of 2012, the Department’s collections of income taxes paid by employees increased by 4.0 per cent and stood at €237.8m, compared to €229.7m in the corresponding period of 2011. Income taxes paid by self-employed during the same period also recorded an increase of 144 per cent amounting to €40m, whereas in the same period of 2011 stood at €16.3m.
Similarly, corporate taxes collected by the Department from January until May 2012, reached €134.7m, increasing by 8.0 per cent, compared to €124.4m in the same period last year.
PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias yesterday called on anyone attempting to rock the boat in relations between Cyprus and Russia to “think twice” about the impact their actions would have on the island.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the Cyprus Hotels Association (PASYXE), Christofias said he had become aware of attempts to undermine relations between the two countries. He did not elaborate.
“To those certain individuals who purposefully or inadvertently are undermining these relations, they should think twice about the economic and political consequences their actions may have,” said the President.
Apart from being the biggest emerging market when it comes to tourism, Russia is also reportedly the government’s first choice in securing a bilateral loan to bail out the economy.
Christofias said although figures from the UK and Germany had been disappointing in the first half of the year, they were improving. Arrivals from Russia, he said increased 50 per cent over the past two years due to the great relations between the two countries.
On his address, PASYXE chairman Haris Loizides, said Cyprus was still considered an expensive destination without proof of being a qualitative one. He called for immediate measures to boost the industry.
“Cyprus’ tourism industry has been living under crisis conditions for a decade now,” said Loizides. “However, the generalised crisis we are experiencing now, despite its negative impact on businesses and workers, could be an opportunity to do all those things that we have been failing to do for so many years, purely because the conditions in other sectors were rosy and counterbalanced the losses from tourism.”
Loizides said that while internationally, tourist arrivals were expected to reach a billion – from 700 million in 2000, in Cyprus, even during theoretically good years, arrivals dropped by 11.3 per cent (300,000 tourists) and revenue by 19.5 per cent (€400 million) compared to 2001.
He added that steep electricity bills weren’t helping. “When a household that last year paid €100 for electricity is rightfully protesting because now it is being asked to pay €180 or even €200, imagine what happens with a hotel, which used to pay €60,000, €80,000 and even €100 thousand,” said Loizides.
Citing central bank figures, the PASYXE head said hotels and restaurants owed an estimated €2.6 billion to banks, which is double to the amount owed 10 years ago.
In 2011, the year closed with a 10 per cent increase in tourist arrivals and 12.5 per cent rise in tourism-related revenue.
MUNICIPALITIES said yesterday they would fight to regain their budgets - shrunk by €18 million because of austerity measures.
“What we have to make clear is that we will have municipalities shutting down one after the other,” the head of the municipalities’ union and Famagusta Mayor Alexis Galanos said.
He was briefing the press prior to a closed-door emergency general meeting.
“These are very harsh conditions and I’m saying this without exaggeration,” Galanos said.
He said that municipalities may be forced to fire people and be unable to pay their expenses.
The state reduced the budget allocated to the (non-occupied) municipalities for this year by 8.3 per cent, and Parliament cut a further 8.0 per cent. Instead of the anticipated €71 million there was €60 million.
Municipalities also lost €7.0 million because the state reduced a subsidy offered to them as compensation for the 2003 abolition of the professional tax.
Galanos said that budget cuts were effectively bigger because they coincided with the creation of six new municipalities - there are now 30 - and so there was less money available for each municipality. By law, any community which grows to 5,000 people becomes a municipality.
Up until this year, the municipalities’ union allocated one third of the budget equally and then distributed the remainder by population size.
It is not clear how money will now be allocated.
Galanos admitted that municipalities needed to consider “long term solutions” in terms of self-financing and austerity and said that they would consider the suggestions by the mayors of greater Nicosia (greater control over taxes, cost reduction, early staff retirement, among others).
But he said that they first needed to retrieve their money.
Of the ten municipalities comprising greater Nicosia, only Strovolos balanced its books.
Nicosia Mayor Constantinos Yorkadjis said that with cost cutting measures his municipality’s deficit could come to €2.7 million. Under the previous budget contribution system, Nicosia was due to get €4.0 million, lost with the budget cuts.
Galanos said he was meeting Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly next week and suggested the municipalities appeal to President Demetris Christofias.
“We are part of the state. The same people who vote for the President and deputies also vote for us,” he said.
