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‘Puzzled’ EU officials to discuss Anastasiades bailout letter: report

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European Council Summit

Eurozone finance ministers will discuss a letter sent by President Nicos Anastasiades criticising the island’s bailout and asking for its overhaul, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Quoting an unnamed senior eurozone official, the FT said EU officials were “puzzled” by the letter, which will be discussed during a regular meeting on Thursday.

“Essentially he is asking for a complete reversal of the programme,” the official said, according to the FT.

The official added that the failure to prepare for the bailout’s impact was partially the fault of Anastasiades’ government, which initially voted down a rescue package mid-March before accepting a similar deal nine days later.

Cyprus’ parliament rejected the initial conditions of the bailout, which called for imposing losses on both insured – under €100,000 — and uninsured bank deposits.

The plan was to slap a €6.9 per cent tax on deposits in all banks under €100,000 and 9.9 per cent above that.

The plan had been doomed to fail from the onset as main opposition AKEL, EDEK and government partners DIKO rejected it before it even went to the vote.

Ruling DISY abstained.

Nine days later, the Eurogroup decided that Laiki Bank, the island’s second-biggest, would be closed and uninsured deposits in the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) will be used to recapitalise the lender.

It was a take it or leave it deal with the European Central Bank (ECB) threatening to pull the plug on emergency liquidity to Laiki, which would have meant its immediate collapse and possibly that of BoC shortly afterwards.
The process, known as a ‘bail-in’, was a first in the history of the eurozone debt crisis. Thousands of depositors lost their savings, and subsequent capital controls were imposed to prevent a drain on remaining deposits.

Those controls are largely still in place.

“It is my humble submission that the bail-in was implemented without careful preparation,” Anastasiades said in the letter.

The president said there was no clear understanding of how a bail-in would be implemented, legal issues were being raised and there were major delays in completing the process.

No distinction was made between long-term deposits earning high returns and money flowing through current accounts, such as company working capital.

“An alternative, longer term, downsizing of the banking system away from publicity and without bank-runs was a credible alternative that would not have produced such a deep recession and loss of confidence in the banking system,” the letter said.

Anastasiades also took a shot at the ECB for continuing to provide Laiki with emergency liquidity assistance (ELA), which reached around €9.0 billion.

The amount, along with €2.0 billion extra, is now burdening the BoC.

The ECB has defended the decision, arguing the possibility of a future recapitalisation with public money meant it was still viable at the time.

It has also said that ELA was the responsibility of the national regulator – the Central Bank of Cyprus.

However, critics point out that the ECB could have pulled the plug earlier if it wanted, just as it did on March 25.


Limassol bakery robbed

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Picture4(1)

Two young individuals robbed a Limassol bakery at knifepoint, getting away with €130, police said on Wednesday.

The two, who wore hoods, entered the Ypsonas bakery at 1.10am, shouting “robbery.”

One of the suspects threatened the 34-year-old workers with a knife, while the second one opened the cash machine and grabbed €130 in paper currency.

After that the two fled the scene, police said.

The perpetrators were described as being young, slender, and around 1.70 metres tall.

Bird trapping situation’ enough to drive you crazy’

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BIRD SLAUGHTER

By Maria Gregoriou

BEST-SELLING author Jonathan Franzen has made a documentary ‘Emptying the Skies’ based on an article he wrote about the illegal trapping and killing of migratory birds in southern Europe, including Cyprus.

The documentary was recently shown at the Sheffield Docs Film Festival.

It illustrates how 30 million songbirds a year are illegally trapped and killed in the Mediterranean and are destined for the cooking pot. Franzen and the film crew followed the operations of Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) activists, who have been taking direct action against illegal bird trapping for more than two years. The activists travel in spring and autumn each year to areas in southern Europe where poachers are known to set-up trapping equipment.

Franzen’s documentary, directed by Roger Kass, recounts the secret war to save songbirds. Footage was shot in Cyprus, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Vivid images show very angry poachers swearing and chasing members of the activist group.

Franzen said in the documentary: “We may be a little crazy but the situation in the Mediterranean is enough to drive you crazy.”

In his earlier essay Franzen refers to being in Protaras in April to meet four CABS members. The first orchard they walked into “was full of lime sticks straight switches, about thirty inches long, that are coated with the gluey gum of the Syrian plum and deployed artfully, to provide inviting perches, in the branches of low trees.”

Franzen says the CABS team rubbed the sticks in the dirt to neutralise the glue. “All the sticks had feathers on them. In a lemon tree, we found a male collared flycatcher hanging upside down like a piece of animal fruit, its tail and its legs and its black-and-white wings stuck in glue.”

A member of the activist group filmed the tiny bird twitching while another took still photographs and said “the photos are important because you win the war in the newspapers, not in the field.”

The 20-page essay on trapping migrant birds in Europe was published in the New Yorker magazine on 26 July, 2010. It was also published in a collection of Franzen’s essays ‘Farther Away’ in April of this year.

BirdLife Cyprus says that massive profits are being made by often organised and ruthless trappers thanks to the largely uncontrolled sale of expensive amelopoulia in law-breaking restaurants.

Bird trapping has been illegal in Cyprus since 1974, when tougher legislation on hunting was introduced. However, enforcement was basically non-existent until the island’s EU accession in 2004.

“The implementation of the law is not strict enough. Poachers should be fined €17,000 and/ or three years imprisonment. However court fines may average around €800, while the profits for trappers are in the order of tens of thousand of euros a year,” the Campaigns Manager of BirdLife Cyprus Martin Hellicar said.

A dozen birds can be sold for €40 or €50, he said. Hellicar also said authorities currently have very limited resources to tackle the extensive bird trapping problem and the organised crime networks involved. A lack of political will has also been claimed to be a reason why the problem is not being tackled correctly.

“The number of birds trapped each year has increased sharply since 2007, and has remained very high for the last three years,” Hellicar said.

“For autumn 2012 it was estimated that 1.6 million birds could have been killed within the survey area and over 2.1 million could have been killed across the whole of Cyprus,” Hellicar said

The indiscriminate nature of mist nets and limesticks means that over 150 different species are affected, 78 of these have a threatened status, causing an ecological disaster, he added.
Some of these threatened species of birds are shrikes, bee-eaters and owls.

Franzen has authored ‘The Twenty-Seventh City,’ ‘Strong Motion,’ and ‘The Discomfort Zone.’ He has also published a collection of essays ‘How to Be Alone’ and a memoir, ‘The Discomfort’, and a translation of Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening. One of his novels ‘The Corrections’ won the 2001 National Book Award and the 2002 James Tait Black Memorial Award and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Franzen lives in New York City and Santa Cruz, California.

