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Federer battles back to beat Youzhny for Halle title

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ATP tennis tournament in Halle

By Karolos Grohmann

Roger Federer clinched his first title of the season before the start of his Wimbledon defence when he battled back from a set down to beat Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-4 and win the Halle Open on Sunday.

The world number three, who has now won the Wimbledon warm-up event on grass six times, needed to dig deep for his 77th career title and extend his head-to-head with Youzhny to an impressive 15-0.

“I have won a lot in my career but not recently,” said Federer, whose last tournament win was in August 2012 in Cincinnati. “I am happy it worked for me today.

“I was satisfied with my game in the past 10 months. Maybe people thought I was playing badly. That was not the case. I was playing well but when it mattered the others were just better. Today it worked well,” he said in a courtside interview.

The 31-year-old won three break points in the first game but Youzhny’s powerful serve got the world number 29 out of early trouble.

The Russian, who defeated three seeded players en route to the final, held serve and matched Federer’s skill on grass with hammering ground strokes.

Federer, who has now beaten Youzhny five times at Halle since 2002, saved a set point at 5-6 but conceded another in the tiebreak for the Russian to take the lead with a well-placed volley.

Federer improved his first serve and refused to buckle, finally getting his first break when Youzhny double-faulted for 5-3 before he served out the second set.

The Swiss patiently waited for his next break opportunity and got it after a sizzling exchange of ground strokes, Federer going 4-3 up and holding serve to clinch his maiden 2013 title after two hours and two minutes.

“He just played better,” said Youzhny, whose battling spirit won him a lot of crowd support. “In fact he has been playing better all my life.”

Wimbledon starts a week on Monday.


Murray Recovers From Slip To Win Queen’s Title

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Britain's Murray holds the trophy after beating Croatia's Cilic to win the men's singles final tennis match at the Queen's Club Championships in west London

Andy Murray gave his fans a fright before recovering to beat Croatia’s Marin Cilic to win the Aegon Championships for the third time at Queen’s Club on Sunday.

The world number two won a rain-delayed final 5-7 7-5 6-3 to give himself the perfect boost for Wimbledon which starts in eight days.

Murray, runner-up at Wimbledon last year, suffered a painful looking slip when leading 4-3 in the first set, yelping in pain and rolling to the turf in apparent distress, and went on to lose the opener against the defending champion.

There appeared no lasting damage though as he broke big-serving Cilic in the 12th game of the second set to square the match and was always in control in the decider with his superior baseline game allowing him to dictate the rallies.

Murray also won the title in 2009 and 2011.

Anastasiades: no intention of leaving eurozone

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By Stefanos Evripidou

THE EUROGROUP’s bailout decision on Cyprus may have left a bad taste in his mouth but President Nicos Anastasiades remained adamant yesterday that the country’s future remains in the eurozone.

Speaking at an award ceremony for the former deputy minister of EU affairs Andreas Mavroyiannis in Limassol last night, Anastasiades highlighted that the government has no intention of leaving the eurozone.

“Cyprus belongs to Europe, without experiments, regressions or exceptions and I want to repeat categorically, there is no intention of exiting the euro.”

He added, however, that last March’s Eurogroup decision rocked the confidence of the people of Cyprus in European institutions and principles, “as well as towards a number of our EU partners”.

The president said he could not hide the fact that the government also experienced disappointment with its EU partners and the institutions “for the unprecedented handling” of Cyprus with the imposition of a ‘bail-in’ of its two most systemic banks and the “manifest lack of solidarity demonstrated”.

He noted that Cyprus has requested additional EU assistance via the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 as well as additional funding in the framework of cohesion policy and rural development.

Anastasiades said he was in “full agreement” with the positions of French President Francois Hollande that austerity alone is not an adequate response to the eurozone crisis but economic growth and job creation were also imperative.

In a clear dig at Germany’s Angela Merkel, who like Anastasiades, is a member of the European People’s Party (EPP), he noted that his views were much more aligned with Hollande on this point than with other leaders “even if they belong to my own political family”.

The president said he was willing to take a leadership role in reviving the so-called Olive Group of Mediterranean and southern EU member states to ensure greater coordination in confronting the actions and policies of northern and central European countries.

Bill seeks to bypass IPC for those in need

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Hasikos for IPC story

By Stefanos Evripidou

INTERIOR MINISTER Socratis Hasikos will take a proposal to cabinet tomorrow giving Greek Cypriot owners of property in the occupied areas the right to buy and sell their properties without having to pay transfer duties.

The proposal, which extends the right to buy and sell property in the occupied areas only to other Greek Cypriots, was prepared as one of the measures to avert mass applications by Greek Cypriot refugees to the immoveable property commission (IPC) in the north, particularly those in a worse financial situation following the Eurogroup decision to raid deposits.

Speaking yesterday, Hasikos said the issue will be looked at in common with all political parties as part of the wider considerations of the relevant subcommittee of the National Council.

The minister made the comments after reports were published in the local press that Hasikos had prepared a draft bill that would allow the sale of occupied properties without imposing any taxes, such as capital gains tax or transfer tax, on the buyer or seller.

The bill allows for the purchase or sale of Greek Cypriot properties in the north only between Greek Cypriots.

The measure is aimed at tackling the increasing tide of Greek Cypriot refugees seeking financial help, following the deepest recession in Cyprus since the Turkish invasion almost four decades ago.

According to yesterday’s Alithia, the government is concerned that more and more refugees find themselves in a desperate financial situation and so are willing to give up the rights to their properties in the occupied areas, in exchange for compensation that comes to a fraction of the real value of the property.

According to some analysts, Turkey’s thinking in setting up the IPC, is to provide a cheap method to avert costly penalties following Greek Cypriot applications to the European Court of Human Rights, while also encouraging an exchange of properties between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, north and south of the divide, further cementing the ‘bizonal’ nature of any future settlement.

Central Bank defends its use of ELA

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central bank   4(2)

THE CENTRAL Bank of Cyprus (CBC) defended itself yesterday against criticism that it authorised gratuitous emergency liquidity to Cypriot banks, thereby saddling the lenders with unnecessary additional liabilities.

