THREE 17-YEAR-OLD students were remanded for three days on Friday in connection with a case of assault and battery of a 15-year-old fellow student in Paphos.

After the incident, the victim, a student from Emba Lyceum, was hospitalised with head injuries on Friday.

Police said that doctors confirmed the boy had been hit and punched on various parts of his body, as well as his head.

The incident reportedly began when the 15-year-old objected when the three older students told him to get up from the bench he was sitting on in the school yard so that they could sit down. When he stood up he was hit in the face and body.

Teachers stepped in to end the fight, but the students continued the quarrel in the toilets.

According to the police the fight initially began between the victim and one of the older boys but later the other two joined in.

The three remanded expressed their regret and said that they had not meant to cause the 15-year-old any harm and that they wish to reconcile, police said.

Members of the education ministry visited the student in hospital and went to the school to investigate the case.

The chairman of the Paphos secondary and technical education parents’ association Vasos Vasileiou condemned the incident.
Vasileiou told the Cyprus News Agency that violent incidents in schools are common but that in cooperation with the education ministry various seminars are being organised to raise awareness against practices of bullying and acts of violence in schools, which parents, students and teachers attend.

Last year, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou had said the number of reported cases of bullying, cyberbullying or violence across the education system – primary, secondary and technical schools – had reached “alarming proportions”.

From the 913 reported incidents in 2012, the figure had reached 1,846 in 2013.

By Evie Andreou

THREE CASES concerning football match fixing and other claims made by whistleblower referee Marios Panayi are to be filed in the courts soon, Deputy Attorney-general Rikkos Erotokritou said on Saturday.

Erotokritou, speaking on Radio Proto, said allegations that the case would be swept under the rug were completely untrue.

Instead, three cases might be brought before court as early as next week, Erotokritou said.

Two of the cases deal specifically with match fixing while the third focuses on threats against a football official. One case will be filed in the Nicosia district court and the other two in Limassol.

Erotokritou said that testimonies are needed in order for the allegations to be proven and urged anyone that possesses information to step forward.

He added that the attorney-general’s office cannot force anyone who is not a suspect to step forth and testify.

He expressed his reservations however on the final outcome of the whole case.

“The aim is to untangle the skein, but I am not sure it will happen,” he said.

Commenting on the ‘yellow’ and ‘red’ files sent in by UEFA, containing warnings to the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) on a match that was suspected of being fixed, he said that the files are still open but that no evidence or testimonies to support them yet.

Referee Panayi shocked the football world in December when he called a press conference to report widespread match-fixing orchestrated by the CFA and the Cyprus Referees Association (CRA).

He repeatedly pledged to leak a “huge amount of evidence” in his possession if the legal services decided not to pursue the case. The evidence, mostly phone conversations and email exchanges prove, according to Panayi, that CRA members pressured referees to fix matches in exchange for promotion.

As a result of his lengthy statements to the police, the head and a former member of the CRA – Marios Argyrou and Michalis Spyrou – were arrested and questioned regarding the case. Phone conversations of CRA members ordering referees to fix matches in exchange for promotion were leaked to the media.

Some two weeks ago, the CFA had decided to refer Panayi to the association’s disciplinary committee, accusing him of making offensive comments online against members of the CRA, but he responded that he would speak when the time is right and implied that he would call a second press conference.

Match-fixing had also been discussed at the House Legal Affairs committee last June, after the island topped the list of match-fixers in Europe, according to the international watchdog Federbet.

By Mark Gleeson

Ghana and Ivory Coast can shift the focus of attention from crowd disorder to footballing skills when the two neighbours meet in the final of the African Nations Cup on Sunday.

Ghana’s 3-0 semi-final victory over hosts Equatorial Guinea in Malabo on Thursday was overshadowed by violence, 36 people being injured, one seriously.

The game was halted for more than 30 minutes near the end as objects were thrown from the stands at the opposing team, officials and fans by locals angry at the demise of their team.

Ghana and Ivory Coast have followed remarkably similar paths to the final, starting the tournament slowly with new-look teams as they tried to forget disappointing 2014 World Cup campaigns.

The Ivorians spluttered through the Nations Cup qualifiers without retired talisman Didier Drogba.

New coach Herve Renard said he risked alienating members of the squad by accusing some of his better players of pulling in different directions.

He has also still to rid himself of the scowl that has been permanently etched on his face from the start of the three-week tournament.

Renard did, though, drop his guard briefly after Wednesday’s 3-1 semi-final win over Democratic Republic of Congo to purr about strike pair Wilfried Bony and Gervinho and midfielder Yaya Toure.

The Frenchman is hoping to become the first man to win the Nations Cup with two different countries, having led Zambia to the title three years ago.

Ghana’s squad were pilloried for a World Cup strike over money and their problems in Brazil were exacerbated by the expulsion from the camp of senior players Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng because of indiscipline.

“We realise we owe the fans and we have worked hard to win back their trust and affection,” said captain Asamoah Gyan.

Both teams are expected to take an attacking approach to the game and have match-winning quality in abundance. Defensive frailties at either end also add to an intriguing contest.

By Evie Andreou

AN investigation into alleged irregularities over operations carried out by a private sector paediatric surgeon for the state-run Makarios III Hospital in Nicosia has been submitted to the attorney-general, Health Minister Philippos Patsalis confirmed on Saturday.

According to the report, the executive director of the Makarios hospital, Dr Petros Matsas, and four other staff members are under investigation for allegedly misusing the services of the private doctor, Dr Zacharias Zachariou. Between 2012 and last September he reportedly performed 156 operations and 60 examinations for which he charged more than €420,000.

The case is one of three very important probes the health ministry had launched to investigate possible irregularities, Patsalis told the Sunday Mail.

The other two concern overtime pay of a doctor at the Limassol state hospital, and alleged misconduct over the purchase of a magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) scanner at the Nicosia General Hospital.

Patsalis said that the one concerning the Limassol doctor was dismissed but the other two warranted further investigation for possible disciplinary and criminal offences and had been delivered to the attorney-general’s office.

“The government must clamp down on corruption, and where there is suspicion of administrative and criminal offences, investigations must take place so that responsibilities are attributed to those at fault and justice is restored to those discredited,” Patsalis said.

The investigation into the services of Zachariou follow an agreement between the ministry of health and the doctor in 2012 for him to treat patients at the hospital to reduce the number of children being sent abroad for operations. The investigation is looking into whether some of the calls for his services were unnecessary and irregular.

The report suggests that Matsas’ initiative to form a committee to approve calls for specialists for special operations was  irregular and a possible criminal offence since it bypassed the committee responsible for making such decisions.

It is alleged the doctor was also called to perform routine surgeries which could have been carried out by other doctors at the hospital and which were much cheaper in the private sector. The doctor was reportedly being paid between €2,500 and €8,000 per operation.