IT WAS a bad day for cars in Limassol yesterday as five were damaged in two separate incidents in the early hours. At around 2am, one parked car owned by a 50-year-old sustained extensive damage after a factory-made firecracker placed between the front bonnet and windshield exploded.
Fifteen minutes earlier, at a car park in another area, fire damaged four cars owned by another 50-year-old man. The fire appears to have started on one car and then spread to the others.
The blaze was put out by the fire services but not before completely destroying one of the cars. Two were left considerably damaged while the fourth sustained minor damage.
FRAUDSTERS spent nearly €5,000 on ‘copy’ credit credits over an eight-day period, it was reported yesterday. An employee of JCC Payment Ltd informed Famagusta CID that between July 12 and 20, fraudsters used 11 credit cards owned by four people in 22 transactions of which only nine were successful.
The thieves managed to spend €4,567 while in 13 failed attempts they tried to spend a further €4,896.
Police believe the credit cards were used by four British citizens of Turkish origin who they believe may have escaped to the north. The cards were used in a clinic, hotel and for the rental of motorcycles.
Police are investigating a case of forged credit cards and using fake documents. Some of the cards belong to foreign-based banks.
POLICE will be reporting and fining all drivers who use the three-lane Nicosia-Limassol highway incorrectly, said traffic police head Demetris Demetriou yesterday.
Demetriou said that though the highway was delivered late last year, people still did not know how to use the lanes so would be launching a campaign to catch erring drivers on Monday.
Drivers who keep left and only use the middle and right lanes to overtake should be fine. Those who overtake from the left or keep right even when there is a free lane to their left could land themselves a €65 on-the-spot fine.
A 28-YEAR old motorist was arrested on Friday night in Nicosia after allegedly hitting a police officer who had moments earlier booked him for not wearing a seatbelt. He is now being investigated in connection with charges of causing grievous bodily harm against an officer on duty.
At around 10pm, the police officer stopped the 28-year-old motorist to check his car. According to police, the driver began to shout and protest after getting booked for traffic violations.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said despite the provocative reaction, the police officer “showed patience, without creating any tension”.
The police officer then rode away on his motorcycle, reaching a set of traffic lights on Ayios Giorgios road. At this point, the 28-year-old reportedly also drove in the same direction, crashing into the officer, who fell to the ground on impact.
The officer proceeded to arrest the motorist, who continued to swear and resist arrest, forcing the officer to use “proportionate force” said Angelides.
Both men were taken to the accident and emergency ward of the Nicosia general hospital where the police officer received treatment for friction burns on his left forearm and bloody abrasions on his left leg.
The 28-year-old was diagnosed with a fractured arm and was kept in for observation.
Angelides described the 28-year-old’s actions as “unjustifiable”.
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES for next year’s elections are firmly in the starting blocks waiting for the pistol to fire after EDEK put its support behind independent Giorgos Lillikas yesterday while DIKO chose to forge a path with main opposition party DISY.
EDEK’s central committee decided in favour of Lillikas’ candidacy yesterday by an overwhelming majority of 90 votes in favour, four against and nine abstentions.
“We believe that Giorgos Lillikas adequately meets the requirements set for a presidential candidate,” said EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou.
Lillikas’ positions on the Cyprus issue, on the necessary reforms of the political system, the economy and society are similar to those of EDEK, he said.
He argued that the proposal of EDEK’s political office to support Lillikas was “not a proposal of necessity but of political choice”.
Meanwhile, DIKO’s central committee yesterday adopted the proposal of its secretariat to continue consultations with main opposition party DISY and the parties of the “in-between space” to form a new power bloc.
DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades, the party’s candidate for next February’s elections, will be happy to hear that earlier collaboration between DISY and DIKO during the Nicosia mayoral elections appears to have paid off.
DISY is also in negotiations with EVROKO, believed to be split between support for Anastasiades and Lillikas.
DIKO spokesman Fotis Fotiou said the leadership got the go-ahead to continue dialogue with DISY, EVROKO and the Greens to form a coalition “based on the strategy of national consensus and unity”.
The decision was taken with 90 votes in favour of the secretariat’s proposal, eight against and three abstentions.
Speaking earlier to the central committee, party leader Marios Garoyian said the secretariat had ruled out any collaboration with AKEL, thereby rejecting the candidacy of health minister Stavros Malas.
Lillikas’ candidacy leads to further fragmentation of political forces and goes counter to the goal of pursuing a broad and powerful coalition of forces, he argued, accusing Lillikas of “opportunism”.