In a statement yesterday, the CBC said the provision of the funds through the European Central Bank’s Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) “has played and continues to play a stabilising role, allowing the smooth functioning of the banking system and preventing the disorderly default of the state.”

It said Laiki and BoC were drawing liquidity from ELA until March 21 this year, with no objection from the board of the European Central Bank (ECB).

On March 21, the ECB’s board of directors warned it would stop providing ELA to both Cypriot banks “because there were no clear and no binding policy decisions by the Cypriot side to apply for the support programme”.

“Based on ECB regulations as regards the Emergency Liquidity Assistance, the two Cypriot banks remained solvent until March 25, 2013,” the regulator said.
The two banks ceased being considered solvent for purposes of providing ELA once the first decision of the Eurogroup (March 15) was rejected by the House of Representatives, it added.

ELA is a temporary measure provided to banks provided they meet two conditions: that they are solvent and creditworthy against adequate collateral.

When in May 2012 the state underwrote €1.8bn to float stricken Laiki, the lender was already neck-deep in ELA to the tune of €3.8bn due to a steady outflow of deposits since the summer of 2011.

But in July of 2012, Cyprus’ sovereign debt was rated junk, meaning it could not be held as collateral for underwriting the bank, and at that point Laiki was technically insolvent.

The CBC and the ECB insist that post-May 2012, Laiki was illiquid but not insolvent.

From May 2012 until the decision to wind down Laiki was taken, the bank’s ELA had mushroomed to around €9bn. The entire amount, having been guaranteed by the Cyprus government, has since been lumped onto the balance sheet of struggling BoC.

Deadlock over BoC layoff scheme

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CYPRUS-EU-EUROZONE-FINANCE-BANK

By Elias Hazou

NO WHITE smoke emerged from the Presidential Palace yesterday after a high-level meeting to discuss, among others, an early retirement scheme for Bank of Cyprus (BoC) employees.

Attending were President Nicos Anastasiades, the Central Bank governor, the finance minister and the bank’s interim chairman.

The meeting, lasting two hours, was convened by the president who had asked to be briefed on the ongoing restructuring of BoC, the island’s largest lender.

The BoC chairman also updated President Anastasiades on the ongoing talks between the bank and the bank employees union on an early retirement plan.
No statements were made afterwards.

There have been mixed reports as to how close to a deal the bank is with the union. BoC’s board of directors will today likely discuss the subject and announcements could be forthcoming.

After the winding down and folding of Laiki Bank into BoC, the latter’s workforce has now exploded to some 5,500.

BoC, which is under restructuring by the Central Bank, must slash its payroll and thus its operating costs. The bank reportedly intends to reduce staff by about 1000 to 1500 through early retirement plans. For the remaining employees, an up to 15 per cent cut in salaries has been mooted.

The bank’s monthly payroll currently amounts to €25m.

A sticking point in the talks is the fate of the bank employees’ provident funds, which have suffered a ‘haircut’ along with uninsured deposits.

Provident and pension funds are not covered by the Deposit Protection Fund, but the government has pledged to limit the losses of provident fund members to around 25 per cent of the amount they would have received before the EU decision to restructure the two Cypriot banks.

Previously the finance minister has said around 40 per cent of the funds would be covered by bailout money, and 35 per cent credited to the Social Security Fund, to be collected when a person reaches retirement age. In effect, it represents a partial nationalisation of the affected provident funds.

The government has declared that it reached a deal with international lenders to transfer the assets of all provident funds from Laiki to BoC. Parallel to this, a mechanism for reimbursing any losses arising from the deposit-to-equity swap within BoC is being prepared.

Participation in the programme would be mandatory for provident funds in Laiki while those in BoC would have a choice: either to participate in the scheme by handing over BoC shares of equal value or keep their shares and stay out.

The bone of contention is that the bank employees union ETYK insists the provisions of the early retirement scheme as well as any salary reductions are bundled with the provident fund arrangements in an all-in-one deal.

The government, it’s understood, says the two issues should be kept separate. And it has stressed that the early exit plan for bank employees should not be such necessitating an increase in the ‘haircut’ for uninsured depositors in BoC, who have already ‘lost’ 37.5 per cent of their savings over and above €100,000.

Legal challenge over BoC restructuring

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bank of cyprus      5(1)

By Elias Hazou

A FORMER Bank of Cyprus (BoC) board member is mounting a legal challenge against the decision to place the island’s largest lender under administration.

In an application filed with the Supreme Court earlier this month, Irini Karamanou, formerly a non-executive member of the bank’s board, is also contesting the decision for the fire-sale of the bank’s Greek operations, as well as the transfer of all of Laiki’s emergency liquidity – which are liabilities on the balance sheet – to BoC.

Her application is directed against both the Central Bank of Cyprus and the finance ministry, the two entities co-responsible for restructuring the two Cypriot banks.

Whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear her application or dismisses it outright remains to be seen. Only recently the top court ruled that it has no jurisdiction to hear appeals lodged against the ‘bail-in’, noting that the matter falls under private law and not administrative law.

But Karamanou hopes the court will see her action as different and will agree to hear the case. That’s because she is demanding neither compensation nor a direct reversal of the haircut decision, although implicitly her application does challenge those decisions.

Rather, Karamanou’s application takes the line that, as a board member of BoC, she was unable to meet her fiduciary duties toward the shareholders.

She claims the appointment of an administrator for BoC was illegal as the bank was neither bankrupt nor insolvent at the time of the appointment.

Therefore the decisions subsequently taken to the detriment of the bank’s shareholders should likewise be considered illegal and void.

The bank’s board disagreed with the restructuring, but it was enforced by decree regardless.

To back her argument, Karamanou’s application cites the fact that in September 2012 the bank published results showing that it was both solvent and had positive equity, even after sustaining losses due to the write-down of Greek debt that it held.

A key point Karamanou raises is an apparent conflict concerning the Central Bank’s sweeping powers. The Central Bank, she says, cannot act as a regulator for the banks – for which someone might argue that the regulator was at least partly responsible for the lenders’ woes – and simultaneously oversee their resolution or restructuring.

Under the terms of the bailout, Cyprus was required to fold part of Laiki into BoC; the latter was also required to sell its Greek operations to Piraeus Bank.

