NewsOpinions

A Cyprus euro exit is not an option

By Dr George Mountis 13/04/13
A CYPRUS exit (or a ‘cy-exit’) from the eurozone would be shocking for Cypriots who, post-bailout, have one of the highest debt/GDP in Europe (over 180 per cent). For the broader European Union (EU), the economic loss from a cy-exit would be negligible (0.2 per cent of European GDP) compared with the disaster that a Greek exit would have created had it not been bailed out by its EU counterparts. However a possible cy-exit would significantly damage the EU, since it would create a clear precedent showing that exiting the euro was ultimately possible. ... 8 comments

Letter to the Editor: The emperor is wearing no clothes

13/04/13
Groucho Marks said that he would never join a club that would have him as a member.This is one club that I did not want to join and wish we hadn't: The Totalitarian Club formerly known as the European Union.           Membership Fee: Billions annually.Benefits:  None for the country, except for a few politicians who will have the illusion of power and influence, and who get a free pass to have their snouts in the trough.Rules: Laws are made by the club. These laws supersede laws that have lasted over a thousand years in your country... Read on

Our View: Bailout is turning into a bottomless pit

12/04/13
THE CYPRUS bailout will be top of the agenda at a two-day meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin beginning today. No doubt they will be told what’s really going on while the people of Cyprus continue to be kept in the dark.While we’ve been distracted by capital controls, lists of people who took money out before March 15, investigations into who was responsible for the demise of the economy, and a political row over who ordered a draft haircut law the day before, and just when you thought it could not get any worse, the bailout jumps from €17.5 billion to €23 billion while we were not looking... 32 comments

Our View: The AG and the complete inversion of all logic

11/04/13
ON SUNDAY a Greek newspaper carried a report that Attorney-general Petros Clerides had suspended prosecution for driving offences against his son. Clerides, declined to comment until Monday night on a television current affairs show where although he was not specific about the reported offences – drink driving and not having an MOT – he did confirm that an offence had taken place and that he had suspended prosecution.Article 113 of the constitution grants the Attorney-general or members of his office acting on his instructions the right to suspend any prosecution against anyone in Cyprus “exercisable at (the AG’s) discretion in the public interest”.While no one is saying the AG acted illegally, his reasoning is however flawed. ... 50 comments

Cyprus Airways and the days of wine and roses

By Hermes Solomon 11/04/13
AESOP’S fable about the hare and the fox relies on wordplay involving a nickname for the fox, kerdo, which is related to trickery and profit-making.  Fifteen years ago, Roger Fox, a British Airways pilot (captain), and his wife, Jean made Cyprus their primary residence, but Roger failed to declare his 120,000 pound sterling annual income to the Cyprus tax authorities. ... 5 comments

Our View: Is the party really over for Cyprus Airways this time?

10/04/13
HOW MANY times have we heard that time was running out, or that it was the end of the line for Cyprus Airways, or that the airline needed cash for yet another restructuring?Each time, the national carrier was bailed out by the government and parliament of the time and lived to squeeze more money from the taxpayer who also often had no choice but to pay the airline’s exorbitant fares. This time however there is no money to inject, and the state has run out of inventive options such as the Turkish ban on Cypriot air traffic, to circumvent EU rules on state aid, even if they had the money to waste... 29 comments

Our View: Cyprus has lost control of its tourism industry

09/04/13
ASIDE from having to sort out its position with relation to the deposit haircut and the issue of capital controls and how they might affect tourism in the near term, the industry needs to get its act together for the medium and long term if it is to contribute to the economy in any significant way.Obviously tourism cannot save the economy as it once did. The experts have been quite clear on the differing circumstances with respect to the boom of the early eighties and the current climate where we, according to one  “are drowning in competition”.What has not changed since the late eighties when Cyprus became an established destination, is the attitude towards tourists. It has been a constant, and not in a good way... 34 comments

Our View: Anastasiades government has dashed hopes of a new start

07/04/13
 THE CHEAP rhetoric, demagoguery and populist policies that have blighted public life ever since the establishment of the Republic and take a big share of the blame for our desperate, current predicament are still going strong. The economy is sinking to new lows by the day, but our politicians are too busy engaging in the only thing they know – uttering platitudes, rabble-rousing, pandering to unions and demanding punishment of those responsible for the catastrophe. ... 21 comments

Tales from the Coffeeshop: Cunning commies and the used-bank salesman

By Patroclos 07/04/13
ANDREAS Vgenopoulos has been taking Cypriots for a ride ever since 2006 when he arrived in Kyproulla promising to turn Laiki Bank into a banking colossus that would make all its shareholders mega-wealthy and Kyproulla the banking centre of the Middle East.Almost seven years later, Laiki has not even survived as a banking midget, the silver-tongued, Athens, used-bank salesman leading it to bankruptcy before it had a chance to grow up into the regional colossus he had promised its naive Cypriot shareholders. ... 10 comments

Truth sounds suspect over BoC buying of Greek bonds

By Loucas Charalambous 07/04/13
 THE FORMER chief executive officer of the Bank of Cyprus Andreas Eliades - the man considered responsible for the destruction of the bank - decided to give his views about the crisis for the first time last Tuesday. He issued a long-winded announcement with the aim, he wrote, of giving a picture of the absolute truth. It was titled ‘Truths and lies’. I am in no position to say how many truths were contained in his announcement, but I think that some of the things he wrote were blatant lies. I will restrict myself to one issue, the infamous sale and subsequent re-purchase of Greek government bonds that left the Bank of Cyprus with losses in the region of €2 billion... 7 comments
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