As a result, the decision was taken to pursue dialogue and a common election manifesto with DISY based on national unity and salvation. “Dialogue must conclude at the latest by early September,” he said.
If the two parties fail to reach agreement, then DIKO has the choice of going it alone, added Garoyian.
Commenting on EDEK’s decision, Lillikas thanked the socialist movement, saying EDEK has proved that it places the country’s interests above party considerations.
“EDEK’s decision increases my responsibilities and obligations,” said Lillikas.
In a dig at Garoyian, the former minister said of his new relationship with EDEK: “Our cooperation is not based on hidden agendas or anachronistic exchanges. It is based on shared political positions and goals.”
Lillikas further questioned how to reconcile those DIKO members who are against an Annan-type peace plan for Cyprus with the positions of Anastasiades who voted in favour of the Annan plan in 2004.
AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou said yesterday his party’s candidate Malas “has proved in a short period of time at the health ministry that he is an extremely good and capable politician”, adding that he has “radical approaches on how the country can move forward”.
Speaking on the same subject, Malas said he was confident the support of the centre left forces would get him through to the second round of elections next February.
On the economic crisis facing the country, he said certain measures would have to be taken to secure a short-term loan but that austerity measures alone will not solve Cyprus’ problems.
“We’ll need to find solutions for economic growth, and a country like Cyprus with a small economy and many possibilities for economic growth needs to pursue those choices and not lead the country to complete economic stagnation with the measures currently being discussed,” he said.
THE GOVERNMENT will stress alternative ways than imposing “painful” measures against workers to get out of the current fiscal crisis to the troika, said AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou yesterday.
He hoped other political forces did not go the opposite way and encourage the international moneylenders to impose tough measures.
Speaking after the troika wrapped up its second round of meetings, Kyprianou said the ruling party’s position was that the needs of the state and the banks needed to be looked at separately.
“We clarified to the troika that our demands are to apply to Cyprus what will apply for Spain and possibly Italy and Ireland, in other words direct financing (to the banks) so as not to increase public debt,” he said.
The government and troika have agreed to continue discussions via teleconferencing over the coming weeks, after failing to see eye-to-eye on the structural changes needed to clean up state finances.
According to reports, the government also disagrees with the troika on how to calculate the recapitalisation needs of the banking system, with the gap between the two ranging from €6 billion up to €11 billion. Add to that the €4.5 billion needed by the state to cover its needs for the next two years and the final loan could surpass the €15 billion figure estimated by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.
During its meeting with the House Finance Committee on Friday, the troika basically passed on the message that Cyprus can forget about the good life for a while.
Troika representatives reportedly told MPs that the recession is here for at least another two years and if measures are not taken, things will get worse. They also reminded deputies that the International Monetary Fund has repeatedly warned Cyprus on the need for structural measures.
Regardless of the size of the loan eventually given, Cyprus will have to take “painful” measures to reduce the cost of the civil service and social benefits, the delegates reportedly said.
“We indicated to the troika that there is more than one path to reach your destination. There are various options and we want to discuss those with them,” said Kyprianou.
“I hope that all political forces will operate in the same way and we will not have some trying to encourage the troika to impose or propose painful measures,” he said, adding that all forces should reach agreement on how to tackle the economy’s problems in a way that workers do not bear the brunt of measures.
Speaking to state radio yesterday morning, Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said that any measures would have to be discussed with the “social partners” first. At the same time, he acknowledged that some small sacrifices will necessarily have to be taken for the good of the place.
POLICE ARE taking heightened measures against potential terrorist attacks on Israeli interests at ports, airports and any other place deemed necessary, said police spokesman Andreas Angelides yesterday.
Asked to comment on reports that police have beefed up their presence at Larnaca port where cruise ships carrying Israeli tourists docked, Angelides said: “Police are taking increased security measures in various locations like ports, airports, places where there are Israeli interests and any other areas deemed necessary.”
He added: “Where information is made available, it is investigated immediately and thoroughly and in cases where deemed necessary, persons considered suspect based on that information are questioned and checked.”
According to online news site Sigmalive.com, police chief Michalis Papageorgiou chaired a meeting at police headquarters to assess information from Israel regarding the safety of Israeli tourists.
A team dealing with terrorism issues is reportedly going through surveillance camera footage from the ports and airports looking for potential suspects believed to belong to terrorist organisations.