According to the report, the agreement signed between the doctor and the health ministry did not follow the provisions of the law on public procurements, and that all calls made to Zachariou were made orally, bypassing standard procedures.

Reportedly the ministry did not pre-approve the calls made to the doctor.

In the period between March and September 2013 when the first agreement had expired and the second had not yet been ratified, he was allegedly called five times and performed operations and examinations worth €88,000.

The head of the paediatric surgery clinic Dr Costas Hadjicostis, hospital resident doctor Andreas Neophytou, former general manager of the health ministry Dionysis Mavronicolas, and former head of the subsidised patients’ department Sofia Costa are also under investigation.

The second probe, concerning the irregular purchase of a MRI scanner at the Nicosia General Hospital, had been closed by former Health Minister Petros Petrides but re-launched in June 2014 by his successor, Patsalis, concluded that several high-ranking public officials may have been involved in efforts to cover up the issue.

The issue that arose in 2009, concerns breach of contract signed between the hospital and a private company that supplied the MRI scanner. According to the contract, the company was obliged to supply training for hospital staff by an accredited university on the use of MRI machine. Failure to do so would result in the government calling in a £181,125 (approximately €280,000) bank guarantee, which expired on October 4, 2009.

But, although no proof of university-level training was ever produced by the company, the guarantee was left to expire with no action taken by the contract coordinator.

By Stephen Brown and Noah Barkin

Germany’s Angela Merkel warned on Saturday that sending arms to help Ukraine fight pro-Russian separatists would not solve the crisis there, drawing a sharp rebuke from a leading US senator who accused Berlin of turning its back on an ally in distress.

The heated exchange at a security conference in Munich pointed to the fragility of the transatlantic consensus on how to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over a deepening conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 5,000.

Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March last year and evidence that it is supporting separatist forces in the east of the country, which the Kremlin denies, have driven Moscow’s relations with the West to a post-Cold War low.

A recent rebel offensive has triggered a flurry of shuttle diplomacy, with Merkel and French President Francois Hollande jetting to Moscow on Friday to try to convince Putin to do a peace deal.

But European officials say the Russian leader may have little incentive to negotiate now, preferring to sit back and watch the separatists make territorial gains in Ukraine that have made a mockery of a prior ceasefire agreement clinched last September in Minsk, Belarus.

Ukraine’s military said on Saturday that pro-Russian separatists had stepped up shelling of government forces and appeared to be amassing forces for new offensives on the key railway town of Debaltseve and the coastal city of Mariupol.

The German leader conceded in Munich, after returning home from Moscow in the dead of night, that it was uncertain whether a Franco-German peace plan presented to Kiev and Moscow this week would succeed.

But she flatly rejected the idea that sending weapons to Kiev, an idea being considered by US President Barack Obama, would help resolve the conflict.

“I understand the debate but I believe that more weapons will not lead to the progress Ukraine needs. I really doubt that,” said the conservative German leader, who has led a W Western initiative to resolve the crisis through negotiations.

“The problem is that I can’t envision any situation in which a better-equipped Ukraine military would convince President Putin that he could lose militarily,” Merkel added.

“BLUE IN THE FACE”

Speaking after Merkel, US Senator Lyndsey Graham, a Republican hawk, praised the chancellor for her engagement in the crisis but said it was time for her to wake up to the reality of what he called Moscow’s aggressions.

“At the end of the day, to our European friends, this is not working. You can go to Moscow until you turn blue in the face. Stand up to what is clearly a lie and a danger,” Graham said.

He accused Merkel of turning her back on a struggling democracy by rejecting down Kiev’s request for arms. “That is exactly what you are doing,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also in Munich, said there were “good grounds for optimism” that the talks between Merkel, Putin and Hollande could yield a deal.

But Lavrov also delivered a diatribe against the West. He accused Europe and the United States of supporting a “coup d’etat” against deposed Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich, a Moscow ally, a year ago and turning a blind eye to nationalists he said were intent on ethnic cleansing in eastern Ukraine.

“There are growing appeals in the West to support the Kiev policy of militarisation, to pump Ukraine full with lethal weapons and to bring it into NATO,” Lavrov said. “This position will only exacerbate the tragedy of Ukraine.”

Hollande, speaking to reporters in the city of Tulle in central France, cast the talks with Putin as a last-ditch effort to avert full-blown war.

“If we don’t manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be. It has a name, it’s called war,” he said.

In a further sign of cracks in the Western approach towards Russia, NATO’s top military commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove signalled that he now wants the alliance to consider sending weapons to Ukraine.

“I don’t think we should preclude out of hand the possibility of the military option,” Breedlove told reporters, adding that he was referring to weapons or capabilities and that there was “no conversation about boots on the ground”.

After her speech, Merkel held three-way talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. She is due to fly to Washington on Sunday to meet Obama.

Harry Kane’s prolific form continued when he struck two second-half goals to inspire Tottenham Hotspur to a 2-1 win over fierce rivals Arsenal and lift them into the Premier League’s top four on Saturday.

The 21-year-old striker cancelled out Mesut Ozil’s early goal for Arsenal with a calm finish at the far post and his majestic header four minutes from time sent the White Hart Lane crowd into raptures.

Ozil had opened the scoring against the run of play when he volleyed in Oliver Giroud’s miscued shot from close range after 11 minutes.

The visitors then stood firm in the face of continuous Tottenham attacks but Kane broke their resistance with his 21st goal in all competitions this season 11 minutes into the second half after Arsenal had failed to clear a corner.

The dominant hosts poured forward in search of a winner and Kane duly obliged, the striker planting a brilliant header beyond the desperate dive of David Ospina to secure a famous victory for Spurs.

Tottenham climbed above Arsenal and Southampton into fourth place in the table, a Champions League qualification spot.

England manager Roy Hodgson was at White Hart Lane and will have been given plenty to ponder by the uncapped Kane whose second-half performance proved the difference.

Arsenal took the lead when Germany’s Ozil, who looked to be fractionally offside, neatly volleyed from close range to score his third goal in as many games.

The tension between the sides was palpable at the halftime whistle as a confrontation between Arsenal forward Danny Welbeck and Spurs fullback Danny Rose flared up.

Wales rugby union captain Sam Warburton, a Spurs fan, was presented with a number 50 shirt at the interval to mark his appearances landmark in his side’s 21-16 home defeat by England in the Six Nations opener on Friday.

His presence on the pitch was not out of place at a derby that often matched the intensity of the battle at the Millennium Stadium.

Kane levelled when Ospina failed to deal with a corner, tipping the ball into the path of the lively striker who gleefully slotted it low into the net.

The in-form forward was not finished yet, however, rising highest to head his 12th league goal of the campaign.

By Mohammed Ghobari

The Gulf Cooperation Council has accused Shi’ite Houthi rebels of staging a coup in Yemen after they announced they were dissolving parliament and forming a new government, Kuwait’s official news agency said on Saturday.