Footage of illegal bird trapping in Cyprus can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kk4B4YJWiQ.

A trapping report from BirdLife Cyprus can be viewed at http://www.birdlifecyprus.org/en/html-36-Trapping_Reports.html.

For more information email Martin.Hellicar@birdlifecyprus.org.cy

Anastasiades announces tax breaks for companies

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CYPRUS-ECONOMY-EU-FINANCE

By Peter Stevenson

PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades last night announced tax breaks for companies to help revive the economy during an address at the 52nd annual meeting of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants ICPA.

“The government’s priority is to help the recovery of the economy by promoting growth, reducing unemployment and restoring the confidence of foreign investors in order to increase the competitiveness of Cyprus and create a more efficient and business-friendly environment,” Anastasiades said.

Under the new incentives, he said, companies would receive a 25 per cent tax break when they employed additional personnel. They would be granted a deduction of 100 per cent until 2016 on expenses used for the acquisition of fixed assets related to innovation, research, computing, communications and renewable energy.

There would also be an extension until 2016 for increased tax deductions of at least 20 per cent for the acquisition of other assets, he said.

Anastasiades also revealed that within the next few days more tax incentives would be announced for those affected by the resolution of Laiki Bank and the administration of Bank of Cyprus.

He added that a scheme had been put in place not to charge interest to those companies which were unable to pay VAT for April, May and June due to the banking crisis.

The ten per cent VAT charge would also be reduced to 5 per cent for the period July until October as long as they are paid in full by December, he said.

“Despite the current difficulties Cyprus has more than fifty double taxation agreements in place, it has an exceptional level of professionalism, providing accounting, legal and financial services and a high level of manpower,” Anastasiades said.

The president added Cyprus also has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe and remained an attractive destination for foreign investors and a highly competitive centre for international business.

“In combination with the measures which have been announced we have introduced ways to modernise the state by simplifying procedures in the public sector with a view to permanently removing the obstructive red tape which does not help growth,” he said.

Anastasiades said he hoped to strengthen and modernise the public service through training, meritocracy and the use of new technology.

Court throws out case against foreign investor

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FOREIGN INVESTOR ZENING STORY

By Stefanos Evripidou

A SEMI-government organisation which initiated criminal proceedings against an Indian investor trying to inject €5 million in to a Latchi tourist resort yesterday lost its case and was ordered to pay the investor’s legal fees.

The Council for Registration and Control of Contractors (CRCC) initiated proceedings against Zening Resort in Latchi village in the Polis Chrysochous area for allegedly hiring a non-licensed contractor to do renovation work.

The CRCC initially tried to secure an interim injunction to stop renovation work at Zening (formerly the Elia holiday village) but failed, once it transpired that the hired contractor did have a licence, something which should have been obvious to the semi-government body since they are the ones responsible for registering contractors.

The CRCC then asked for a series of adjournments, to prepare a new charge against Zening, going to the resort twice for inspections in an effort to find grounds for a new affidavit against the resort.

However, the Paphos District Court yesterday threw out the semi-government body’s request to submit new charges, ordering the Council to pay all of Zening’s legal fees.

The man behind the effort to turn Zening into a sustainable tourism project, Ajay Goyal, yesterday welcomed the decision, saying it “felt very good” to see the court acknowledge that the “frivolous charges had no grounds at all” and order that their legal fees be paid by the CRCC.

“It was very clear to the judge that the charges were filed with the intention to harass, they had no basis,” he said.

“We knew we were going to win eventually but we didn’t expect it to be thrown out (yesterday),” said Goyal, noting that the case “collapsed on its own false basis”.

Goyal described the Council’s efforts to charge Zening for using an unlicenced contractor, even though a licenced contractor was used, and then when this failed, to find new charges as “witch hunt”.

“Once you file legal proceedings, you can’t go on a witch hunt, trying to find something to stick a second or third time round,” he said.

The Indian investor complained to the Cyprus Mail earlier this month that his €5 million sustainable tourism project was being consistently thwarted by a raid on bank accounts, capital controls, frequent government inspections on site, fines, lawsuits, bad press, and “bullying”.

Following a detailed report by the Sunday Mail on June 2, Goyal was invited to the Presidential Palace, where he met Undersecretary to the President, Constantinos Petrides to explain the trials and tribulations facing “real investors” in Cyprus, not simply buyers of real estate.

Zening was meant to open in May for the 2013 tourist season but the project was pushed back after the Eurogroup decision last March, which saw Zening investors lose half a million euros in lost revenue as a result of the delay.

They expect to lose a further €2m from the haircut on deposits in Bank of Cyprus and the former Laiki Bank.

Goyal originally attracted €15m to invest in the area in two phases, but €10m has since been pulled out following the Eurogroup decision to raid bank deposit.

The 47-year-old investor said he has also had to spend a lot of time countering allegations of supposed illegalities and irregularities made by the Paphos contractors’ association, headed by Antonis Petrides.

Petrides was heard numerous times on local radio claiming that the tourism project was riddled with illegalities, allegedly employing dozens of illegal and undocumented workers, and operating without a building permit.

Goyal said after Petrides made the allegations, he became the target of regular inspections from the police, labour ministry, and other government departments.

The investor said yesterday his legal team was in the process of collecting evidence to sue Petrides for slander and allegedly conducting a smear campaign against him.

Two more minor SGOs for the chop

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By Stefanos Evripidou

THE CABINET yesterday approved a decision to shut down two more minor semi-government organisations (SGOs), the Licensing Authority, and Reviewing Licensing Authority, said deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos.

The communications and works ministry was authorised to implement the closure of the two SGOs.

The milk, vine products and potato boards were earmarked for closure last month.

At the same time, cabinet approved the continued operation of the Ports Authority, Scientific and Technical Chamber and Council for Registration and Control of Contractors.

Other decisions approved by cabinet include the decision to add 100 new places for undergraduate students at the University of Cyprus for 2013-2014 and 200 places for the transfer of Cypriot students already studying abroad, as part of efforts to alleviate the difficulties of families struggling under the weight of the crisis.

A further 481 places were approved for undergraduate students at the Cyprus University of Technology for the coming academic year.

The finance ministry’s proposal to reform the benefits system in the wider public service by January 1, 2014, was also approved. The reforms will include measures to tax the benefits of senior state officials and suspend the purchase of business or club class tickets for state trips abroad.

For the remainder of public servants and contract-paid employees, the reforms will focus on modernising the benefits available and reducing the amount of overtime offered.
The state hopes to make €31m in savings as a result of the above.