Police are on heightened alert after a suicide bus bombing in the Bulgarian city of Burgas on July 18, killed seven people, five of them Israelis.
The Jewish state has blamed the attack on Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, and Iran, which has denied any involvement.
Meanwhile, a Swedish national of Lebanese descent arrested on suspicion of plotting to attack Israeli tourists in Cyprus will stand trial on September 12 in Limassol, facing nine charges of security-related offences.
The man is accused of tracking the movements and areas frequented by Israeli visitors to the island. He was arrested on July 7 as a suspected security threat.
Cypriot authorities have acknowledged the suspect showed behavioural patterns similar to the incident in Burgas, in which the attacker waited for Israeli holidaymakers to board a bus at an airport before detonating a backpack of explosives.
ILLUSIONS were shattered and false hopes dashed during the second visit of the troublesome Troikans, with many members of our ruling elite finally realising that we will not set conditions, for accepting multi-billion euro loan, as they initially thought.
On this visit the terrible Troikans were a bit more forthcoming, talking about the austerity measures they envisaged and the annual spending cuts of one billion euro they would expect to be made. There was talk of scrapping CoLA, suspension of 13th salaries and 15 per cent reduction of public sector wages, as well as cuts in state pensions and benefits.
The illusion-busting was completed at the House Finance Committee on Friday when the Troikans told deputies that the measures would hurt and that the next two years would be a difficult time of recession. On the plus side, the measures would not be anywhere near as tough as those imposed on Greece.
It was about time that the rampant thieving of the state and the people by the blood-sucking public parasites and their all-devouring comrades at the semi-governmental workers’ co-operatives was stopped. Our good-for-nothing politicians would never have done it so they should thank the Troikans for doing the dirty work for them.
UNION bosses left their meeting with the tricky Troikans, on Wednesday looking as happy as a shareholder of the Popular Bank who had also deposited in pseudo-convertible bonds.
I must confess not feeling a hint of sympathy for any of them. On the contrary, it was quite a pleasure seeing the Parasity boss Glafcos Hadjiklamouris looking much more miserable than usual, having his tsambouka (swagger) kicked out of him at last.
He was in defeated, self-pitying mood, telling hacks that “the only thing we haven’t heard is that civil servants will not get paid,” adding ironically that “we should work for free so we can all move forward”.
His mood improved slightly the following day, when he directed his self-righteous indignation at the banks which had caused all our problems and were now threatening poor public parasites’ privileges. He demanded an official investigation to establish who was to blame for our financial woes and the need for a bailout.
And once it is established that the banks were to blame we could close them all down as punishment, for lowering the standard of living of our public parasites.
SOME unions persisted with the defiant rhetoric pledging not to accept unilateral decisions and to fight until the bitter end. They were even prepared to go on strike to defend their rights.
This cheap militancy was being encouraged by the commies of AKEL and the government who seem to be preparing for the proletarian revolution.
“No to tough austerity that leads to the vicious circle of recession and no to the unequal shouldering of the burdens of the economic crisis,” said the AKEL/government mouthpiece Haravghi in Thursday’s editorial, also endorsing the party line that the Troika should target wealth.
The mouthpiece of the ultra-hard-line Akelites, the weekly Gnomi, set the general tone on Friday with a front-page, banner headline which urged, ‘Resistance to the Troikan terrorism’.
ONLY the bungling idiots of Tof government still seem to be under the illusion that they could persuade the Troikans to agree to mild austerity measures, a sort of bailout-lite that would preserve parasitic privileges (also known as social cohesion) and focus on development projects; the government, as a special concession, would undertake to pursue fiscal discipline at the same time.
This was what the comrade told the Troikans when he met them; the AKEL leadership said the same. The idea is that the ECB, IMF and Commission would give us about ten billion and what was not needed by the banks we would spend on development projects that would stimulate growth and generate state revenue that would allow us to repay the loan.
Charmless AKEL spokesman, Giorgos Loucaides yesterday declared that “the Troika has failed”. The tough austerity model used in other countries pushed them deeper into recession, he explained adding, “wherever the Troika intervenes there is a social cost and social unrest.”
“Cyprus can be the exception, as long as the logic of growth and social cohesion is followed,” Loucaides said, unable to conceal his genuine desire to help the Troikans improve their image as baddies that cause misery wherever they go.
If they improved their image, by being nice to Kyproulla, it would boost the Troikans’ business as many more countries would ask for bailouts.