The opposition of the GCC, a six-nation bloc comprising energy-rich Gulf states, may signal growing isolation for the impoverished Yemen and reflects the hostility of its majority Sunni Muslim neighbours towards the Iranian-backed Houthis.

“This Houthi coup is a dangerous escalation which we reject and is unacceptable. It totally contradicts the spirit of pluralism and coexistence which Yemen has known,” the GCC was quoted as saying by KUNA news agency.

The GCC called the takeover a “threat…to the security and stability of the region and the interests of its people.”

Yemen has been in political limbo since the president and prime minister resigned last month after the Houthis seized the presidential palace. On Friday, the movement dissolved parliament and said it would set up a new interim government.

Abdel Malik al-Houthi, the group’s leader, said on Saturday he was open to all parties playing a role in Yemen’s future.

“Our hand is extended to every political force in this country … the space is open for partnership, cooperation and brotherhood and now everybody bears their responsibility for building, not destruction,” he said in a televised speech.

But he warned: “Any move which targets this people, its economy, security or stability is unacceptable, and the great Yemeni people will confront any such conspiracies.”

Yemen’s instability has drawn international concern as it shares a long border with top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia, and the country is also fighting one of the most formidable branches of al Qaeda with the help of US drone strikes.

BOMB, PROTESTS, CLASHES

Tensions ran high in the capital on Saturday, with armed Houthis manning checkpoints near main government buildings.

A rudimentary bomb exploded outside the central Sanaa residence of the former prime minister, now home to Mohammed al-Houthi, a top official in the Houthi military wing. Three Shi’ite Muslim militiamen were wounded, eyewitnesses said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sunni Muslim militants in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have repeatedly clashed with the increasingly powerful Houthis, raising fears of an all-out sectarian war.

Separately, thousands of demonstrators gathered in three cities in central Yemen to protest against the Houthis seizing power. Houthi gunmen dispersed dozens of activists near the capital’s main university by firing into the air.

The Houthis entered Sanaa in September and began to fan out into more cities in Yemen’s south and west. Their spread has destabilised the country’s fragile security forces and stoked anger among tribal fighters allied to AQAP.

Four Houthi fighters were killed in a suspected AQAP attack in the southern al-Bayda province on Friday, while army forces clashed with tribesmen and AQAP fighters in a neighbouring district on Saturday.

By Aleksandar Vasovic

Pro-Russian separatists have intensified shelling of government forces on all front lines and appear to be amassing forces for new offensives on the key railway town of Debaltseve and the coastal city of Mariupol, Ukraine’s military said on Saturday.

Five Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 26 wounded in fighting in the past 24 hours, spokesman Volodymyr Polyovy told a briefing in Kiev.

The centre of the main regional city of Donetsk echoed on Saturday with the sound of artillery blasts coming from the north and east. “The situation inside the city is tense and we can hear powerful artillery fire  but we have no immediate information about casualties and damages,” an official of the rebel-controlled city administration said by phone.

Separatist gains against Kiev government forces in eastern Ukraine, particularly a rebel advance on Debaltseve to the northeast of Donetsk, have given impetus to a Franco-German initiative to try to end the Ukrainian crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who with French President Francois Hollande met Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Friday, said in Munich on Saturday that there was no guarantee that the peace initiative would work.

But she voiced opposition to the West supplying arms to the Ukrainian government to help them to defend themselves against separatists who Kiev says are supported by Russian arms and Russian troops – an opinion which has set her at odds with a strong body of opinion in the United States.

Moscow says there is no proof of armed involvement by Russian forces.

More than 5,000 civilians, Ukrainian soldiers and pro-separatist fighters have been killed since a separatist rebellion erupted in Ukraine’s eastern territories in April.

A peace deal was struck last September in Minsk, Belarus, but the agreed ceasefire was almost immediately violated and attempts to revive it have failed.

Artillery and mortar fire on populated areas of the east including Donetsk itself have taken a toll on civilian lives, while more than 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed.

VITAL JUNCTION

The present focus on the battlefield is the town of Debaltseve, a vital rail and road junction which lies in a pocket between the two main separatist-controlled regions.

Ukrainian government forces express confidence they have enough firepower to hold the town even though the rebels have steadily encroached in surrounding towns and villages.

A Reuters correspondent who was in Debaltseve on Friday said Ukrainian forces kept up a steady barrage of mortar or howitzer fire from the town even as an operation to evacuate civilians was under way.

Another source of concern for the Ukrainians is Mariupol, a southeastern city on the coast of the Sea of Azov, which lies between rebel-controlled areas and the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia last March.

Mariupol’s vulnerability was exposed last month when 30 civilians were killed there in intense rocket attacks.

“The situation remains tense. The adversary is carrying out attacks across all the separation lines,” military spokesman Polyovy said on Saturday.

“The Russian terrorist forces are gathering strength for further offensives on Mariupol and Debaltseve. An increase in the number of tanks and armoured vehicles in Debaltseve … has been noticed,” he said.

In the village of Olenivka, about 15 km south from Donetsk, a rebel artillery unit was busy on Saturday digging trenches and doing weapons drill inside an abandoned farm.

Inside the compound, a sole self-propelled howitzer was aimed at Ukrainian positions about four km to the west, its barrel shut with a protective cover. An anti tank gun was positioned nearby.

The outer perimeter of the compound was blocked with anti-personnel mines masked with foliage.

“We know the way in and out and whoever else steps in here will go with a big blast,” said a rebel commander, who gave his nom de guerre, “the Priest”.

Reuters reporters saw at least seven houses that had been damaged by shells.

Valentyna Yefimova, 74, said a shell heavily damaged her home some days ago. “We were sitting inside when the shelling started  and then a shell landed on the corner of the house, but we were lucky as the blast threw the refrigerator onto us and it protected us from splinters,” she said.

By Maria Gregoriou

After more than 40 years in the music business, Cypriot musician and composer Faidros Kavallaris has collected his essays, interviews and letters and arranged them in a 256 page book.

The composer, whose work has widely contributed to music development on the island while keeping traditional Cypriot music within the modern world, will present his book on Wednesday at the Kastelliotissa Hall in Nicosia.

Echos and Ethos, Publications – Interviews – Letters covers 1975 until 2014 and is divided into three parts.

The first part, Publications, includes texts on the music of Greek French composer Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer Jani Christou, and on Japanese music. It also covers the musician’s personal journey through India, China and Japan.

The second part, Interviews, includes interviews which were published in newspapers published in Cyprus and abroad from 1975 until 2008. This part also deals with the creative process of composing, Kavallaris’ experience with music and Eastern cultures, and cultural life in Cyprus.

The third part, Letters, presents different letters which Kavallaris sent to various authorities, such as, the Ministry of Education and the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.