Cabinet called on SGOs and local authorities to implement similar reforms in their next budgets.

During yesterday’s session, the council of ministers approved a legal amendment of the Pension Law aimed at limiting the pension received by a public official following employment in one or more positions to half the salary of the highest paid position of the two.

The amendment will also affect the pension benefits paid for those who served as deputies in parliament.

Cabinet approved a bill setting rules in the appointment of the board of directors in the wider public sector.

Before appointments can be made, a list of candidates must be tabled at parliament a month before the term of the incumbent board expires.

The people on the list will be called to a public hearing before parliament which will be obliged in each case, two weeks before the term of the incumbent board expires, to prepare a report to cabinet on the suitability of the candidates.

In preparing the report, parliament will be obliged to take into account relevant academic or professional qualities of the candidate, their experience, knowledge and capabilities.

Around 2,000 BoC staff may be gone by year’s end

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BOC STAFF

BANK of Cyprus (BoC) is looking to cut its staff by 2,500 and radically reduce its branches across the island, as it adjusts to the new reality imposed by the conditions of the island’s €10 billion bailout deal.

Following an agreement with the employee union (ETYK) providing for salary cuts of up to 30 per cent, BoC was now focusing on striking a deal on voluntary retirements and restructuring the stricken lender.

“I hope that soon we will come to an agreement with ETYK for the voluntary exit of a significant number of staff,” interim chairman Sophocles Michaelides said.

He said the immediate goal was for 1,000 people to go and another 1,000 to 1,500 after the restructuring plan was finished.

“In total we may cut staff by 2,000 to 2,500 by December,” he said.

To secure the much-needed assistance from its EU partners and the International Monetary Fund, Cyprus agreed to close its second-biggest bank, Laiki, and impose heavy losses on depositors to recapitalise BoC.

Deposits over €100,000 have so far been cut by 37.5 per cent with the rate likely to reach 60 per cent.

Depositors will receive equity in return.

The bailout provided that part of Laiki’s assets would be transferred to BoC, as well as its personnel.

Following the absorption of Laiki’s 85 branches and 2,390 staff, BoC now has 202 branches and 5,640 staff.

Michaelides said he expected more than half the branches to be closed by December.

“We will focus on 100 to 120 branches across the island,” he told state radio.

The BoC also exited Greece – as per bailout agreement — a market in which it operated for the last 22 years, through the disposal of loans, fixed assets and deposits of its banking operations in the country.

Its operations in Romania and the UK have also been affected.

In Romania, the bank transferred certain assets and liabilities including most customer deposits, certain loan agreements and related collateral, cash and other liquid assets to the subsidiary of Laiki in Romania.

In the UK, deposits of Laiki’s UK branch have been transferred to BoC’s UK subsidiary and advances to the parent company.

Myanmar constitution likely to dash Suu Kyi’s presidential hopes

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Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi 68th birthday anniversary

By Jared Ferrie

Her adoring compatriots believe democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi is destined to become Myanmar’s next president. But don’t bet on it.

A year ago, the Nobel Peace Prize winner was feted at home and abroad and flush from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s landslide wins in April 2012 by-elections, which swept her into parliament.

Even a military-drafted constitution designed to exclude her from the highest office seemed a surmountable hurdle.

Now the journey from political prisoner to president appears much less certain, even as her ambition is clearer than ever.

“I want to be president and I’m quite frank about it,” she told journalists at the World Economic Forum in the capital Naypyitaw on June 6.

But to emerge as president after a 2015 general election, Suu Kyi, 68, must overcome challenges that would daunt a less formidable political survivor.

She must convince a military-dominated parliament to amend the constitution.

Even if she can do that, and the constitution can be amended in time, she could then face a voter backlash over her position on a violent and widening rift between her nation’s Buddhists and minority Muslims.

Her rare public expressions of support for Muslims, who have borne the brunt of waves of sectarian violence, put her in a politically fraught position in the Buddhist-majority country.

Some people wonder if the violence is being exploited by conservative opponents to chip away at her support.

To win power, she would also have to fend off two former generals who covet the top spot. The first is Shwe Mann, the influential speaker of Myanmar’s lower house.

The other is the popular incumbent Thein Sein, whose quasi-civilian government took power in March 2011 after nearly half a century of military rule and launched a series of political and economic reforms. Thein Sein might seek a second term despite health concerns.

NO EASY TASK

Suu Kyi’s most immediate problem is the constitution.

It bars anyone married to a foreigner or who has children who are foreign citizens. Suu Kyi and her husband, the late British academic Michael Aris, had two children who are British.

“By all accounts it was drawn up with her in mind,” Andrew McLeod, a professor at Sydney Law School and deputy director of the Myanmar Constitutional Reform Project, said of the constitution, drawn up under the former military junta.

Any constitutional amendment would require 75 percent support in parliament – no easy task when the constitution also reserves a quarter of seats for the military.

Most of the rest of the members of parliament are members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), created by the old junta and largely made up of retired military officers.

If passed by parliament, an amendment must win more than half the vote in a referendum. Some analysts say there just isn’t enough time to do all that before the 2015 election.

But even if she can pull off the amendments, the reality of partisan politics could threaten Suu Kyi’s presidential hopes.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of the hero of the campaign for independence from Britain, faces pressure internationally to defend the persecuted, including Muslims. But when she does, her once-unassailable popularity is threatened.

At least 237 people have been killed in violence between Myanmar’s Buddhists and Muslims over the past year and about 150,000 people have been left homeless. Most of the victims have been stateless Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine.

Groups such as the New York-based Human Rights Watch have condemned Suu Kyi for not using her moral authority to speak in defense of the Rohingya for fear of upsetting the Buddhist majority ahead of the election.

A 1982 law bars most Rohingya from citizenship and the government – and many ordinary Buddhists – consider them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh even though many can trace ancestry in Rakhine state for generations.

ALIENATING VOTERS?

When asked about her failure to strongly condemn violence against the Rohingya, Suu Kyi said at the World Economic Forum she didn’t want to “aggravate the situation” by taking sides. But she has criticized a policy in Rakhine State limiting Rohingya women to two children.

Suu Kyi has also said the government should re-examine the 1982 citizenship law. But that prompted the Daily Eleven newspaper to warn that any attempt by her to change the law would alienate voters and cost her party the next election.

For Suu Kyi the presidency would crown a remarkable life.

The military put her under house arrest in 1989 following the suppression of pro-democracy protests. The NLD swept a 1990 election by a landslide but the junta ignored the result and kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 of the next 20 years.