YOU HAVE to admire the arrogance of ignorant Akelites who have decided to give lessons on how an economy should be run to the highly-qualified and experienced economists of the troika. These people were chosen by the IMF and ECB, from hundreds of applicants, because of their abilities and excellent qualifications.
The ministers that make up our negotiating team, with the exception of Vasos Shiarly, were chosen because they have Akelite DNA and have taken an oath of eternal allegiance to comrade Tof. Those are not the best qualifications for discussing bailout terms.
Sotiroulla the bourekka, a member of our team, did however stand up to the nasty IMF representative, Delia Velculescu when the latter said that in Romania, wages had been cut by 25 per cent. This was why so many Romanians had come to Cyprus looking for work, replied our bourekka.
SENSING that the Troikans are not giving much ground in the consultations, the government is now trying to buy time. This was the main reason the comrade, a recognised expert in delaying tactics, asked for a meeting with them.
He argued that we should not rush things and that we should lengthen the period for putting public finances in order, as this would mean milder measures. The negotiating team, meanwhile unsuccessfully tried to persuade the troika to push back the deadline for a zero deficit budget. It is the familiar Cyprob tactic against asphyxiating time-frames.
Even his spokesman, Stef Stef resorted to the Cyprob discourse on Friday, saying that negotiations with the troika would continue so that it would be possible to reach convergences. And the bailout terms must respect the right of all refugees to return to their homes and ensure the withdrawal of Turkish occupying troops.
SPEAKING of the Cyprob, Big Bad Al must have been very disappointed after this week’s brief visit to his workplace. First there was the life-sapping humidity that must have prevented him from playing a couple of rounds of golf but even worse was that his meetings with the leaders and the technical committees did not provoke a single negative comment in the local media.
Has he lost his touch? He better find it soon, because without negative comments in the media the big-wigs at UN headquarters might begin to suspect that he is a bit underworked as guardian of the Cyprob convergences.
STAYING on the issue of Cyprob convergences, why is the taxpayer still paying Yiorkos Iacovou a salary? He has been doing nothing for the last five months, but we are still paying him.
And everybody knows that if Cyprob talks ever resume it would be after February, under a new president, who will not be using the services of the superannuated Iacovou. Can our bankrupt state really afford to pay Iacovou 100 grand a year to do nothing? It is time he was left to draw the generous state pensions he is entitled to.
IF THE delaying tactics fail, and the comrade is faced with signing a bailout agreement, cutting wages, pensions and social benefits, abolishing CoLA and collective agreements and raising taxes what would he do? Would he sign and be debited with the most savage austerity measures ever imposed on Cypriot workers?
Some very weird information has reached our establishment this week. A skettos-drinking customer said he had heard that if the austerity package was too tough the comrade would reject it and tell the Troikans he did not want a bailout. It would be the Cyprob logic at work, but without the security of the status quo to fall back on.
A second customer, a metrios drinker, claimed that top Akelites were seriously discussing the possibility of the comrade stepping down rather than signing a bailout. He would leave office as a hero, a president who sacrificed his post rather than sign a package that was against the workers’ interests.
This is just gossip for now, but the possibility cannot be ruled out given AKEL’s time-honoured opportunism and the comrade’s cowardice. AKEL mouthpieces, stepping up the rhetoric against the “Troika terrorism” and urging “resistance,” may be preparing the ground for a heroic resignation.
MEANWHILE banks are sinking deeper into the merde by the day. The Popular Bank is constantly drawing large amounts of emergency liquidity from the Central Bank – our banks can longer use the ECB for this purpose – but its CEO and former Vgenopoulos lieutenant, Christos Stylianides does not seem too bothered.
He is more concerned about bad-mouthing fellow executives and accusing them of signing unsecured loans on the instructions of Vgenopoulos. The funny thing is that Stylianides also signed dodgy loans on Vgen’s instructions, but has always claimed that he was simply following orders.
Stylianides, despite being a leading member of the disgraced Vegn regime, was made CEO because his knowledge of international banking would enable him to secure capital for the ailing bank. He secured a little over a million, but when you consider the bank’s capital needs this does not even constitute a drop in the ocean.
WHILE Stylianides is bad-mouthing fellow executives, more and more people have been asking whether the Popular Bank will go bust. “No bank in an EU country was allowed to go under,” said a senior diplomat when the matter came up in conversation. “Yes, but no other EU country has Christofias as its president,” replied another diplomat.