Karamanou argues that the decision to sell the bank’s Greek operations was a political one, and that it had been taken long in advance of the fact.

What’s more, that decision contravened the procedures laid out in the ‘Resolution of Credit and Other Institutions Law’ of March 2013. The law provides for highest-bid tenders prior to the sale of bank operations, something that was never done.

In addition, the law stipulates that the operations of a bank that is under administration or undergoing restructuring may be sold to another credit institution, to an ‘interim’ bank, or to an assets management company.

But the same law makes no stipulation for selling a bank’s operations (Laiki) to a second bank (BoC) which is also undergoing restructuring. Yet this is precisely what happened with BoC.

In her application, Karamanou argues that BoC has landed in hot water precisely as a result of the deals providing for the sale of Greek operations – which stripped the bank of assets – and for assuming Laiki’s €9bn in emergency liquidity without any tradeoffs. Despite the capital controls now in place, these actions have brought about an outflow of deposits due to loss of depositors’ confidence and also a decline in the bank’s goodwill, jeopardising its chances of survival.

And regarding the decision to recapitalise the bank through a ‘bail-in’ of depositors, Karamanou says shareholders were never given the chance to raise capital.
The point Karamanou makes is that the burden of proof for restructuring the bank fell on the regulator, who needed to support, with data, his decision to place BoC under administration. The regulator never adequately justified its decision, she says.

Moreover, the findings of investment firm Pimco – which had calculated the bank’s capital needs – were kept from the BoC leadership.

However it’s also true that when in March a decision was taken to restructure the BoC, the bank did need recapitalising as it did not meet core tier 1 capital requirements.

On the sale of the bank’s Greek operations and the assumption of Laiki’s ELA obligations, Karamanou says neither of these decisions was ratified by the BoC board at the time as both were perceived not to serve shareholders’ interests.

Karamanou resigned along with the rest of the board in late March.

Biggest protests in 20 years sweep Brazil

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Protest against rising public transport costs in Sao Paulo

By Todd Benson and Asher Levine

As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.

The marches, organized mostly through snowballing social media campaigns, blocked streets and halted traffic in more than a half-dozen cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, where demonstrators climbed onto the roof of Brazil’s Congress building and then stormed it.

Monday’s demonstrations were the latest in a flurry of protests in the past two weeks that have added to growing unease over Brazil’s sluggish economy, high inflation and a spurt in violent crime.

While most of the protests unfolded as a festive display of dissent, some demonstrators in Rio threw rocks at police, set fire to a parked car and vandalized the state assembly building. Vandals also destroyed property in the southern city of Porto Alegre.

Around the country, protesters waved Brazilian flags, dancing and chanting slogans such as “The people have awakened” and “Pardon the inconvenience, Brazil is changing.”

The epicenter of Monday’s march shifted from Sao Paulo, where some 65,000 people took to the streets late in the afternoon, to Rio. There, as protesters gathered throughout the evening, crowds ballooned to 100,000 people, local police said. At least 20,000 more gathered in Belo Horizonte.

The demonstrations are the first time that Brazilians, since a recent decade of steady economic growth, are collectively questioning the status quo.

BIG EVENTS LOOM

The protests have gathered pace as Brazil is hosting the Confederation’s Cup, a dry run for next year’s World Cup football championship. The government hopes these events, along with the 2016 Summer Olympics, will showcase Brazil as an emerging power on the global stage.

Brazil also is gearing up to welcome more than 2 million visitors in July as Pope Francis makes his first foreign trip for a gathering of Catholic youth in Rio.

Contrasting the billions in taxpayer money spent on new stadiums with the shoddy state of Brazil’s public services, protesters are using the Confederation’s Cup as a counterpoint to amplify their concerns. The tournament got off to shaky start this weekend when police clashed with demonstrators outside stadiums at the opening matches in Brasilia and Rio.

“For many years the government has been feeding corruption. People are demonstrating against the system,” said Graciela Caçador, a 28-year-old saleswoman protesting in Sao Paulo. “They spent billions of dollars building stadiums and nothing on education and health.”

More protests are being organized for the coming days. It is unclear what specific response from authorities – such as a reduction in the hike of transport fares – would lead the loose collection of organizers across Brazil to consider stopping them.

For President Dilma Rousseff, the demonstrations come at a delicate time, as price increases and lacklustre growth begin to loom over an expected run for re-election next year.

Polls show Rousseff still is widely popular, especially among poor and working-class voters, but her approval ratings began to slip in recent weeks for the first time since taking office in 2011. Rousseff was booed at Saturday’s Confederations Cup opener as protesters gathered outside.

Through a spokeswoman, Rousseff called the protests “legitimate” and said peaceful demonstrations are “part of democracy.” The president, a leftist guerrilla as a young woman, also said that it was “befitting of youth to protest.”

WIDE ARRAY OF GRIEVANCES

Some were baffled by the protests in a country where unemployment remains near record lows, even after more than two years of tepid economic growth.

“What are they going to do – march every day?” asked Cristina, a 43-year-old cashier, who declined to give her surname, peeking out at the demonstration from behind the curtain of a closed Sao Paulo butcher shop. She said corruption and other age-old ills in Brazil are unlikely to change soon.

The marches began this month with an isolated protest in Sao Paulo against a small increase in bus and subway fares. The demonstrations initially drew the scorn of many middle-class Brazilians after protesters vandalized storefronts, subway stations and buses on one of the city’s main avenues.

The movement quickly gained support and spread to other cities as police used heavy-handed tactics to quell the demonstrations. The biggest crackdown happened on Thursday in Sao Paulo when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas in clashes that injured more than 100 people, including 15 journalists, some of whom said they were deliberately targeted.

Other common grievances at Monday’s marches included corruption and the inadequate and overcrowded public transportation networks that Brazilians cope with daily.

POLICE SHOW RESTRAINT

The harsh police reaction to last week’s protests touched a nerve in Brazil, which endured two decades of political repression under a military dictatorship that ended in 1985. It also added to doubts about whether Brazil’s police forces would be ready for next year’s World Cup.

The uproar following last week’s crackdown prompted Sao Paulo state Governor Geraldo Alckmin, who first described the protesters as “troublemakers” and “vandals,” to order police to allow Monday’s march to proceed and not to use rubber bullets.