She was released in November 2010 a week after a general election, widely regarded as rigged, swept the USDP to power. The NLD boycotted the election as undemocratic.

The European Union and United States have lifted or suspended most sanctions against Myanmar, although Washington warned they could be reimposed if it backtracked on reform.

Denying Suu Kyi a crack at the presidency could suggest to the world that Myanmar is doing just that, said McLeod. This could prompt Western companies to halt investment in one of Asia’s last frontier economies.

But Bertil Lintner, a veteran journalist and author of several books on Myanmar, said that was not likely.

“I think the foreign business community would prefer to have the USDP and the military in power,” he said. “For them, it means stability and continuity.”


Our View: Struggling Bank of Cyprus is hardly in a position to offer golden handshakes

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BOC STAFF

EVERY time there is a need for a big organisation to get rid of significant numbers of staff, the adjective ‘voluntary’ is always put in front of early retirement and resignation by union bosses. In other words, only if a worker wants to leave would the company that is obliged to reduce staff numbers, get rid of him or her. The implication is that if a worker wants to stay the employer does not have the right to make him or her redundant.

Is there any law that forces a company in financial difficulties to hand redundancy notices only to workers who want to leave, is there any such provision in collective agreements or is it a worker’s human right not to be made redundant against his wishes? The answer is no, but union bosses like to bring it up to show off their power and remind everyone that they are in control, while everyone plays along lest they are accused of being anti-worker.

This is part of the same package as the ‘generous compensations’, demanded by union bosses for those who are made redundant. A company has no legal obligation to pay them but this does not stop union bosses from demanding them. Events at Cyprus Airways in the last few days have debunked these myths. The company could not afford to pay any extra compensation and only some 70 of the 400-plus staff that would be made redundant volunteered to leave.

The mighty boss of the bank employees union ETYK is adopting the same discourse with regard to the downsizing of the Bank of Cyprus, which is expected to get rid of more than a thousand workers in the first phase of redundancies. What are the chances that a thousand bank employees would volunteer to leave? The ETYK boss, is also trying to negotiate generous compensation packages to make up volunteer numbers, but is the struggling Bank of Cyprus in the financial position to offer golden handshakes?

Those days are gone. The bank does not need the co-operation or blessing of ETYK which has become an irrelevance. Management should make redundant the employees that are less committed, less hard-working, less capable and not those who volunteer to leave. When Cyprus Airways introduced a voluntary early retirement scheme, in the ‘90s it lost some of its ablest employees, while the unmotivated mediocrities stayed. And this is what would happen at the Bank of Cyprus if it agrees to the idea of ‘voluntary exits’.

Restructuring offers a big opportunity for the bank to get rid of its uncommitted and unproductive employees while keeping its best. In so doing it would also lay to rest the union nonsense about voluntary redundancies.

 

 

‘We never asked to change the deal’

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MAIN STORY

By George Psyllides

CYPRUS is focused on implementing a bailout agreement and there was never a question of renegotiation, the government said yesterday, after EU officials and paymaster Germany made it clear that it was unlikely for the deal to change.

“Consistent and disciplined implementation of the memorandum is the best way to get out of the memorandum and the loan agreement quickly,” government spokesman Christos Stylianides said.

Stylianides’ statement came as EU officials reacted to international media reports that Cyprus was seeking to change the terms of its €10 billion bailout deal.

The spokesman stressed that outlining certain practical difficulties and seeking solutions “together with our EU partners, does not in any way mean refusal to implement what had been agreed.”

“What we seek is to resolve practical problems, but always within the framework of the programme,” Stylianides said.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported on a letter sent by President Nicos Anastasiades to eurozone leaders and Cyprus’ lenders around a week ago, in which he criticised the terms of the bailout and warned that it would not work.

The FT said Anastasiades wanted the bailout to be overhauled.

“It is my humble submission that the bail-in was implemented without careful preparation,” Anastasiades said in the letter.

“The heavy burden placed on Cyprus by the restructuring of Greek debt was not taken into consideration when it was Cyprus’ turn to seek help.”

EU officials and Germany said it was unlikely that the terms of the bailout would change.

Cyprus should implement its aid programme without further delay and there is no reason “at first sight” to change the deal, a spokesman for the German finance ministry told Reuters.

“At first sight there is no reason why the programme… should be changed,” finance ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus said in a statement to Reuters.

“Rather it must be about implementing the programme consistently and without further delay. That is mostly down to Cyprus.”

Unnamed EU officials quoted by Reuters also said there was no intention to alter the terms of the loans agreed with Cyprus or to supply more funds.

The sources suggested Anastasiades was aware no revision was likely, but wanted to send a message to a domestic audience.

Asked if the terms of the bailout could be changed, one senior EU policymaker said: “No, not as far as I can see.”

Eurozone finance ministers will discuss the letter at a meeting in Luxembourg today.

A second official said: “There’s no chance we’ll revise the terms of the bailout, but we’ll discuss it on Thursday.”

A third confirmed no change was possible in the short-term, but said there could “potentially” be adjustments in the medium term, as was the case of Greece. However, that also depends on eurozone leaders, who will meet on June 27-28.

The Financial Times reported that EU officials were “puzzled” by the letter.

“Essentially he is asking for a complete reversal of the programme,” the official said, according to the FT.

The official added that the failure to prepare for the bailout’s impact was partially the fault of Anastasiades’ government, which initially voted down a rescue package mid-March before accepting a similar deal nine days later.

Cyprus’ parliament rejected the initial conditions of the bailout, which called for imposing losses on both insured – under €100,000 — and uninsured bank deposits.

The plan was to slap a 6.9 per cent tax on deposits in all banks under €100,000 and 9.9 per cent above that.

The plan had been doomed to fail from the onset as main opposition AKEL, EDEK and government partners DIKO rejected it before it even went to the vote.
Ruling DISY abstained.

Nine days later, the Eurogroup decided that Laiki Bank, the island’s second-biggest, would be closed and uninsured deposits in the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) will be used to recapitalise the lender.

It was a take it or leave it deal with the European Central Bank (ECB) threatening to pull the plug on emergency liquidity to Laiki, which would have meant its immediate collapse and possibly that of BoC shortly afterwards.

The process, known as a ‘bail-in’, was a first in the history of the eurozone debt crisis.
Thousands of depositors lost their savings, and subsequent capital controls were imposed to prevent a drain on remaining deposits.
Those controls are largely still in place.
In his letter, the president said there was no clear understanding of how a bail-in would be implemented, legal issues were being raised and there were major delays in completing the process.
No distinction was made between long-term deposits earning high returns and money flowing through current accounts, such as company working capital.