THE CENTRAL Bank has advertised a vacancy for a press spokesman whose pay and benefits would be close to 100 grand.
The Bank had an excellent spokeswoman, who was paid significantly less than 100 grand but her contract was vindictively terminated a month after the arrival of Professor Panicos because AKEL’s spies in the bank considered her too close to the former governor.
But why is the Central Bank offering such a whopping big salary at time of recession and austerity? And since when does a press spokesman command a salary as high as Yiorkos Iacovou’s?
APOLOGIES if I bored you with the troika and the economy. Next week’s Coffeeshop will focus on sex.
THE SAME script we witnessed during the first visit of the troika unfolded during its second coming in the past week. Once again the troika’s representatives met the government negotiating team, central bank officials, party leaders, employers’ representatives and union bosses. And once again we heard the union bosses talking about their red lines, only this time they also issued threats of strike action and dynamic resistance to austerity measures, targeting the workers.
After last week’s meetings everyone had a better idea of the measures the troika was considering, which is why the public reaction has been much more vociferous and included the bizarre threat of ‘dynamic measures’. Who would measures punish? Our union bosses must have taken leave of their senses if they think IMF, ECB or the European Commission could be blackmailed by the threat of strike action in Cyprus. The EU presidency may suffer and the Cyprus economy would come to a standstill if our civil servants go on strike, but we doubt the troika would be too bothered.
The government is indirectly endorsing the irrational reaction of the union bosses, as its negotiating team opposes austerity measures. The AKEL leadership told the troika, during their Wednesday meeting it rejected the suggestions for suspension of payment of 13th salaries, the extension of the retirement age and the abolition of CoLA because social cohesion must be maintained; ‘social cohesion’ is code for obeying union diktats. President Christofias, reportedly said the same in Thursday’s meeting with the troika, arguing that measures should combine fiscal discipline with development spending and social cohesion, because austerity was proven not to work.
It truly defies belief that the government camp is under the illusion that the lenders are here to finance the economy’s development. Perhaps it is not and is merely engaging in its customary propaganda techniques, to fool people into thinking that there was an alternative to the proposed austerity package, but that the evil troika flatly refused to consider our caring government’s no-pain remedies. This obsession with misinformation rhetoric when the country is sinking deeper into chaos every day is truly alarming and indicative of the government’s irresponsibility.
The latest diversion tactics are the calls for wealth to contribute to the tackling of the crisis. This point, reportedly made by the government’s negotiating team at its meetings with the troika, was being repeated by the union bosses while government mouthpiece Haravghi trumpeted that measures should target wealth. The devious implication was that the troika was opposed to targeting wealth and was intent on making the poor government workers pay for the crisis. Yet anyone capable of rational thinking knows that targeting wealth would raise nowhere near the annual loan repayment amount.
And if the government proposed it, we are sure the troika would have no objection to wealth making a contribution through an increase of the corporate tax, but is this what we want? How much better off would the economy be with a corporate tax of 50 per cent that might raise an extra few tens of millions from Cypriot companies and drive away all foreign businesses? State revenue would fall rather than rise as a result of such a measure. And we could not impose a tax rate of 60 per cent on incomes above €60,000 per year, as the unions of the wealthy public employees would be up in arms, because social cohesion would be at risk.
These silly publicity games must stop and the government should for once act professionally and take responsibility for the situation instead of offering scapegoats to the public. It should accept that the troika is here because we asked for its help, because the banking sector is in a deep crisis and our state cannot meet its financial obligations. In order to lend us the billions of euros the lenders want measures to be taken to ensure that they would be repaid over a pre-specified period. The troika does not care whether the money comes from targeting wealth, higher taxes or the nationalisation of private businesses, but the measures we propose to take must be backed by real data and proper documentation instead of by hollow rhetoric.
We cannot reject everything the troika proposes because we are in desperate need of a bailout. We are a small and inconsequential state which could be left to sink if we refuse to impose austerity measures, because there would be no danger of contagion or threat to the eurozone from our bankruptcy. And what would happen to social cohesion if we are left to go bust, because of our government’s refusal to cut wages and pensions of public employees?
CHINESE buyers are helping to rejuvenate the stagnant property market in Paphos where sales have risen by 25 per cent in recent months, industry professionals say.
The once booming Paphos property market, once dominated by British buyers, collapsed in 2009 as a result of both the worldwide recession and the title deeds scandal in which buyers who had paid in full for their properties were left years later without possession of ownership documents.