The protests are shaping up as a major political challenge for Alckmin, a former presidential candidate, and Sao Paulo’s new mayor, Fernando Haddad, a rising star in the left-leaning Workers’ Party that has governed Brazil for the past decade. Haddad invited protest leaders to meet Tuesday morning, but has so far balked at talk of a bus fare reduction.

The resonance of the demonstrations underscores what economists say will be a challenge for Rousseff and other Brazilian leaders in the years ahead: providing public services to meet the demands of the growing middle class.

“Voters are likely to be increasingly disgruntled on a range of public services in a lower growth environment,” Christopher Garman, a political analyst at the Eurasia Group, wrote in a report.


End of the line for state car abuse

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By Stefanos Evripidou

THE CHAIRMAN of the House Finance Committee yesterday said there was clearly “abuse” of the system which provides luxury vehicles to former and present officials in the wider public sector after hearing that at least 117 officials enjoyed this privilege.

The committee yesterday continued its discussion on abolishing the privilege of providing state cars to a large number of former and present public officials. For those who will continue to enjoy state vehicles, parliament examined putting restrictions on engine size, pollution emissions and price, with only the president’s vehicle enjoying full exemption for security purposes.

Speaking after the committee meeting, where a full account of the exact number of state cars on Cyprus’ roads could not be given, its chair Nicolas Papadopoulos said: “It is now clear that this privilege is being abused.”

The committee was given two lists providing details of state vehicles enjoyed by state officials and those in semi-government organisations (SGOs) and local authorities.

It transpired from the incomplete list that at least 117 luxury cars were being enjoyed by state officials, independent officials and heads of services.

According to the state broadcaster, telecoms company CyTA has the most luxury cars, counting nine for its chairman and directors, compared to just two for the electricity authority (EAC).

From the local authorities, Limassol municipality has the most, with three luxury cars made available for the mayor, municipal secretary and chief financial officer.

The municipalities of Larnaca and Lakatamia have two luxury cars each, others have one, while some municipalities have none.

According to one of the lists published by Sigmalive.com, DIKO leader and former House President Marios Garoyian gets to enjoy a state car with one of the largest engine size: a Mercedes E500, registered in 2010. The German luxury car has a 5.5 litre engine size, with a capacity of 5,461cc, bigger even than the president’s Mercedes S450L which has an engine capacity of 4,663cc.

The finance committee yesterday called on cabinet to put down rules on who is entitled to state cars, and impose caps on horsepower, pollution levels and price.
In the meantime, the committee’s members vowed to proceed with passing legislation independent of government’s actions to abolish these privileges for the many.

Papadopoulos said only a limited number of state officials should continue to enjoy this privilege, a position which appears to be gaining ground among the majority of committee members.

The DIKO deputy questioned why the head of CyTA’s customer service needed to drive around in a luxury vehicle with a large engine.

He said all committee members agreed that reform of this policy was necessary to avoid similar abuse in the future, noting that agreement has been reached on a general framework, based on a DISY proposal.

Under the proposal, only specific state officials should have access to a state car, those clearly entitled to one in the constitution, though even in those cases, caps must be placed on engine size and carbon emissions, excluding the president’s car.

Regarding former presidents of the Republic and House, those who have already received a car will retain the privilege, which will no longer apply from 2014.

“All the remaining officials will not be entitled to a car,” said Papadopoulos.

Regarding releasing funds for the purchase of a car for former president Demetris Christofias, this will likely be done after new legislation has been passed, said the committee chair.

As for local authorities, SGOS and other services, under the draft amendments, they will only be allowed state cars for official business, which will be for common use and with clear stipulations on engine size and pollution emissions. These cars will not belong to these officials but to the authority or SGO.

DISY deputy Prodromos Prodromou said: “There is an important issue here: the state does not know at any one time, how many cars (it has given out) and to whom, and this is a further reason for comprehensive legal reform.”

Our View: No surprises that outside forces being allowed to decide CY fate

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cyprus airways demo   4(2)

SUCCESSIVE governments appear to have one way of dealing with difficult problems that require unpopular decisions – avoiding taking any decision until conditions provide a solution, usually the worst possible.

That was the mantra of the previous government and we will be paying for it for many years to come. It could have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in mid-2011, when Cyprus was excluded from international markets, and it could have done so in July 2012 when the troika submitted a proposed draft, but instead chose to wait. By December, when it was supposedly ready, the banks’ situation and the economy had deteriorated so much we had to accept the worst possible MoU to avoid a total collapse.

The restructuring of the Bank of Cyprus has also been dragging on, even though the Central Bank, as the resolution authority, is more to blame than the government in this respect. More than two-and-a-half months after the restructuring begun, the bank has still to close down any of its 200 branches, cut wages and give redundancy letters to staff; it is still paying some 2,000 employees it inherited from Laiki and operating all the latter’s branches, thus eating up more and more of the uninsured deposits that were bailed in. By the time these decisions are taken, there may be nothing left to save.

This is looking increasingly likely in the case of Cyprus Airways, with the Anastasiades government following its predecessor’s policy of avoiding taking a decision. The experts’ rescue plan which envisaged laying-off some 500 employees was ready last October. It is now mid-June but we are still waiting for the decision on the redundancies, the unions holding out for additional compensation, which the government stupidly promised on behalf of the bankrupt company.

That was two months ago. Since then, the previous board resigned, as it could not find the €20m needed for the compensations. The new board, appointed by the government, has also made it clear it does not have the funds to pay the compensations being demanded by the unions, which were meeting on Monday to decide what action to take. Redundancy notices were meant to be handed out to 200 people yesterday, but the unions tried to secure a postponement until Thursday, when their representatives were to discuss the matter with the president.

Is it so difficult for the government to back the airline’s board, telling the union bosses and employees there would be no additional redundancy compensation, and that if they chose to strike, there would be no company for any them to return to when they called off the strike? Had this been done last October, the airline might have had a future now. Had it been done in April it might have had a chance of survival, but the government chose to delay any decision by promising the €20m it knew was not available. It looks like a decision on Cyprus Airways’ future will be imposed by outside forces, as in the case of Eurocypria.