“An alternative, longer term, downsizing of the banking system away from publicity and without bank-runs was a credible alternative that would not have produced such a deep recession and loss of confidence in the banking system,” the letter said.

Anastasiades also took a shot at the ECB for continuing to provide Laiki with emergency liquidity assistance (ELA), which reached around €9.0 billion.

The amount, along with €2.0 billion extra, is now burdening the BoC.

The ECB has defended the decision, arguing the possibility of a future recapitalisation with public money meant it was still viable at the time.

It has also said that ELA was the responsibility of the national regulator – the Central Bank of Cyprus.

However, critics point out that the ECB could have pulled the plug earlier if it wanted, just as it did on March 25.

Meanwhile, the European Commission said yesterday it had set up a support group for Cyprus, which was announced by President José Manuel Barroso earlier this year.

The Commission said the new team would work closely with the Cypriot authorities and provide technical expertise to underpin the implementation of the economic adjustment programme, agreed in April between Cyprus, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“The support group will help to alleviate the social consequences of the economic shock by mobilising EU funds and support the Cypriot authorities’ efforts to restore financial, economic and social stability. Moreover, it will bring in expertise to facilitate the emergence of new sources of economic activity,” the Commission said.

The general coordination of the group, the staff of which will be based in Brussels and Nicosia, will be ensured by Commission Vice-President Olli Rehn, who is responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro.

To deliver a broad range of expertise, the group will draw on contributions from all relevant Commission services, as well as from Member States. It will be headed by Mary McCarthy, advisor in the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs.

Actor James Gandolfini, star of ‘The Sopranos,’ dies in Italy

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James Gandolfini dies at 51

By Piya Sinha-Roy and Steve Gorman

James Gandolfini, the burly actor best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of a conflicted New Jersey mob boss in the groundbreaking cable TV series “The Sopranos,” died on Wednesday vacationing in Italy. He was 51.

Gandolfini, whose role as Tony Soprano made him a household name while transforming the HBO network and ushering in a new era of drama on American television, had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday.

He died of a possible heart attack in Rome, HBO spokeswoman Mara Mikialian told Reuters.

Since “The Sopranos” ended its six-season run in June 2007, Gandolfini appeared in a number of big-screen roles, including “Zero Dark Thirty,” a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and the comedy “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.”

At the time of his death, he had been working on an upcoming HBO series “Criminal Justice.” HBO declined to elaborate on the series other than to say that it was in development and that Gandolfini was a part of it.

He had two motion pictures due in theaters next year.

“We’re all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family,” the network said in a statement. “He was a special man, a great talent, but more importantly, a gentle and loving person who treated everyone, no matter their title or position, with equal respect.”

Gandolfini, a virtual unknown when cast in “The Sopranos,” broke ground with his signature portrait of the show’s title character, the head of a fictional New Jersey mob family.

Although he shared the character’s Italian-American heritage and New Jersey roots, the actor was known for a reserved demeanor off-camera and generally shied away from publicity.

As Tony Soprano, Gandolfini created a gangster different from any previously seen in American television or film. He was capable of killing enemies with his own hands but was prone to panic attacks. He loved his wife, Carmela, played by Edie Falco, and was a doting father, but he carried on a string of extramarital affairs.

He regularly saw a therapist, portrayed by Lorraine Bracco, to work out his anxiety problems and issues with his mother.

By the start of the show’s final season, Gandolfini suggested he was ready to move on to more gentle roles once his TV mobster days were over.

“I’m too tired to be a tough guy or any of that stuff anymore,” he said. “We pretty much used all that up in this show.”

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

The program, which earned Gandolfini three Emmy Awards as best lead actor in a drama series, was considered by many critics at the time the finest drama to have aired on U.S. television.

The series was a major factor in establishing HBO, a pay-cable network once focused on presentations of feature films, as a powerhouse of original dramatic television and in shifting the kind of sophisticated storytelling once reserved for the big screen to TV.

The show won the Emmy as best drama series in 2004 and again in 2007 after its final season. The series concluded with a final episode that strongly suggested Tony was about to be murdered before abruptly ending mid-scene, cutting from a shot of Gandolfini‘s face to a blank screen.

His role also paved the way for a parade of popular prime-time shows built around profoundly flawed characters and anti-heroes, from “Dexter” and “Breaking Bad” to “Mad Men” and “Nurse Jackie.”

David Chase, creator of “The Sopranos,” paid tribute to his former star in a statement remembering him as “a genius” and “one of the greatest actors of this or any time.”

“A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. I remember telling him many times, ‘You don’t get it. You’re like Mozart.’ There would be silence at the other end of the phone,” Chase recounted.

Actress Susan Sarandon, who played Gandolfini‘s wife in the 2005 romantic comedy “Romance and Cigarettes,” remembered him in a Twitter posting as “One of the sweetest, funniest, most generous actors I’ve ever worked with.”

And Steve Carell, a co-star in “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,” tweeted, “Unbelievably sad news. A fine man.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie likewise hailed Gandolfini as “a fine actor, a Rutgers alum and a true Jersey guy.”

Gandolfini is due to appear on the big screen next year, playing the love interest of comic actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the film “Enough Said” and a role in a New York crime drama called “Animal Rescue.” Both are set for U.S. release by News Corp-owned studio Fox Searchlight.

Gandolfini preceded his career as a performer by working as a truck driver, bouncer and nightclub manager in New York City before he went to an acting class with a friend and got hooked.

“I’d also never been around actors before,” he told Time magazine, “and I said to myself, ‘These people are nuts; this is kind of interesting.’”

Gandolfini began his career in theater in New York, making his Broadway debut in a 1992 revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

Born in Westwood, New Jersey, Gandolfini was raised in a working-class, Italian-American family by a father who was a bricklayer and high school custodian and a mother who worked in a school cafeteria.

In an interview on the television program “Inside the Actors Studio,” he said his parents spoke Italian in the home when they did not want the children to understand them.

“So they didn’t teach it to my sisters or myself,” he said.

Gandolfini had a son, Michael, with his first wife, Marcy Wudarski, whom he divorced in 2002. In 2008, he married model Deborah Lin, who gave birth to a daughter, Liliana, in 2012.

 

Counting the damage left behind by blaze

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fire     6(1)

Authorities on Thursday were counting the damage left behind by the huge blaze in the Choirokitia area, which raged on out of control for hours before it was subdued by fire-fighters after midnight.