The collapse has had a serious knock on effect on the local economy which had long relied on tourism and property sales as an economic mainstay.
“There has been a 25 per cent increase in Paphos sales according to recent official statistics and part of this increase is due to the Chinese purchasers,” said George Leptos of the Paphos-based developers the Leptos Group and head of the Paphos Chamber of Commerce (EVE).
Billboards along the main roads of Paphos are now advertising properties for sale in Chinese while developers have been actively targeting the Chinese market for some time.
Their perseverance appears to have paid off.
“We have various offices in China and we regularly attend various property exhibitions. All of our sales in recent months have been to Chinese clients,” said Sophia Charalambous of Korantina Homes.
She said Chinese clients are keeping the company busy, and are choosing to purchase top end luxury properties.
“We have many Chinese clients, mostly business people and families. Most of our clients have a budget of around €1,000,000,” she said.
“The British market has almost dried up for us. We have the occasional Russian client but we are mainly working with the Chinese. Next week 12 prospective buyers are arriving and we will see how many make purchases.”
The property professional added that even though China was a ‘new’ market, it wasn’t a ‘phenomenon’ as such, as investors from China should be expected in Cyprus.
“China has a large population and has a rich economy. It’s doing better than a lot of other countries,” she said.
House sales in Paphos are just one example of the stronger economic links between Cyprus and China. The Chinese company, Far Eastern Phoenix, is eager to lease the old Larnaca airport from the government to turn it into an exhibition space. On Friday Communication and Works Minister Efthymios Flourentzou said an oral agreement had been reached over terms, but a written agreement was still needed. China was also one of the countries approached to provide a loan to the government before it was forced to go the EU for a bailout in June.
Charalambous said that most of the developers in Paphos are dealing with the Chinese market and that the definite upward trend in Paphos property sales was due to the Chinese.
George Leptos was equally optimistic.
“Generally there are good prospects regarding this market and it should be explored further,” he said.
The Leptos Group has participated in exhibitions, generated Chinese business contacts and undertaken product promotion in China.
Leptos said that the company’s Chinese clients are interested in ready or almost ready properties, of a value ranging from €300,000 to €800,000.
As non-European nationals, prospective Chinese buyers need to make a minimum property purchase of €300,000, and prove they are of an adequate financial status to stay in Cyprus.
“The Chinese as well all other non-European property buyers are entitled to apply for and receive a permanent residency permit for themselves and their family, providing that they fulfill certain pre-specified standard conditions,” said Leptos.
“Once the permit is obtained, they can reside in Cyprus for as long as they own the property. They become what I would call ‘permanent tourists’.”
While Chinese buyers are apparently boosting sales in a depressed market, Pavlos Loizou, board member of RICS Cyprus (the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) said that the latest figures were far less impressive when put into context.
“Whilst it is correct to say that there has been an increase in property sales in Paphos since 2010, very few transactions actually occur every month and so when these figures are turned into percentages terms the increase appears greater than it actually is.”
While Loizou said he couldn’t specify if Chinese buyers were purchasing properties in Paphos, he noted that in March only 90 properties were sold in Paphos, 36 of them to foreign buyers. In April the figure dropped to 84, 36 of them to foreign purchasers. In May, sales reached 165, 82 of them to non Cypriots.
“Paphos was the first town to experience a fall in sales as well as the largest decrease in sales, but it is beginning to stabilise, whilst other towns are still falling. You could say that Paphos hit the bottom first.”
Paphos has been most affected by the property slump in Cyprus because it had a far greater reliance on foreign purchasers and now has the highest number of completed units which remain unsold.
But the decline in sales was also due to the title deeds fiasco. Commonly in Cyprus, developers take out mortgages on land or property, the liability for which may then be placed on the purchaser of a property on that development, if the developer or landowner becomes bankrupt. It also meant title deeds were held by the bank who granted the mortgage. After years of outcry by misled owners, in 2011 the government introduced a ‘specific performance law’ which grants a contract of sale precedence over any pre-existing mortgage.
Even so, buyers should still purchase a property with a title deed to ensure a buyer is protected from the numerous pitfalls; this will also enable the resale of the property without encountering any problems over ownership.
However, according to Korantina Homes, their Chinese clients are purchasing a mixture of properties, some off plan, some with title deeds and some where the deeds are “almost ready”.