The book launch will be introduced by associate professor at the University of Cyprus, Stavros Tombazos, followed by the presentation of the book by musicologist Dr Francis-Nectarios Guy.

After the presentation all those present can also get a taste of the composer’s music with a piano recital of Kavallaris work by Annini Tsiouti. Dimis Michaelides will be singing songs and poetry very tightly bound to Cyprus and its history.

Kavallaris showed an interest in composing at an early age and also had a feel for painting, poetry and ancient Greek drama.

When studying music and architecture in London, he wrote music for a production of Aristofanis’ comedy The Birds in 1971. In 1973 he organised his first concert showcasing all the songs he had written up to that point. His work since then has grown to entail a lifetime of songs. Some of these can be found on his CD Kypriaka Erotika, comprising 15 traditional Cypriot songs.

His works have now been performed in Cyprus, China, Japan, England, Germany, Hungary, France, Greece, Mexico, the USA, the Philippines and Italy.

Echos and Ethos
Book presentation by Faidros Kavallaris. February 10. Kastelliotissa Hall, Nicosia. 7.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 22-809818

‘PROVOCATIVE’ and ‘unacceptable’ are two of the most frequently used adjectives by Cypriot politicians and journalists, who feel duty-bound to use them when commenting on statements or actions by Turkey, Britain, US or the UN regarding the Cyprus problem and the peace process. But these adjectives are almost never used to disparage local actions and statements, as if only foreigners are capable of actions that are provocative and unacceptable.

Yet listening to the deputy government spokesman proudly announcing that the government had decided to satisfy all the compensation demands of Cyprus Airways workers it would be no exaggeration to describe the decision as provocative and unacceptable. Not surprisingly, none of our politicians would dare use these adjectives in such a case because the demands of public sector workers are sacrosanct and deserve to be satisfied. It also helps that unions represent a significant number of votes.

Nobody thought there was anything wrong therefore when deputy spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos smugly declared, after a meeting between President Anastasiades and representatives of the airline’s unions, that “the union demands had more than been accepted.” The government had agreed to cover the sum of €9m plus missing from the company’s provident fund; it would supplement the compensation paid to those that left the company in 2013 and 2014, to the tune of €2.7m, to make it equal to what staff were paid when the company closed down; the two months’ salary compensation would be at pre-wage cut levels (17 per cent higher); contract staff, who were not entitled to compensation would also be given a pay-off.

Victoras’ bosses may be very pleased with themselves for appeasing a troublesome group of workers but its decision to waste the taxpayer’s money on this privileged group was both provocative and unacceptable to everyone outside the parasitic, political/public state sector establishment. On what moral or legal grounds was the government squandering the taxpayer’s money on extra compensation for this group as well as covering the holes in the provident fund? Was it to show that it is a caring employer in contrast to the nasty private sector, which nevertheless picks up the bill for the unjustified state largesse?

How many workers in the private sector that lost big chunks of their provident fund in the collapse of Laiki and the haircut the Bank of Cyprus deposits, did the government compensate? None, but it arranged for the bank employees’ provident fund deposits to be exempted from the haircut because their union was too powerful. So it protected those who would collect €600,000 or €800,000 as a retirement pay-off but ignored those much less well-paid people who were entitled to €100,000 but received half because of the haircut.

In Cyprus only the best-paid workers (banks, SGO and public sector) who contribute nothing towards their provident funds are protected. A few weeks ago, a CyTA union official, talking on the radio, said he was not bothered about the workers’ provident fund money being squandered in the Dromolaxia scandal, because it would be replaced by the state! In our country there is a law which obliges the state to cover any losses incurred from investments by the SGO provident funds. In short, the taxpayers will be paying for the thefts and bribes at CyTA, just as they paid for the scam with the EAC provident fund some 10 years earlier.

But for private sector workers, there is no such protection from our caring state, because as second-class citizens they cannot have the same rights as the aristocrats of the state sector, the banks and the SGOs. There may be 70,000 unemployed in Cyprus, but Anastasiades’ main concern was to find work for the 500 Cyprus Airways workers who lost their jobs. He went as far as to promise that the government would help them get employment in the new airline that would be set up. A sensitive party leader proposed that they were hired at government departments, as if to underline the politicians’ disdain for the rest of the 70,000 jobless.

‘Provocative and unacceptable’ are too mild to describe the flagrant injustice and inequality that have become so deeply-rooted in our society they are considered as a normal state of affairs. And this, regrettably, will continue to be the case for as long as the people who fund this state-sanctioned inequality – the treatment of citizens as first- and second-class citizen – say or do nothing.

By Elias Hazou

THE CYPRUS Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) decision to shutter its Vienna office in December 2013 – despite strong admonitions not to by the tourism industry – may have been a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater due to internal politics within the SGO, sources tell the Sunday Mail.

The contentious move is said to have been prompted by certain CTO officials’ desire in Nicosia to get rid of the head of the Vienna bureau, who as far back as 2008 was reporting back to headquarters dodgy goings-on in the CTO’s offices in central and eastern Europe.

They were reported both to the then CTO director as well as subsequently to the organisation’s in-house financial auditor.

These included suspected mismanagement, throwing good money after bad and even potential fraud, observed by Zak Papadopoulos, at the time director of the CTO Vienna office.

He reported shifty invoicing for services rendered to the CTO by third-party operators in Hungary, for organising unnecessary and inconsequential promotional events in that country. In one instance, Nicosia-based CTO officials flew to events in Bratislava, all expenses paid, whereas someone could instead have been sent from the Vienna office for free. In another, someone from Cyprus was sent to attend what is described as a third-rate tourism convention in Vienna, when staff based in Vienna itself could have attended.

At the same time, Papadopoulos was recommending reforms, criticising the millions of euros being thrown at generic advertising, particularly in the UK and Germany. Money wasted, the sources said, as this type of promotion is totally unnecessary in countries familiar with Cyprus as a sun-and-sea destination.

On the other hand, targeted advertising, coupled personal sales calls, and hands-on collaboration between local CTO staff with travel agents, operators and the media, is seen as far more effective in generating interest in the island.

But it appears that Papadopoulos’ whistleblowing backfired. Relations between him and the CTO “centre” in Nicosia deteriorated.

In one terse letter to the organisation, obtained by the Sunday Mail, Papadopoulos complains of having been denied a request for a four-day rest leave, pointing out that, to date, he had only used up a third of the leave he was entitled to.

Becoming even more explicit, Papadopoulos writes that he considers the CTO’s behaviour toward him to be “hostile”.

To industry people, the decision to nix Vienna was unfathomable and came like a bolt out of the blue. The CTO itself had commissioned a study back in 2012 for a cost-benefit analysis of its overseas offices, as well as which offices should be shut down and which kept.

The study recommended that, because Vienna is a hub for air links between Austria and Cyprus, the office there should be upgraded to a regional centre, overseeing the activities of the CTO offices in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw. The reason was mainly geography: Vienna airport is a favourite departure point for people in neighbouring countries.