The fire, which broke out at around 10am on Wednesday, was put under full control on Thursday morning after having destroyed everything within an area of around nine square kilometres.

“Throughout the night, fire-fighting vehicles and personnel tackled flare-ups at various points,” deputy fire service director Marios Trangolas said.

Fire-fighting aircraft took to the skies at first light, dropped water on areas where there was a chance of flare-up, and returned to base, Trangolas said.

However, while authorities were focused on Choirokitia, fire-fighting forces had to scramble to the mountainous area of Pera Pedi, in the Limassol district, where a blaze broke out at 9.15pm.

That fire was put under control at 11pm.

Its causes were being investigated.

Authorities and residents of Choirokitia, Skarinou, Ayios Theodoros, Tohni, and Maroni, counted their losses on Thursday, as 19-year-old National Guardsman was expected to appear in court on suspicion of setting the fire deliberately.

“The fire broke out at four different places simultaneously and I believe they had been set deliberately,” the fire chief said.

Apart from the heavy damage to the environment, the blaze also destroyed several vehicles and other property.

Thanks to the efforts of fire-fighting crews however, no homes were damaged, although authorities had ordered the evacuation of Choirokitia.

A forest department plane assessed the area burnt by the fire – nine square kilometres of wild shrub and olive, carob, and pine trees.

A strong fire-fighting force will remain in the area on Thursday as a precaution.

‘Investing in youth is best investment of all’

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ÐÑÅÓÂÅÉÁ ÓËÏÂÁÊÉÁÓ - ÄÇÌÏÓÉÁ ÓÕÆÇÔÇÓÇ

MORE students from Southern Mediterranean countries will benefit from the EU’s new programme for education training and youth, European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou told a university ‘summit’ in Nicosia yesterday.

The EU’s Education Commissioner said the new programme, due to launch in January 2014, will build on the “great success” of the Tempus and Erasmus Mundus programmes, the latter having been in operation for nine years running now.

“Investing in youth is the best investment of all, in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean. We want to support young people who are the key to social and political change, as well as the future prosperity of the region,” said the Cypriot Commissioner.

An ‘information day’ event held at Nicosia University yesterday brought together more than 150 government officials, higher education staff and stakeholders from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and EU member states.

The new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport, will continue to promote cooperation between the EU and Southern Mediterranean countries. As well as continued support for joint degrees, students from Southern Mediterranean countries will also benefit from scholarships to participate in joint Master programmes while doctoral fellowships will be financed by the future Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions programme.

Since 2007, more than €140 million has been allocated for projects involving Southern Mediterranean universities to develop new curricula, retrain teachers, support new teaching methods and invest in equipment.

A further €150 million has been provided in grants for more than 4,500 students from the region to spend part of their studies in the EU. More than 750 academic staff have also taken part in exchanges organised with European universities.

More than 200 universities in North Africa, the Middle East and the EU are involved in the exchanges. Nearly 800 students and staff from the Southern Mediterranean have also benefitted from funding for joint master and doctoral programmes since 2004.

Urgent appeal for volunteers at Paphos hospice

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HOSPICE

By Bejay Browne

AN urgent appeal is being made for volunteers to aid nursing staff at the only operational hospice in Paphos.

The Friends Hospice in Paphos was recently forced to scale down its operation due to the deepening economic crisis.

Colm Connolly, the hospice press officer said: “We need volunteers to work alongside our doctors and staff nurses to share some of the workload. An hour here or there would greatly help us in caring for patients.”

The hospice is currently the only operational one in Paphos and the scaled down two-bed facility is situated in the Evangelismos Hospital. Since opening in 2006, the facility has cared for more than seven hundred and fifty patients with life-limiting illnesses.

The facility is solely run by donations, money raised by the shops and fundraising events.

Connolly said: “A couple of months ago, we were forced to downsize from seven beds to two because of a lack of funds. Since then, we have received support from all parts of the community, helping us continue to offer treatment for those in need of palliative care.”

Many members of the Paphos community are organising fund raising events to help the beleaguered facility.

Last night at midnight young people were due to take part in the Paphos Warriors sponsored walk to raise funds for the hospice. The warriors are a local football club catering for both girls and boys. Youngsters over the age of 12 were to take part in the torch-lit walk – tied together for safety- from the Olympico grounds along the coast route to the castle in the harbour in Kato Paphos.

The Warriors end of season ‘Funday’ tomorrow will also be in aid of the hospice.

The hospice spokesman said: “It’s important that young people understand what we do and we are very grateful of their support. We hope that with continuing goodwill and public generosity we will be able to gradually increase patient accommodation.”

Connolly noted that people with experience in nursing or caring, are needed to help the nurses at the hospice and hours or days will be flexible to suit the individual.

He said: “We would be grateful for any time which people can give, even if it’s only an hour a week. Training will also be given. Please help us to help others.”

If you would like to help the Friends hospice Paphos, contact Ann Hill on 26643066 / 99162109 or email mail@paphoshospice.org

Statement of intent on gas to be signed

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GAS

By Elias Hazou

CYPRUS and a US-Israeli partnership will next week be signing a statement of intent for the development of a natural gas liquefaction plant on the island, it was revealed yesterday.

Charles Ellinas, head of the Cyprus National Hydrocarbons Company, said the signing ceremony would take place on Wednesday at Nicosia’s Filoxenia hotel.

The parties are the Cyprus state, Noble Energy International, and Israel’s Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration Limited Partnership.

It is hoped the preliminary accord leads to a final agreement in the future setting up a joint venture between the parties – a special-purpose vehicle seeking investors for the estimated €7 to €8bn LNG plant.

Earlier this month, Noble started appraisal drilling in its Block 12 concession off the southern coast to ascertain whether there is enough untapped gas to make the venture commercially viable.

Based on initial test drilling in 2011, the estimated amount of gas in Block 12 is 5-8 trillion cubic feet, with a mean of seven trillion cubic feet, the Houston-based company said.
Noble owns 70 per cent of the drilling project, with Israeli partners Delek and Avner each holding 15 per cent.

Officials here say a final investment decision by Noble to develop the gas could be taken in 2016.

Ellinas reiterated yesterday that the estimated gas reserves in Block 12 are sufficient to make an LNG plant viable, but reiterated that Cyprus would welcome Israeli and possibly Lebanese gas being processed at the facility at Vasilikos.

On Sunday the Israeli cabinet is expected to approve a decision on its own hydrocarbon finds. Israel will be keeping 60 per cent of its natural gas reserves for domestic use and permit the export of the remaining 40 per cent.