CY unions aghast as layoff letters sent

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cyprus airways

By Stefanos Evripidou

UNIONS WERE up in arms yesterday after the Cyprus Airways (CY) board decided to send out redundancy letters to 203 employees, despite agreeing earlier in the morning to postpone the measure until Friday.

The CY board announced last week plans to make redundant 203 staff yesterday as part of the airline’s rescue plan, which includes in total redundancies for 490 of the 1,040 staff plus the reduction of its fleet by four aircraft to six.

If fully implemented, the redundancies will save the airline €12m by the end of the year, seriously reducing expected losses for this year of over €40m for the ailing company.

CY Board Chairman Antonis Antoniou met with unions SEK and PEO yesterday morning where he agreed to hold off sending redundancy letters until after the unions had a chance to meet with President Nicos Anastasiades this Thursday.

The unions had argued that, even if sent this Friday, the letters could have retroactive application, starting from yesterday.

After getting Antoniou’s initial agreement, they held a general assembly where it was decided to hold off any industrial action.

However, by afternoon, Antoniou changed his mind after hearing legal advice and went ahead with the first batch of involuntary redundancies.

The response of SEK and PEO was to call for a protest of CY staff outside parliament this morning, where the House Finance Committee has called an ad hoc meeting to discuss the latest developments with the national airline. No strike measures were called, with unions saying they will wait until seeing the result of the meeting with the president.

The unions object to the airline’s about-turn on offering extra compensation to those made redundant, over and above what they will receive from the provident and redundancy funds.

The airline, represented by its main shareholder the government, had agreed with unions on April 12, to pay staff made redundant half of the extra compensation initially demanded by the unions.

When the CY board claimed the airline simply didn’t have the assets to make up the €20m needed to pay the agreed compensation, the government replaced the board, putting Antoniou in charge.
He soon adopted the same line as the previous board, that there was no money to pay the added compensation. This time, the government listened and the decision was taken to begin implementation of the rescue plan for CY immediately.

Speaking at a press conference, Antoniou explained that he received legal advice that the company would be liable to pay the salaries of staff made redundant from the day they received the letter, not from the date stated in the letter.

In other words, the airline would pay an extra week in salaries, which would be like throwing money down a hole, said the chairman.

Which taxpayer would agree with that, he asked.

The remaining letters will be sent within two months to ensure that 490 staff will be made redundant, from which only 68 are voluntary redundancies. None will be given added compensation.

“The CY board has taken a very bold and decisive step,” he said, noting that implementation of the redundancy package which for various reasons had remained on the shelf and threatened the airline’s existence, had finally begun.

Antoniou argued that every month since last year when the rescue plan was prepared, the airline was incurring losses of over €2m by not going ahead with redundancies, costing the company millions of euros.

The chairman argued that the company had no choice, since the cost of not implementing the decision was too great for the airline to bear.

He argued that the decision was a one-way street for saving the company. If the rescue plan fails, it will be the airline’s last, he added.

Antoniou said the company also planned to shut down domestic flights within Greece, saving the airline a further €2m a month in losses.
The €12m to be saved from the domestic Greek routes over the next six months, coupled with the €12m from redundancies means that CY will save €24m in the second half of the year, significantly reducing the €40m losses it is estimated it will incur in 2013, he said.

The company is also considering moving its headquarters to Larnaca.

Had these measures been taken at the start of the year, the airline might have had a chance of breaking even, said the chairman.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades yesterday said the situation was at breaking point for the national airline.

“Things are very difficult,” he said, noting the company had to sell planes and time slots to meet operational costs, adding that the Cypriot taxpayer was propping up the airline on a monthly basis at a huge cost.

The minister did not rule out closing down the company and re-opening it under new management and control.

Murder in Aglandjia

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A 78 year old butcher from Aglandjia was found stabbed in his butcher shop earlier this morning by passersby.

The victim, George Stavrou died on his way to the hospital.

Police have cordoned off the area for further investigation.

 

Family sees electricity bill drastically reduced with net metering

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NET METERING

By Peter Stevenson

NET metering will lower electricity bills and increase the production of energy from renewable energy sources (RES), Environment Commissioner Ioanna Panayiotou told deputies yesterday.

In a statement released after a meeting of the House Commerce Committee Panayiotou said that homes equipped with RES, in this case solar panels, could send the excess energy generated back onto the grid. An electrical converter called an inverter turns the DC (direct current) power coming from the renewable energy source into AC (alternating current) power, which matches the voltage of the electricity flowing through the power line.

Two houses, one in Paralimni and one in Larnaca have been fitted with net metering devices and the results were presented at the committee meeting. The bill for the house in Paralimni came to €3.55 after the net consumption came to 4KWh instead of €1,000 for consuming 840KWh during the same period last year.

The Larnaca home’s bill came to €11.64 after a net electricity consumption of 36KWh instead of 1836KWh during March and April of last year.

“These encouraging results support the facts that by installing this system there will be a decrease in the cost of electricity for homes that have net metering and it will save fuel, reduce emissions and created job opportunities,” the commissioner said.

According to Panayiotou, the implementation of net metering and the progressive integration of a larger number of consumers like the public and local authorities, will help increase production of electricity from RES (photovoltaic and small wind turbines), with positive implications for the economy and the environment.

Cyprus will be the first country to install net metering on a mass basis, the commissioner said.

Chairman of the House Commerce Committee, Lefteris Christoforou told reporters after the meeting that the high cost of electricity had brought households to their knees and made many small businesses close down. “We insist that net metering be implemented so every Cypriot will have the chance and the possibility of installing photovoltaic systems in their homes,” he said.

Christoforou said he believed that in the next three years, more than 40,000 homes would have the chance to receive free electricity when they had photovoltaic systems installed.
He called on the Electricity Authority (EAC) to show they comprehended the current circumstances and stopped cutting off power to those people who have shown they do not have the financial means to pay their bills.

“The state has placed these people at the top of the list to receive photovoltaic systems to relieve them from having to pay electricity bills,” he said.

Greens MP, George Perdikis revealed that the cost of installing a 3KWh photovoltaic system of medium quality would be between €6,000 and €7,000. Most of those systems come from China and Perdikis added that the EU had already begun taking measures to ban them.