The study was shelved for about a year. Then, in late February 2013 the CTO’s marketing department made recommendations to the board starkly contradicting the study’s findings. Vienna was to be folded, the only non-satellite office in Europe to suffer this fate.

Also earmarked for closure were the CTO offices in New York, Helsinki,  Budapest, Prague and Dublin. Command and control over the eastern European countries as well as Austria would be handed over to the office in Germany. Warsaw, meanwhile, was to be bumped up to regional status, again contrary to the study’s recommendations.

Virtually no country has assigned either Warsaw or Frankfurt as their regional tourism office. Vienna is the only European airport outside of Great Britain and Greece with daily flights to Cyprus.

News of the CTO’s intentions toward its Vienna office drew a storm of protests from the industry: the Association of Cyprus Travel Agents (ACTA), the Cyprus Hotels Association (PASYXE) and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE). Even ambassadors serving in countries neighbouring Austria expressed concern.

Asked to comment, Zacharias Ioannides, director-general of PASYXE, confirmed that they were against Vienna’s closure and made their thoughts known to the CTO, even asking and getting a meeting with the latter’s leadership. But the CTO wouldn’t budge.

“We believed, and still do, that Vienna is an important hub. It’s our contention that tourist traffic from and via Austria might be multiple times what it currently is, were a dynamic office present in Vienna,” he said.

The CTO said it wanted to trim costs. By closing Vienna, as well as other offices elsewhere, the savings would best be diverted to promoting the island in under-represented countries.

But it’s understood that both PASYXE as well as KEVE were not sold on the CTO’s arguments.

Austrian airline Fly Niki was likewise alarmed. The Sunday Mail has seen a letter by Andreas Gruber, Fly Niki’s senior manager of network planning, addressed to CTO director Marios Hannides.

In the missive, dated September 16, 2013, Gruber says the airline “deeply” regrets the CTO’s decision, adding he hopes it will be revised.

“We (sic) wish to emphasise our protest for taking such a downgrading in terms of the presence of Cyprus tourism in Austria,” Gruber writes.

Sources familiar with the subject say that Gruber never even got a response.

Papadopoulos, in charge of the Vienna bureau for several years, is credited for clinching deals with important air carriers such as Fly Niki and Wizzair, resulting in a significant uptake in seats.

The Mail has also seen correspondence by Cypriot ambassadors praising the work of the Vienna office under Papadopoulos’ watch.

In one instance, in December 2012 the then Cypriot ambassador in Bratislava saw fit to write to the foreign ministry in Nicosia, informing that five foreign travel agents were including in their packages flights to the occupied north.

This development, the ambassador noted, was apparently missed because of lack of coordination/communication due to the fact the Vienna office no longer had supervision over the Slovak market.

The diplomat said also that since the CTO Vienna office was stripped of its jurisdiction over Slovakia, there had been a drop of around 30 per cent in Slovak tourists travelling to Cyprus.

By Tarek Amara

Tunisia arrested 32 militant Islamists, some of them returning from fighting in Syria, who planned “spectacular” attacks, officials said on Saturday.

News of the arrests came one day after a secular-Islamist coalition cabinet headed by Prime Minister Habib Essid took office. The new cabinet faces many challenges, including Islamist groups that emerged after a 2011 uprising.

“Counter-terrorism forces foiled plots to carry out spectacular attacks against vital installations, including the Interior Ministry, security stations and civilian buildings in the capital Tunis,” said Mohammed Ali Aroui, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

“During the past three days, we arrested 32 terrorists from this group planning to attack targets in Tunis and other cities,” he said, adding that the group included “several terrorists returned from fighting in Syria.”

Aroui said troops killed Tunisian and Algerian militants in Mount Chaambi near the Algerian border.

Since a 2011 uprising in Tunisia toppled the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the country has become a major source of jihadi fighters traveling to Syria.

With an economy heavily reliant on foreign tourism, Tunisia has been cracking down on Islamist militants.  ”Our priority will be to strengthen measures to combat extremism and strengthen security capabilities to confront terrorism and the protection of the democratic transition,” Essid said this week.

The number of Tunisians fighting in Syria has been estimated at about 3,000. A few hundred have returned to Tunisia and many have been tracked down and arrested.

Aroui said special forces are pursuing other militants in the southern city of Gafsa led by an Islamist named Mourad Gaesseli.

He did not give details about the identity of this group.

Ansar al Sharia, which the United States lists as a foreign terrorist organization, was among the most hardline movements calling for an Islamic state to emerge since Tunisia’s 2011 uprising. The Libyan branch of the group has claimed responsibility for attacks in Libya in recent months.

Hellenic Bank, resting on its high liquidity, aims to grow its loan portfolio in the medium term and explore ways to invest its liquid assets, the bank`s Chief Executive Officer Bert Pijls has said, noting that the bank aspires to more than double its new lending in 2015 compared with the previous year.

In an interview with CNA, Pijls, who officially assumed his duties as the group`s executive chief in mid-January, says the bank “in theory” could also engage into buying loan portfolios but makes clear that he is not involved in such type of conversations, as there is no legal framework in place that could facilitate such transactions.

He believes that lending rates in Cyprus will start to come down as deposit rates decline.

Owing to prudent banking policies, Hellenic Bank, the island`s third largest lender, emerged unscathed from Cyprus’ financial meltdown of 2012 which prompted the government to apply for financial assistance from the EU and the IMF. The bank covered its potential capital shortfall from the private sector and did not request government aid.

“We have been a relatively conservative bank and as a result we were neither bailed in nor bailed out. We want to maintain that level of conservatism when it comes to our liquid assets and we are looking at opportunities to maybe invest our liquid assets slightly differently but within the prudent management the bank has always had in the past,” Pijls said.

As a result, Pijs added, the bank has seen its deposit base rising steadily in 2014 and in 2015.

Describing the bank’s high liquidity as “a challenge”, given the low demand on credit at the backdrop of a three and a half-year economic decline in Cyprus, as well as the ECB`s decision to implement negative rate to excessive capital, Pijls said he is feeling “pretty good about it.”

“When there is uncertainty, it is better to be liquid. Being liquid means we are strong, liquidity means we have an opportunity to grow,” he said.

The Dutch banker said the most important medium-term target is to grow the bank`s loan book and explore ways to invest their liquid assets.

“Step one is loans and step two is to invest our liquid assets a bit more advantageously without taking on levels or risk that are not prudent,” he noted.

Recalling that the Bank in collaboration with the European Investment Bank launched a €70 million cheap corporate loans scheme with an interest starting from 3%, Pijls said the scheme attracted loan applications of €45 million in just two weeks.

Asked if the bank is considering acquiring loans from other banks, Pijls made clear that he is not currently involved in any such type of conversations, adding that there is no legal framework in place that would clarify issues such as the consent of the borrower, the hierarchy of security and personal data protection.