Israel’s gas reserves are expected to total 900 billion cubic meters (BCM), meaning the country Israel will retain some 540 BCM for domestic use and leave 360 BCM for exports.

Ellinas said this quantity would be enough for Israel to steer its exports into two directions, one being to Turkey via a pipeline, the other sending its gas to Cyprus for processing into LNG.

He was speaking at the 2nd Cyprus Natural Gas Conference, a two-day event in Nicosia organised by IMH.

Due to Israeli security concerns over its gas infrastructures, it would be wise for the Middle Eastern nation to diversify its export routes, said Amit Mor, a leading independent energy consultant.
Thus part of the exported gas from the Tamar field might be diverted via pipeline to Turkey and the rest to Cyprus and then shipped onto European or Asian markets, he said.

Debt-stricken Cyprus is counting on its gas resources to pull it back from the brink, although actual revenues from gas sales would come no earlier than 2020.


No joy for CY workers after meeting president

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CYPRUS AIRWAYS

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday made it perfectly clear that it would not put up the money to pay additional compensation to the 490 staff that will be made redundant at national airline Cyprus Airways.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides said yesterday there was no question of paying the additional compensation.

He made the comment after President Nicos Anastasiades met with the heads of unions SEK and PEO, Nicos Moyseos and Bambis Kyritsis respectively.

Earlier in the week, the unions had hyped up the meeting at the presidential palace, hoping that a silver lining might be found after CY chairman Antonis Antoniou went ahead with making redundant 203 staff on Monday.

Union leaders accused Antoniou of going back on his word to hold off the redundancies until after the meeting with Anastasiades.

However, Antoniou said putting off the much-needed redundancies at the ailing airline was costing the company €2m a month and could no longer be postponed.

The government had agreed with the previous CY board and unions on April 12 to pay the 490 staff members earmarked for redundancy half of the additional compensation paid in a previous redundancy package.

But after the airline did some number crunching and it transpired it doesn’t have the €20m needed to pay the additional compensation, nor the assets to sell off to find the money, the government did an about-turn, saying the deal was off.

Unions have called on the government to find the money elsewhere but cabinet ministers have warned this would violate the EU’s state aid rules, which the state is already suspected by the European Commission of doing.

Speaking after yesterday’s meeting at the Presidential Palace, Stylianides said the meeting with the union heads was scheduled long before the issue of the CY redundancies came up, noting that the three discussed a wide range of labour issues.

Asked if the government was prepared to pay some of the cost for meeting the unions’ demands on CY redundancies, he said: “There is no issue of providing additional compensation at Cyprus Airways.”

Speaking after the meeting with the president, Kyritsis said he was not confident there will be a way out of the deadlock between unions and the CY board.

One million march across Brazil in biggest protests yet

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Protest in Rio de Janeiro

By Paulo Prada and Maria Carolina Marcello

An estimated 1 million people took to the streets in cities across Brazil on Thursday as the country’s biggest protests in two decades intensified despite government concessions meant to quell the demonstrations.

Undeterred by the reversal of transport fare hikes that sparked the protests, and promises of better public services, demonstrators marched around two international soccer matches and in locales as diverse as the Amazon capital of Manaus and the prosperous southern city of Florianopolis.

While the protests remained mostly peaceful, the growing number of participants led to occasional outbursts of violence and vandalism in some cities. In central Rio de Janeiro, where 300,000 people marched, police afterwards chased looters and dispersed people crowding into surrounding areas.

“Twenty cents was just the start,” read signs held by many converging along the Avenida Paulista, the broad avenue in central São Paulo, referring to the bus fare reductions. Police there said 110,000 people lined the avenue.

In the capital, Brasilia, tens of thousands of protesters marched around the landmark modernist buildings that house Congress and the Supreme Court and briefly set fire to the outside of the Foreign Ministry. Police said about 80 of the protesters, some with homemade explosives, made it into the ministry building before they were repelled.

In Ribeirão Preto, near São Paulo, a 20-year-old demonstrator died after a driver plowed a jeep into a crowd. Brazilian media reported hundreds of minor injuries across the country, including a Rio television reporter who recounted being hit by a rubber bullet fired by police.

The swelling tide of protests prompted President Dilma Rousseff to cancel a trip next week to Japan, her office said. The president, whose administration was caught off-guard by the rapid growth of the demonstrations, also planned an emergency meeting for Friday, a government source said.

The targets of the protests, now in their second week, have broadened to include high taxes, inflation, corruption and poor public services ranging from hospitals and schools to roads and police forces.

With an international soccer tournament as a backdrop, demonstrators are also denouncing the more than $26 billion of public money that will be spent on the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, two events meant to showcase a modern, developed Brazil.

“This is fair play,” read a banner among the hordes in Brasilia, a twist on the slogan used to promote sportsmanship by FIFA, world soccer’s governing body.

MULTIPLE GRIEVANCES

After the concession on transport fares on Wednesday, activist groups differed over what their next priority should be. On Facebook, Twitter and other social media, some Brazilians expressed disgust for the scattered violence and vandalism that marred some of the marches.

The competing demands of demonstrators appeared to add to the intensity of Thursday’s protests.

“What am I protesting for?” asked Savina Santos, a 29-year-old civil servant in Sao Paulo. “You should ask what I’m not protesting for! We need political reform, tax reform, an end to corruption, better schools, better transportation. We are not in a position to be hosting the World Cup.”

Inside Rio’s iconic Maracanã stadium, soccer fans sang protest songs and showed support for the throngs of demonstrators gathering in the city. In Salvador, a northeastern city hosting another game of the soccer tournament that serves as a World Cup test run, protesters pelted a FIFA bus with rocks.

Police in Salvador, Rio, Brasilia and other cities used tear gas, pepper spray and other tools to disperse crowds. They donned riot gear and used horses, trucks and barricades to help channel the crowds and protect buildings.

The unrest comes six months before an election year and just as Brazil, after nearly a decade-long economic boom in which the country’s profile soared on the global stage, enters a period of uncertainty. Economic growth of less than 1 percent last year, annual inflation of 6.5 percent and a loss of appetite for Brazilian assets among international investors have clouded what had been a feel-good era for Brazil, a country of nearly 200 million people.

Brazil’s currency, the real, dropped to a four-year low on Thursday, trading as weak as 2.275 per U.S. dollar. The country’s benchmark stock market index, the Bovespa, also hit a four-year low.

CHANGING POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

The protests have shaken the once solid ground under Rousseff and her ruling Workers’ Party, a bloc that grew out of convulsive demonstrations by Brazil’s labor movement 30 years ago. Until inflation and other economic woes began eroding her poll numbers in recent weeks, Rousseff enjoyed some of the highest approval ratings of any elected leader worldwide.