“These measures could greatly affect the programme which the government has begun implementing for 2,000 consumers who receive welfare and will have 50 per cent of the cost funded,” he said.

Perdikis stressed the need to re-examine legislation to allow more members of the public the ability to enter the programme.

CY staff protest in vain

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By Stefanos Evripidou

THE HOUSE Finance Committee held a long session behind closed doors yesterday to discuss the acute problems facing national carrier Cyprus Airways (CY) as airline staff protested outside.

Unions PEO and SEK gathered around 150 CY staff members near parliament, after police closed off the road directly in front of the legislature, to protest against the decision not to provide additional compensation to staff being made redundant.

Protestors carried banners demanding implementation of an agreement reached between unions, the CY board and government on April 12 to provide 490 staff- set to be made redundant- with half of the extra compensation originally demanded, over and above what they will receive from the provident and redundancy funds.

Last week, the new board chairman Antonis Antoniou made it clear that the airline simply didn’t have the €20m to pay the additional compensation agreed, nor the assets to sell off to find the money.

With the airline in a most precarious position, Antoniou said he would still have to go ahead and implement the airline’s redundancy plan, starting with 203 redundancies yesterday and a further 220 by the end of September. It is believed 67 workers have already taken voluntary redundancy.

This would save the airline around €12m in the next six months, he argued.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, unions called on him not to send out redundancy letters until after they had a chance to meet with President Nicos Anastasiades tomorrow. They did not object to the letters per se, agreeing that they would have retroactive effect, starting from June 17, but wanted to delay their sending out until after the meeting with the president.

When Antoniou received legal advice on Monday that the retroactive application of redundancy letters was dubious, he went ahead and sent out the letters to 203 staff on Monday afternoon.

PEO and SEK called an impromptu demonstration outside parliament yesterday morning in response.

Speaking to the protesters, SEK’s Andreas Pierides yesterday accused ministers of acting as they pleased. He further accused the company of hiring hourly workers just a few days before making permanent staff redundant.

“Where is the Labour Ministry?” he asked.

Pierides called on CY workers to say “no to the executives who were appointed by some to execute the workers” and “yes to social dialogue, social cohesion and preserving Cyprus Airways”.

PEO’s Antonis Neophytou, who later attended the closed session of the House Finance Committee, described the latest developments as part of a “conspiracy”.

He called on workers to remain united. Some of the protesters present booed CY’s chairman Antoniou as he entered parliament, and hounded other MPs walking to the legislature.

One protester expressed her anger with the government’s handling of the situation saying: “Each worker fired at CY represents one family, entering unemployment chaos since we are not going to find a job, and we are talking about families with loans, children studying, and family obligations.”

Asked about the issue of hiring hourly workers, government spokesman Christos Stylianides said yesterday he was not aware of the issue, adding that the government’s current philosophy is that there should be no more recruitments or promotions in the public sector.

Following the finance committee meeting yesterday, attended by Finance Minister Harris Georgiades, Communications Minister Tasos Mitsopoulos, CY management and unions, it became clear that neither the airline nor the government are in a position to offer the unions what they want.

Committee chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos said it appeared the state “misinformed” CY staff since the money does not exist to pay the additional compensation.

According to Papadopoulos, during the session, the government clarified that it never once said the state would pay the extra compensation, the idea being that the company would do so by selling some of its assets.

However, it appeared some seriously “overvalued” the assets, he added.

Based on yesterday’s briefing, Papadopoulos said workers made redundant will receive all legal compensation provided by the law, but not the additional compensation promised.

“The company does not have the money and there are legal problems with the government giving additional compensation,” he said.

No one who came out the committee meeting was able to state publicly that implementation of the redundancy and restructuring plan for CY would guarantee its viability.

“But what we were told is that (redundancies) are a first, important step in improving the financial situation of the company,” said Papadopoulos.

 

Butcher was killed in frenzied attack

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MURDER

By Peter Stevenson

A 77-YEAR-OLD Nicosia butcher was stabbed 35 times in a frenzied knife attack inside the walk-in freezer in his Aglandjia shop in the early hours of yesterday.

Georgios Stavrou was found alive by a neighbour at around 6am but died in the ambulance on the way to the Nicosia General Hospital. Police believe the attack happened one or two hours earlier at the entrance to the freezer as the blood from the victims was concentrated there.

According to state pathologist, Eleni Antoniou, the 77-year-old had 35 stab wounds to his head and throat area and his stomach area. At least one of the wounds was defensive, she said. The victim did not have any wounds on his back, indicating the attack was face to face, Antoniou said.

Investigators believe it had started out as a robbery as a bag with around €1,000 was missing. The victim had €150 in his pocket, which wasn’t taken. Neither was a small amount of cash in the till.

Police also said however that the number of stab wounds could indicate the attack was personal on some level, a “hate crime”, they said.

The neighbour who discovered Stavrou in the freezer had initially thought the butcher had had an accident and it was only when he was examined by doctors it was established that he had been stabbed multiple times.

The doctors informed the police who went to the shop but by then the butcher’s son, also believing at the time that his father had had an accident, had cleaned up the blood and with it, much of the evidence.

After initial investigations, police said they believed the assailant or assailants may had been watching the victim for some time to determine his working habits and struck at an early hour to ensure there would be no witnesses as the shop is located on a main road in Aglandjia. They believe the attacker or attackers knew Stavrou carried a bag with a large amount of money in it.

Police are still unsure whether the assailant used his own knife or one from the shop. They took all of the butcher’s knives from the premises for forensic testing.

It was reported last night that an arrest warrant had been issued for a Pakistani man 27, who had visited the hospital’s first aid department yesterday morning and asked to be treated for injuries to his fingers, which doctors said had been caused by a knife. However the man had left the hospital before it was established that a murder had taken place.


United States to meet Taliban to seek Afghan peace

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Taliban opens political office in Doha

By Mark Felsenthal, Warren Strobel and Hamid Shalizi

The United States and the Taliban raised hopes for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan with commitments to meet this week after 12 years of bloody and costly war between American-led forces and the insurgents.

The Taliban opened an office in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Tuesday to help restart talks and said it wanted a political solution that would bring about a just government and end foreign occupation of Afghanistan.