“However if you were an analyst and look at our bank and look at our liquidity, in theory if a portfolio were up for sale, yes we would be probably one if not the only local institution that has the balance sheet to actually look at these types of transactions,” he went on to say.

The CEO said he is very confident that the bank will double its lending in 2015 over 2014 but cautioned that the absence of a proper legal framework on foreclosures, which is currently the thorny issue of Cyprus` economic adjustment programme, could hinder new lending as well obstruct the recovery of the real estate sector.

“If you don`t have a proper legal framework in place, it just makes new lending more difficult. It also means it is more difficult to attract foreign investment to come in to the market, that could be directly to the market or foreign investment funds wanting to invest in real estate in Cyprus.

Investors do not like uncertainty and a proper legal framework which will be here for the long-term will open up the market and make people come back. This is critically important,” he said.
Pijls dismissed fears that the banks will engage in large-scale repossessions once the foreclosure framework is in force.

“I have no intent to flood the market with properties and put families with children out on the street. I understand the part of our social responsibility,” he stressed, noting that the law would act as a tool to help convince borrowers to engage pro-actively with the bank to work out a restructuring deal and combat strategic defaults.

“If there is a blatant case of a strategic default, when we know a borrower has the ability to pay and he is not paying, yes we will use the foreclosure law and I think that is the socially correct thing to do. Strategic defaulters put deposits at risk,” he explained to CNA.

Pijls described fears voiced by politicians that banks would pursue massive foreclosures as an exaggeration, noting that if the bank were to act like this, lawmakers could simply change the law. “But at least we should be given that opportunity to show the market that we know how we use this tool,” he said.

For Pijls the legal framework on foreclosures is also a prerequisite for the recovery of the real estate sector, which in turn is crucial for the Cypriot economy`s recovery, as it could trigger transactions between banks and non banks on properties.

“There needs to be certainty. If you look at countries that have recovered from real estate crisis, such as Ireland it is because transactions are happening, interbank and potentially between banks and non-banks,” he said.

On loan restructuring, Pijls said that the majority of the bank`s loan book is at some stage of restructuring, but he noted that he is not in favour of what he called “cosmetic restructuring.”

Restructuring, he noted, should be implemented on a customer by customer basis in order to achieve a long-term restructuring and not grant simply a grace period.

The CEO pointed out that the restructuring process as set out by the CBC`s restructuring directive entails a lot of administrative work which slows down the process, while it allows the borrower to block the process by not providing the necessary data.

Furthermore, Pijls said he agrees with the CBC` loan origination directive, as the practises of the past cannot continue, but “a better concept of materiality” should be considered, in the sense that a retail borrower cannot be called on to fill the same amount of documents as a large corporation.

“We should not let every small loan to have the same number of documentation as a huge loan,” he added.

Pijls recalled the bank`s intention to be listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, adding that he expects the bank`s shares to start trading by the second quarter of the current year.

“It is important for us to create more liquidity in our shares, it is in the share holder`s interests. The two stock-exchanges are on the same platform. This is beneficial for our shareholders,” he said.

On the economy, Pijls described the prospects of the Cypriot economy as encouraging, noting however that prospects depend on external factors such as developments in Greece, Russia and the region.

Noting that more can be done to stimulate growth, he suggested that the authorities should consider abolishing the 8% transfer tax on real estate as well as the 20% capital gains tax that would encourage transactions.

“What we need, for the real estate market to bottom out is transactions,” he told CNA.

Moreover, he noted that Cyprus should follow the cases of Luxembourg and Malta to attract fund administration, given the island`s “excellent” legal, tax and audit firms.

He also pointed out that the tourist season should be extended through a combination of incentives to airlines and tour operators, as well as incentives to upgrade the tourist product offered to visitors.

CNA

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, fighting for his political life, said he would bring forward to Monday a meeting of his ruling party to consider a challenge to his leadership in an effort to halt a destabilising internal revolt.

A member of Abbott’s conservative Liberal Party called on Friday for a secret ballot to decide whether to declare the leadership and deputy leadership positions vacant, to be held at a scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

However, Abbott said the meeting would be brought forward by a day.

“It is important to end the uncertainty at the very beginning of the parliamentary sitting week,” Abbott said in a brief statement on Sunday.

Seeking to shore up support among lawmakers, Abbott reportedly promised to hold an open tender to replace the country’s ageing Collins-class submarines, reversing a decision that would likely have barred state-owned shipbuilder ASC Ltd from competing. Japan has been the frontrunner to win the contract, valued at up to A$40 billion ($31 billion).

“I’m very pleased with the decision of the Prime Minister and when he rang me today with this very good news,” said South Australian Senator Sean Edwards, who had made his support for Abbott contingent on an open tender.

No member of the government has so far indicated a direct challenge to Abbott, although most attention has focused on Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a former party leader toppled by Abbott.

Turnbull, a millionaire lawyer and former investment banker, has not yet said he will challenge Abbott directly but on Sunday he gave the strongest indication yet he would run.

“If for whatever reason, the leadership of a political party is vacant, then any member of the party can stand … without any disloyalty,” Turnbull told reporters outside a party fund-raising function in Sydney.

Abbott has faced a torrent of criticism in recent weeks over policy decisions ranging from his handling of the economy to awarding an Australian knighthood to Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip.

Abbott, describing the call for a leadership vote as a “very chastening experience” vowed to be more consultative in his approach after several of his so-called “captain’s calls” backfired on his administration.

Political analysts said Abbott’s move to bring forward the vote on his leadership would give any challenger less time to accumulate support from colleagues, who will return to the nation’s capital, Canberra, for parliament on Monday.

“My reading of this is that there is very strong support behind the prime minister (and) that it has strengthened,” said Nick Cater, a conservative columnist and commentator.

However, the move appeared to backfire with at least some of Abbott’s colleagues. Influential lawmaker Arthur Sinodinos – chief of staff for Abbott’s mentor, long-serving former prime minister John Howard – and former minister Teresa Gambaro were both scathing in their criticism of the decision.

If Abbott is ousted, Australia is faced with having its sixth prime minister in eight years.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, deputy leader of Abbott’s party, has also been touted as either a potential successor to Abbott or party deputy under Turnbull.

Bishop, seen as one of the best-performing ministers in Abbott’s Cabinet, has said she will vote against the motion but has not ruled out standing if the positions are declared vacant.

Opinion polls have consistently shown voters prefer Turnbull to lead the party but his views on a carbon trading scheme, marriage equality and support for an Australian republic have made him unpopular with the right wing of his party.

Removing Abbott would need support from more than 51 of the 102 members of the federal Liberal Party at the party-room vote.

