TagsChristofias

Bailout was political price for falling out of step with EU

By Nathan Morley in Brussels 12/05/13
A TOP EU official has claimed that the humiliating raid on Cypriot bank accounts was a punitive measure for excessive time wasting and increasingly strained relations with the government of Demetris Christofias.The disclosure was the latest twist in what appears to be an intensified war of words between Nicosia and Brussels, as the fallout from the bailout crisis continues.In an interview with the Sunday Mail at the European Commission, the senior official speaking on strict condition of anonymity, said the financial rescue plan would have been ‘like any other’ if Christofias’ administration had listened to countless... 29 comments

Christofias hanging on to presidential limo

01/05/13
 TWO MONTHS after leaving office, former President Demetris Christofias is holding on to one of the presidential limos, the government has confirmed.The story was brought to light by right-leaning daily Alithia. According to the paper, when Christofias stepped down in February he kept the beefed-up Mercedes, which happened to be presidential car number one.The Mercedes had been purchased by the state ahead of Pope Benedict’s visit to the island in June 2010.In the meantime, President Anastasiades had to make do with presidential car number two. Alithia reported that until recently the Presidential Palace had let the matter slide and had not made any noises for the limo’s return... 60 comments

Christofias sues CyBC for calling him an ignoramus

27/04/13
FORMER president Demetris Christofias is suing the state broadcaster claiming he had been called an ignoramus and a moron during a pre-presidential election interview with the current president.Through the defamation suit, Christofias is asking for compensation between €100,000 and €500,000.The papers, filed on April 17, name the state broadcaster CyBC and the head of its news department, Yiannakis Kareklas, as the alleged offenders.The documents do not make any reference to the offending terms that prompted Christofias to sue but reports suggested it was because he had been called ignorant.The person who first voiced the offending term during the show however was President Nicos Anastasiades... 71 comments

Christofias: rumours of my exile greatly exaggerated

13/04/13
FORMER PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias came out of the woodwork yesterday to say he felt “embarrassed” for those spreading nasty rumours about him and to confirm he has not applied for political asylum in Cuba. Speaking from AKEL headquarters, he said: “What you see before you is not the ghost of Christofias, but the same Christofias who not once left Cyprus, not even for a moment.”The former president has come under repeated attack from the current government which argues he unnecessarily delayed signing a memorandum with the troika during his presidency, resulting in the country’s banks becoming indebted to the tune of billions of euros, and bringing the Cypriot economy to its knees... 39 comments

The Russians are our friends: famous last words from Demetris Christofias

By Luke Baker 23/03/13
ON A HOT morning in July last year, Cypriot President Demetris Christofias sat with a group of journalists on the stage of the sleekly modern National Theatre in Nicosia and beamed as he talked about his warm ties with Russia.The communist party leader, who met his wife and earned his doctorate in Moscow, told the Brussels-based reporters that Cyprus could easily overcome its financial troubles with help from both Russia and the European Union."The Russians, as good friends of Cyprus, want to take care of us," he said breezily, dismissing a question with a wave of his hand and smiling, his dark eyebrows rising with amusement towards his thick grey hair... 9 comments
RSS - Christofias