U.S. officials said the talks would start in Doha on Thursday but cautioned that the on-again, off-again peace process would likely be messy and has no guarantee of success.

“It’s going to be a long, hard process if indeed it advances significantly at all,” a senior U.S. official said.

The Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai also said it was sending a team to Doha and a senior official said the Taliban was willing to consider talks. But the insurgents made no immediate comment on the claim.

The ultimate goal of the diplomatic manoeuvring is to get representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban into direct negotiations on the country’s future. The Taliban have thus far refused such talks, calling Karzai and his government puppets of the West.

Nonetheless, the diplomatic announcements represented the first signs of optimism in Afghan peace efforts for many months, and come as the U.S.-led war effort reaches a critical juncture. The NATO command in Kabul on Tuesday completed handing over lead security responsibility to Afghan government forces across the country.

NATO plans to end all combat operations in Afghanistan by December 2014.

President Barack Obama said U.S. combat operations would not cease and, in a reminder that the insurgents continue to fight, four U.S. troops were killed in an attack on Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said later on Tuesday.

Obama, travelling in Europe, cautioned against expectations of quick progress, saying the peace process would not be easy or quick.

“This is an important first step towards reconciliation; although it’s a very early step,” Obama said after a G8 meeting in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. “We anticipate there will be a lot of bumps in the road.”

Karzai said his government would send a team to Qatar but added the talks should quickly be moved to Afghanistan.

“We hope that our brothers the Taliban also understand that the process will move to our country soon,” he said.

POLITICAL SOLUTION?

It was not immediately clear why the Taliban had agreed to resume talks with the United States, which they broke off in March 2012. The question of entering negotiations has caused rifts between Pakistan-based Taliban senior leaders and younger battlefield commanders, who oppose the move, U.S. officials have said.

In opening the Qatar office, the Taliban said it was seeking a political solution, but added that no dates had been agreed for talks. Taliban representative Mohammed Naeem told a news briefing in Doha that the group wanted good relations with “all of the world countries.”

“But the Islamic emirate (Taliban) sees the independence of the nation from the current occupation as a national and religious obligation,” he said.

U.S. officials said that in the talks in Doha, the United States would stick to its insistence that the Taliban break ties with al Qaeda, end violence, and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities.

The Taliban is expected to demand the return of former senior commanders now detained at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba – a move many in the U.S. Congress oppose – as well as the departure of all foreign troops.

But the United States hopes to keep a force, of as yet undetermined size, in the country after the end of the NATO combat mission.

The peace negotiations also face sceptics in the U.S. Congress.

“Until the Taliban confirm, not just in words but in action, that they have renounced all terrorist activity and support, we should not reward them by participating in any reconciliation efforts,” Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, said in a statement.

‘PEACE IS NOT AT HAND’

U.S. officials said the initial meeting with the Taliban was expected to involve an exchange of agendas, followed by another meeting a week or two later to discuss next steps.

A U.S. official said he expected the initial meeting would be followed within days by another between the Taliban and the High Peace Council, a structure set up by Karzai to represent Afghanistan in such talks.

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the level of trust between the Afghan government and the Taliban remained low, and played down expectations that the talks would quickly lead to peace.

“We need to be realistic,” said one official. “This is a new development, a potentially significant development. But peace is not at hand.”

A senior U.S. official said Pakistan, which has provided sanctuary to the Taliban despite its professed support for the battle against Islamist militancy, had recently been supportive of the peace process.

“There has in the past been scepticism about their support, but in recent months I think we’ve seen evidence that there is genuine support and that they’ve employed their influence such as it is to encourage the Taliban to engage,” he said.

A U.S. official said the talks would be conducted on the Taliban side by its political commission, with the authorisation of its leader, Mullah Omar. The main U.S. interlocutor has been Tayeb Agha, whom Washington considers close to Omar.

James Dobbins, the new special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will lead the U.S. side.

Also represented will be the Haqqani network, considered the United States’ deadliest foe in Afghanistan. The top U.S. and NATO commander in the country cast doubt on Tuesday over whether it could make peace.

“All I’ve seen of the Haqqani would make it hard for me to believe they were reconcilable,” U.S. General Joseph Dunford told reporters by phone from Kabul.

Shattering glass at new ThOC building a source of concern

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THOC

THE HOUSE Watchdog Committee will be probing certain construction problems at the new building of the Cyprus theatre organisation (ThOC) and why it cost more than expected, it emerged yesterday.

DISY MP Prodromos Prodrmou said one aspect of the matter were the construction problems that appeared recently in the Nicosia building, delivered in March 2012.

“We are not in position to know the exact cause, but they are construction problems, which could pose great dangers for public safety,” Prodromou said.

The problem is the glass panels that complete the railings of an ascending corridor that leads to the auditorium balcony, keep shattering.

Due to this, the management was forced close the area, which includes the foyer, and use a side door for theatre-goers to enter.

“The committee’s intervention was necessary because there could be more construction problems posing serious dangers,” Prodromou said. “The explanation given was partially satisfactory. We will revisit the issue.”

MPs have also taken issue with the €2.6 million in extra costs.

It was a €20.5 million project that eventually cost €23.1 million, Prodromou said.

The DISY MP said this would also be revisited when they receive the information regarding the payments made for the project.

In June 2008, the roof of the Nicosia Municipal theatre collapsed, two-and-a-half years after €5.6 million were spent refurbishing it.

The collapse happened a day before hundreds of school children were to use the theatre for an end-of-year performance.

By chance, the national theatre company ThOC which used the building was away for rehearsals and on one was harmed.

Our View: Decision on judges’ salaries was wholly predictable

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OPIN

AS WAS expected the district court judges won the appeal against the cuts to their salaries, the Supreme Court ruling last week that this was in violation of Article 158.3 of the constitution. The article states clearly that “the remuneration and other conditions of service of any such judge shall not be altered to his disadvantage, after his appointment,” and once appeals against the pay-cuts had been filed the Supreme Court had to base its decision on the provisions of the constitution.

For the layman, it is very difficult to understand why a provision that was included in the constitution to protect the independence of the judiciary could have been cited when this independence was not being threatened in any way by the executive. The pay cuts had been imposed on everyone employed in the public sector, because the Cyprus Republic is bankrupt and had to reduce the state payroll in order to receive financial assistance. This was no attempt to erode the independence of judges.