The “project of the century”, as it has been described, appears to be more controversial than beneficial, with many interested parties questioning whether bringing water from Turkey to the areas of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish occupation for drinking and irrigation purposes will solve the water shortage problem and give the rural economy a boost, or whether the consequences and cost will overshadow the benefits.

Since January 26, water is being collected in Alaköprü Dam in southern Turkey. According to Turkish Minister for Forestry and Water Veysel Eroğlu, the water is expected to arrive in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus by July 20 this year. To facilitate the transport, a 23km-long pipe has been constructed in Turkey along with an equalisation tank with a capacity of 10,000 cubic metres in Anamur.

A receptor station has already been built in the Vavylas region in the island’s northern occupied areas, along with a 3.5km-long pipe to the dam in Panagra. A treatment plant is being constructed in Myrtou, from where a network of pipes with a total length of 475km will send the drinking water to all regions in the occupied areas.

A total of 132 high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes, with a length of 80km and weighing 220 tonnes, are being installed and will hover at a depth of 250-280 metres under the sea surface, and the metal fittings joining the pipes will be anchored with steel ropes to the seabed and will be kept in place with the help of floats.

The project is under supervision of the Water Department of Turkey (DSI). Director of the project Birol Çınar has told CNA that the whole venture would be able to cover the water and irrigation needs of the population in the occupied areas in 2040, when it is expected to reach 400,000.

Commenting on criticism regarding the effects on the environment, Çınar said such projects were exempt from environmental consequences reports in Turkey but for Cyprus a report has been drafted and approved. He said that although trees were cut down for the purpose of the project, there are plans to replace them soon.

Çınar also said it was not yet clear who would be benefiting from the water from Turkey and that any solution should be in favour of the people. He furthermore noted that the possibility of water being transferred to the southern government-controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus had not been examined but could be if such an issue was raised.

The “local authorities” in the occupied areas are strongly criticising the project. Speaking to CNA, Nicosia “mayor” Mehmet Harmancı has said that all discussions were held behind closed doors and the “municipalities” were not invited to express their views, despite the fact that the water issue was of vital importance to them.

He said the Nicosia “municipality” in the occupied areas has already made an investment worth about €7.5 million, with funds from Turkey, the EU and the “municipality” itself, and also raised questions regarding the future of the sewerage treatment plant for which the two sides in Cyprus and a German firm have signed a 10-year contract.

Harmancı added that the “union of municipalities” has set up a committee to investigate alternatives.

Chairwoman of the Union of Turkish Cypriot Biologists Dilge Ozerdem has described the project as an irreversible intervention in nature and a blow to the ecology, and criticised the fact that there was no water policy in the occupied areas.

Ozerdem pointed out that this project would have more consequences than benefits and that it was the people who would pay the price in the long term. She also said that there are easier ways to address the shortage of water.

Furthermore, Ozerdem had told CNA that no report was prepared for the environmental fallout and noted that the so-called government in the occupied areas had no say in the project and there had been no preparation regarding who would be using the water.

Cyprus’ Environment Commissioner Ioanna Panayiotou has told CNA that there would be more disadvantages than benefits from the project.

She said that if there is water shortage in a country, the first thing to do is take measures to save, recycle and reuse the natural resources.

Panayiotou pointed out the consequences to the land and sea, the destruction of natural habitats, and the materials needed to complete the project, and questioned the benefits which, as she said, were not recorded in any report.

She furthermore said the Republic of Cyprus and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had made representations but it was necessary for more action on behalf of the European and international community.

Panayiotou pointed out that the parameters for this project were neither environmental nor financial, but political. She explained that when an arid area becomes an irrigated area, the value of the land increases, which leads the users to believe they come before the owners of the land and argue that the value of the land is higher due to their investments, an argument they will use in talks to solve the Cyprus problem.

She also said the Republic of Cyprus should make its own plans regarding water management because climate change is here and must be addresed, and the state has much to do.

Ankara, whose troops occupy Cyprus’ northern part since they invaded in 1974, does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus and refuses to normalise relations with Nicosia, in spite of repeated calls from the EU to do so.

CNA

The chief executive and chairman of National Bank of Greece plan to step down from their roles in the next few days, CEO Alexandros Tourkolias told Reuters on Sunday.

The move comes barely two weeks after leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took office. Board changes at National Bank often happen after elections in Greece.

“The chairman Mr (George) Zannias and I plan to start the procedure (to depart from our posts) in the next few days,” Tourkolias said.

Greece’s bank bailout fund HFSF holds a majority stake in three of the country’s four biggest banks including National Bank, the country’s largest lender.

On Sunday, Kathimerini newspaper reported that economist and ex minister Louka Katseli and George Michelis, who has worked for Greece’s Emporiki Bank and Eurobank, are expected to take on the two roles.

Tourkolias declined to comment on the names mentioned in the report.

Niger’s army repelled an attack by Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram on the border town of Diffa on Sunday but a suicide bomber struck in the town’s market, killing at least one person and injuring several more, residents said.

It was the second attack by Boko Haram in three days on the border region of Niger, where some 2,500 Chadian troops have gathered ahead of a planned military offensive by a coalition of regional powers against the Islamist group.

Niger’s parliament is due to vote on Monday on a proposal by the government to send its troops into Nigeria to help fight Boko Haram.

Residents said fighting was heard between around 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. (0600 to 10000 GMT) on the outskirts of the town.

“There was fighting between security forces and elements of Boko Haram who tried to enter the town,” said a military source. “Fighting is taking place around the bridge at Doutchi. There are many dead.”

Local residents said a suicide bomber then struck Diffa’s market.

“It was a young boy who was carrying the explosives in a plastic cover,” said one resident who gave his name as Aboubakar. “I saw 10 people injured and at least one dead.”

Chadian forces already crossed into Nigeria last week to the south of Lake Chad to attack Boko Haram in the town of Gambaru, bordering Cameroon.

On Saturday, the governments of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin agreed to establish an 8,700 strong regional force.

Chad has deployed some 2,500 soldiers to neighbouring Cameroon and Niger as part of this effort.

Boko Haram has seized territory in northeastern Nigeria as part of a five-year insurgency to carve out an Islamist state on the territory of Africa’s top oil producer and biggest economy. Around 10,000 people were killed last year.

Nigeria’s electoral commission on Saturday postponed a presidential election that had been scheduled for next weekend until March 28 due to security concerns over Boko Haram’s insurgency.

By Alessandra Galloni and Ingrid Melander

In Paris and Rome, it was sugar coated; in Berlin and Frankfurt unequivocal. But the message from European capitals to Greece’s new leaders was the same at every stop on last week’s tour – stick to your commitments.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will head to his first European summit on Thursday duly warned that it will be near impossible, as Athens wants, to rip up pledges made during the country’s four-year international bailout. Tsipras and his aides were also advised to learn the ways of diplomatic custom.