The demonstrations have been comprised of mostly middle-class, well-educated voters who do not form the bulk of Rousseff’s electoral base. The president and her party have sought to get ahead of the complaints and embrace them as their own – a shift that contrasts sharply with a playbook that long relied on telling Brazilians that they had never had it so good.

With little more than a year to go before presidential and gubernatorial elections, the unrest is forcing incumbents and traditional political parties to reconsider their strategies.

Slap on the wrist for Cyprus over treatment of EU nationals

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SLAP OVER EU CITIZENS

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE EUROPEAN Commission yesterday decided to send Cyprus a reasoned opinion for applying disproportionate penalties against EU citizens who fail to register their presence in the country in time.

The Commission argued that Cyprus has failed to correctly transpose and apply the Free Movement Directive, under which, member states may require EU citizens to report their presence in their territory within a reasonable and non-discriminatory period of time and penalise non-compliance using “proportionate and non-discriminatory sanctions”.

According to a Commission press release, this is not the case for the sanction prescribed in Cypriot law, which provides for a fine of up to €1,000 for EU citizens staying in Cyprus for longer than 21 days and who fail to report their presence within 35 days of their arrival.

The Brussels-based EU institution also pointed to great delays in issuing residence cards for third-country national family members of EU citizens, beyond the six-month deadline provided for in the directive.

In addition, the fees for obtaining documents certifying permanent residence after five years of residence (€80) are higher than those for issuing identification documents to Cypriot nationals (€20), whilst the directive provides that residence documents should be issued to EU citizens and their family members “free of charge or for a charge not exceeding that imposed on nationals for the issuing of similar documents”.

With this reasoned opinion, the Commission requests Cyprus comply with the relevant EU rules. In the absence of a satisfactory response within two months, the Commission can refer Cyprus to the Court of Justice of the EU.

In a separate issue, the Commission has sent a formal request to Cyprus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Portugal and Romania to comply with EU rules on oil stocks.

The relevant directive requires member states to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and/or petroleum products to ensure security of oil supply in case of possible disruptions.

Given the importance of oil in the EU’s energy mix, the EU’s strong external dependence for supply of crude oil and petroleum products and the geopolitical uncertainty in many producer regions, it is vital to guarantee consumers’ access to petroleum products at all times, said the Commission in a released statement.

The EU body said it has yet to be informed by the above countries of any measures for transposing the directive into their national legislation. If the member states do not comply with their legal obligation within two months, the Commission may decide to refer them to the Court of Justice.

The directive had to be transposed by the member states by December 31, 2012.

Children of refugee mothers granted equal status

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By George Psyllides

THE CHILDREN of refugee mothers are to be given refugee status, along with all the accompanying benefits, Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos said yesterday.

The minister said the cabinet had taken a preliminary decision on the matter, thus securing equal participation in all government schemes for refugees.

Refugee women had for years demanded to be afforded refugee status that was until now held only by men who were forced to leave their homes in the north of Cyprus following the 1974 Turkish invasion.

The minister stressed that the decision would not affect the state budget in any way as available funds would now be allocated equally between to all those with refugee status.

He also rejected the argument used throughout the years that recognising displaced women would hurt Cyprus’ credibility because it would mean a big rise in the overall number of refugees.

“And I ask you: what credibility is left after 40 years?” Hasikos said.

“There should not be any differences among us, especially the time we are currently going through.”

Refugees are afforded housing, land, and grants to buy homes, as well as low interest loans.

In May 2011, the previous administration allocated around €10.6 million in allowances and benefits for children of refugee mothers but stopped short of officially recognising them.

In February of that year, the Supreme Court ruled that a law passed by parliament to grant the children of refugee mothers the same status as the children of refugee fathers was unconstitutional.

The government said it could not afford what it would cost to push through the law, and that parliament did not have the right to pass a self-proposed law that would constitute a burden on state funds.

It had also been decided that refugee mothers’ children would also enjoy equal participation at Agency for Equal Distribution of Burdens – the Foreign Ministry’s service for approving loans at lower interests for refugees who lost land in the invasion.

Our View: Collective decision-making on Cyprus problem is a recipe for disaster

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Man walks out of the Presidential palace in Nicosia

BEFORE he was elected, President Anastasiades had promised that decisions relating to the Cyprus problem would be taken collectively at the National Council. This was his way of winning over undecided voters that did not approve of his Cyprus problem positions and of reassuring his hard-line allies of DIKO and EUROKO, who never forgave his support for the Annan plan in 2004.

By surrendering, decision-making powers, given to him by the constitution, to the National Council he would be voluntarily placing himself under the control of the party leaders. As extra reassurance to his hard-line partners, he promised to appoint a negotiator that would be chosen in consultation with the party leaders, to conduct the talks. This may have been a cynically smart electoral move, but Anastasiades could regret it, very soon.

Next month, the Council will meet over two days, to choose the Greek Cypriot side’s chief negotiator at the peace talks and this will be a collective decision. There is a real possibility that the majority of the council would choose, as chief negotiator, someone who would work against a settlement. He or she could have the backing of the hard-line anti-solution parties and Anastasiades would be obliged to respect the decision of the majority.

Even if this scenario is avoided, what would the president do if there is an opportunity of a major breakthrough at the talks and majority of the National Council decided against taking it? And what would he do if all the party leaders demanded that the UN’s Special Envoy Alexander Downer had to be replaced before talks resumed? What consensus would he achieve in a Council consisting of leaders, traditionally accustomed to rejecting every Cyprus problem initiative undertaken?

There is also a constitutional issue at stake. The National Council is an advisory body and has no authority to take decisions. Of course, how it is used is at the president’s discretion and if the president wants to cede his decision-making powers to Messrs Perdikis, Omirou, Lyssarides, Syllouris, Kyprianou and Garoyian nobody could stop him. On the other hand, the electorate did not choose these leaders to make decisions on the Cyprus problem it elected Anastasiades to do this job.

The president suggested that for any decision to be binding it would need 75 per cent support (each party would represent the percentage it received in the last parliamentary election), which was a DIKO suggestion to ensure that AKEL and DISY would need its support to make anything binding. But what would happen if there is not 75 per cent support? Would the president do as he pleased or would no decision be taken?

This whole idea seems rather absurd and the sooner it is abandoned the better. Anastasiades should bear in mind that we have a presidential system and forget the nonsense about collective decision-making which is a formula for very bad decisions.

 

 

 

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