Then again, Supreme Court judges are much better qualified to interpret the provisions of the constitution than we are, even though we are entitled to hold the view that this was a moral rather than a legal issue and that judges were using the provision of the constitution to protect, not their independence, but their incomes. More than half of the 84 district court judges, who had filed an appeal against the pay-cuts, to their credit, recognised the moral dimension of the matter and withdrew their appeal.

However, 37 judges did not withdraw their appeals. It would be interesting to see how many of these would voluntarily contribute the equivalent of the pay-cut to the state, as some had pledged to do. The Supreme Court, in its ruling, expressed the hope that this “example would be followed by the rest of the applicants,” but this was quite clearly not a legal position as no law obliges applicants to give back any part of their income to the state, even in times of state bankruptcy. Were the Supreme Court judges introducing a moral element to their decision?

But even if all judges contribute the equivalent of the pay-cut to the state – we hope those who do not are named – they would still be better off than all other state sector workers, because their retirement bonus and pension would be based on their full salary, not taking into account voluntary contributions. Presumably, the constitution has no provisions ensuring the equal treatment of state employees, in times of national emergency.

 

Marfin-Laiki merger cost Cyprus €4b

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MARFIN

By George Psyllides

THE ISLAND’S banking system incurred losses of at least €4.0 billion through the merger of Greek lender Marfin Egnatia with the now defunct Laiki Bank, MPs heard yesterday.

A Greek MP told the House Ethics Committee that the “scandal” as he described the merger, had been discovered in 2010, by a Greek parliamentary committee looking into another scandal where Vatopedi monks had engaged political help to obtain the rights to a nature reserve in northern Greece and then, with more help, to swap it for valuable state-owned real estate across the country.

Vatopedi Monastery in Ayio Oros, Greece

Vatopedi Monastery in Ayio Oros, Greece

The monks were also major players on the stock market and received €109 million in loans from Marfin Bank.

The money was in turn used to buy shares in Marfin Investment Group (MIG), controlled by former Laiki strongman Andreas Vgenopoulos (pictured)

The Greek parliamentary inquiry alleged serious “conflicts of interest” in how bank loans were issued to finance MIG’s wider activities.

“The investigation of the Vatopedi scandal led us to a collateral scandal that extended to Cyprus through Laiki Bank,” the chairman of the Greek inquiry Demetris Tsironis said yesterday.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting of the committee, chairman Demetris Syllouris said it was a big scandal.
“We estimate that at least €4.0 billion has been lost in this plot,” Syllouris said.

Tsironis did not name names but he said there were individuals and companies involved in “this massive scandal.”
“I would dare say that the problem in Cyprus would be limited if it wasn’t for this,” he said.

Tsironis said he had warned the Greek authorities about the matter and “I imagine that all these things were known.”

And audit carried out by the Central Bank of Greece and the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) in March 2009, found that loans worth €732 million had been given by Marfin Egnatia to individuals and companies so that the could buy MIG shares.

That was in July 2007.

At the same time Marfin Egnatia had given €1.8 billion in loans to ship magnates and business groups linked with MIG.

The loans mainly had MIG shares as collateral.

AKEL MP Irini Charalambidou said that the Greek Central Bank Governor assured at the time there was nothing wrong with the procedures at Marfin Egnatia.

Charalambiou sought once more to blame former Central Bank governor for the debacle, suggesting he could have stopped the merger.

“He knew exactly what the situation was at Marfin Egnatia when he approved its conversion to a branch (from a subsidiary),” Charalambidou said.

The merger meant the Cypriot government had to include the liabilities of the Greek operations when asked to bail out Laiki in the summer of 2012.

However, an investigation by forensics and dispute services firm Alvarez and Marsal, found that there was not much Orphanides could do.

“The structure of the regulation and legislation is such that under the Mergers Directive the bank did no require any authorisation from the CBC, this resulted in the bank being able to transfer the assets and liabilities to Cyprus without approval from the CBC,” a findings report said.

The CBC was left with one option, the firm said, either to accept the conversion of the Greek subsidiary or force the bank to cease operations in Greece.

“Given the desire to maintain the bank’s headquarters in Cyprus and the perceived regulatory benefits, the CBC notified the BOG (Bank of Greece) of the creation of Marfin Popular Bank’s branch in Greece,” A&M said.

State needs to act on online grooming of children

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Another incident of online grooming and child pornography through social networks recently came to the surface again highlighting the dangers lurking on the internet.

Along with the increased use of internet, especially among children and adolescents, the phenomenon of grooming and solicitation via the Internet has developed. This problem has occurred in recent years on an international level and in some countries it has already been criminalized. Early identification of the process of online grooming of minors by law enforcement agencies is an important parameter to avoid the maximum physical and psychological harm effectuated on a minor that can be caused as a result of the above process.

“Hope For Children” UNCRC Policy Centre, as a Cooperating Partner of the Council of Europe for the ONE in FIVE Campaign to stop sexual violence against children, would like to stress once again the urgent need for ratification and implementation of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention). The Convention lists provisions that must be applied in order to provide proper handling and prevention of all forms of sexual exploitation, including the solicitation and grooming of children.

To increase criminal liability in such cases in Cyprus it is  necessary to prove that the person tried at least to commit one of these offenses, as indicated in a recent study of “Hope For Children”, ” Online Grooming of Children: Experiences to be used in Cyprus”. There are known and inherent difficulties in determining the stage at which a preparatory act turns into an actual attempt to commit an offense. According to the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code, for the establishment of an attempt there must be intent to commit an offense, which should be manifested by some overt act. The study also states that the EU Kids Online research describes Cyprus as a country with “greater use, some risk” in this field. You can find the study for online solicitation of minors on the “Hope For Children’s” website at www.uncrcpc.org, under Documentation Centre, or by sending an email to info@uncrcpc.org.

It is important to mention that children and teenagers have the opportunity to address for help and advice anonymously and free of charge at the European Helpline for Children and Adolescents 116 111, which operates under the NGO consortium “Hope For Children” and Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family.

Hope For Children” UNCRC Policy Centre

 

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