“Friendship requires telling things as they are,” French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told Reuters after meeting his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis last Sunday. “We must avoid misunderstandings and make sure all, and especially the Greek side, understand how things are.”

The positions taken this past week raise pressure on Tsipras to abandon the rhetoric that got him elected. Other European capitals must decide how much they are willing to compromise to keep Greece in the euro. France and Italy, widely perceived as Greece’s natural allies, will have to think how far they want to go to facilitate a deal.

“I hope that this European tour has helped them see what others are prepared to do – and not do,” said one European official in Brussels.

Tsipras and Varoufakis declined to comment for this article.

There isn’t much time. Greece’s bailout ends on February 28. Athens says it doesn’t want an extension, rather a bridge loan from Europe while it comes up with a new plan for the country. So far, the answer has been no.

Yet without new aid, the Greek state will be starved of funds. Nine billion euros were slated to arrive this year, largely from the International Monetary Fund. Tax revenues are shrinking, and privatizations have been halted. Analysts at Unicredit say the state could run out of money by March.

DIPLOMATIC BALANCING-ACT
The clearest message to Greece this past week came, as expected, from Germany.

During a news conference with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in Berlin, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble dismissed Greece’s request for any bridge funding and insisted that Athens implement existing bailout agreements.

The news conference was marked by the absence of cordial chit chat or eye contact between the 73-year-old brown-suited German and his 53-year-old open-shirted Greek guest.

In Paris and Rome, the message was more nuanced.

Within southern Europe, France and Italy would appear to be Greece’s natural allies. They are run by centre-left governments and that have been pushing their European partners to adopt a more growth-oriented policy for the region.

Both have applauded Tsipras’ victory as a triumph of the people’s will over suffocating austerity.

French President Francois Hollande’s administration has taken on the role of early facilitator for Tsipras: In Paris last Sunday, Finance Minister Michel Sapin, after meeting Varoufakis, sent a text message to Schaeuble asking him to meet the Greek finance minister, according to a French official.

During a lengthy news conference after they met in Rome on Tuesday, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi hailed Tsipras for bringing a “message of hope, not just fear” to Europe.

The news conference brimmed with mutual compliments and references to cultural similarities. Renzi referred to his high school ancient Greek classes and gifted Tsipras a tie. The two joked that the Greek leader would start wearing one once Greek’s debt woes are over.

Both men are 40. They have taken their countries’ political establishment by storm. They govern countries that have Europe’s biggest and second-biggest debt as a percentage of output.

Crucially, both see themselves as champions of a lost generation. Italians born in 1970 will pay 50 percent more in taxes as a percentage of their lifetime income than those born in 1952, according to Bank of Italy research. They will receive half the pension benefits that current 60-somethings do now.

“We are the same age, and our generation has been the buffer of bad political choices,” Tsipras said.

Yet for Italy and France, Syriza also poses a risk. Hollande and Renzi are centre-left leaders who, under pressure from Europe and economic downturns, are trying to embark on market-friendly reforms. The success of Syriza, with its far-left, anti-market rhetoric, could undermine their efforts.

“If Tsipras manages to push his programs against privileges, pressure on Renzi to pivot to the left may grow, shifting the focus to Italy’s wealthier households and leaving his labour reforms in limbo,” Francesco Galietti, chief executive of public policy analysis firm Policy Sonar, said in a research note.

The risks explain why Hollande and Renzi were guarded in their support for Tsipras. “We want to give Greece a hand, which doesn’t mean we’ll always agree with them,” Renzi said.

EDUCATION
Ahead of Thursday’s EU summit, Greece’s new leaders also got no shortage of diplomatic education.

Several officials who attended the meetings commented on the lack of experience of international affairs exhibited by Greece’s new ministers, and their entourages. Two said they were struck by the lack of knowledge of EU institutions and recent decisions.

“You have the impression that [the Greek delegations] are on quite a steep learning curve,” said one top European official.

Tsipras and other Greek officials say they carry the democratic legitimacy of a resounding electoral victory. A government official said sometimes it was an advantage to be inexperienced.

Several European policymakers told the Greeks it was important to understand the views of populations in other European countries.

In Rome on Tuesday, Economy Minister Padoan lunched with Varoufakis. Over a meal of marinated anchovies and ring pasta with clams, the 65-year-old minister engaged his tablemate over the concept of trust and how trust can be gained, in part by communication, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

“We talked less about technical solutions and more about language and common values, and how to use European institutions to find a common solution,” Padoan said in the interview with Italian daily L’Avvenire on Friday.

In Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was affectionate towards Tsipras, kissing him on the cheek and taking the new Greek leader by hand.

Behind the cameras, the 60-year-old Juncker offered the younger Tsipras a tutorial on the ins and outs of the European Union, according to one European official.

“Tsipras was very receptive,” the official said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and leaders of Russia, France and Germany expect their talks in Minsk, Belarus, on Wednesday to lead to a “swift and unconditional ceasefire”, his website said.

A statement from Poroshenko’s administration said progress had been made during a phone call between him and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on Sunday.

“The participants achieved progress in discussing a range of measures for implementation of the Minsk agreements,” Poroshenko said referring to a ceasefire plan which took effect last September but was never fully observed and eventually collapsed.

Confirming that the four leaders would meet in Minsk on Wednesday, Poroshenko said: “They (the leaders) also expect that their efforts during the Minsk meeting will lead to a swift and unconditional two-sided ceasefire.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday he expected “important decisions” to be made at the Minsk talks.

By Angelos Anastasiou

Energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Monday that he was not happy with the retail price of fuel and basic consumer goods, and called on consumers to seek out and reward businesses that offer the lowest prices.

“I must say I’m not happy, as I’ve said many times before,” he said. “You can’t see the price of essential goods spike when oil prices go up, but not fall when oil prices drop.”

With regard to fuel prices, Lakkotrypis argued that the domestic market’s framework must be overhauled in order to bring about greater competition, both in the wholesale and retail trade.

Asked whether current fuel prices are justified, the Energy minister explained that prices fluctuate with some delay relative to international oil prices, but his ministry monitors constantly both retail prices and fuel imports.

“Whenever a new shipment [of fuel] arrives we check invoices and any other documents, to establish whether retail prices are justified,” he said.

Lakkotrypis added that certain issues raised by the Auditor-general with regard to the ministry are “being addressed.”

“However, what I want to stress on the issue of fuel prices is that since we have a free market, consumers will need to actively look for the lowest prices, the cheapest gas stations, and reward those that offer either the lowest price or the best service,” he said.

And with regard to the price of basic consumer goods, the energy minister said that “the prices of various products should follow the internationally declining trend of oil prices, to the extent that the two are linked”.

“For example, when it comes to imported and transported products, like animal feed,” he said.

He noted that the ministry keeps a constant eye on prices, but has a limited number of tools at its disposal.

“We try to intervene where prices don’t fall, but in a free market we can’t impose prices,” he said.