Front Page Headlines
They hid behind 15 policemen
Law Office left accountability in its own house behind. Police officers in Nicosia and Larnaca CID anxious over announcement of prosecutions. Files had been archived as not being relevant to police also with the signature of a prosecutor.
- Voices in the wilderness for Hoegh
Fateful bullet for pregnant woman
Maria had her birthday and was expecting her beloved’s marriage proposal yesterday. Unbelievable tragedy at Klavdia. In front of their mother, the daughter took a bullet in the head from her brother’s gun.
- Government waits for “green light” from epidemiologists: Assessment next week before the second phase of loosening
- They look for solutions for foreigners at Bairaktaris – They received coupons for food but no one brought up moving them
Education a headache for the Presidency
They do not know what they will do with the school year. AKEL: They should give answers and solutions to problems. Reactions brought removal of material to be examined in chemistry.
- Another dead and four new cases. Lost surgeries are being scheduled
- Israel’s… offer of 50 respirators to our country in return of chloroquine a fiasco
- Commission to AKEL SG: It is urgent to restart Cyprus Problem negotiations
Expecting to hit 0 cases ‘utopic’
Health minister says virus has put Cyprus in ‘uncharted waters’.
Bring our own house in order, or else…
A clear message from the Finance Minister to… advisors: If we appeal to others for loans we will be led to a tough memorandum. If and when there is a potential to draw funds from European Union we will make full use. There cannot be subsidies for rents, this has not happened in any country, it is not fiscally possible. Changes to loans with state guarantees, there is a limit for big, small and medium businesses.
- We’re not doing well: Coronavirus also killed our drilling programme – Developments next year – Contracts with ENI/TOTAL to be extended
- Coronavirus: One dead and four new cases
Main News
Commission responds to AKEL leader on urgent need for negotiations
Haravgi, Philelftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process, Territory, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
A European Commission official has underlined in a letter to AKEL secretary general Andros Kyprianou that the restart of negotiations towards a solution of the Cyprus Problem is urgent, the dailies report.
The letter, sent by acting director general for Structural Reform Support Maarten Verwey, was a reply to letters sent to Brussels by Kyprianou in February regarding Turkey’s actions in the fenced-off city of Varosha.
Verwey wrote, on behalf of the Commission, that it is urgent that negotiations restart, with an aim to reunify the island within the EU, on the basis of a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality as defined by relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
The official also wrote that the EU has continuously supported negotiations between the two leaders and that the EU will make every effort to encourage the restart of negotiations as soon as possible.
Verwey added that when it comes to Varosha, the EU bases its position on resolution 550 (1984) of the Security Council.
Phileleftheros points out that the letter sent to Kyprianou is almost identical to the one sent by High Commissioner Josep Borrell to Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides.
One dead and four new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Oikonomiki Kathimerini, Phileleftheros, Politis
Internal Security, Human Rights, CBMs
OVERVIEW
The downward trend in the spread of the coronavirus continued on Tuesday as only four new cases were detected after a total of 1,250 tests, the dailies report. A 56-year-old man that had been diagnosed with coronavirus and had pre-existing health issues also passed away on Tuesday.
According to the Health Ministry’s daily report, two of the new cases were detected through tracking contacts of known cases, and two were detected by tests conducted on the affected persons’ own iniative. The total number of cases in the government-controlled areas has now reached 878, including ten cases detected in the SBAs.
Four coronavirus patients remain entubated: one is in the Intensive Care Unit of the Limassol General Hospital and three in the ICU of the Nicosia General Hospital. Another patient is still being hospitalised in Nicosia.
State Health Services (OKYpY) scientific director for Nicosia, Marios Loizou, told journalists that the total number of deaths of patients diagnosed with the coronavirus has reached 21, but that the number of patients that have died due to coronavirus remains at 15.
According to the Health Ministry, tests on workers in retail have begun and tests on workers in the construction sector were expected to begin Wednesday. A total of 20,000 tests (14,000 in the retail sector and 6,000 in the construction sector) will be conducted by May 25th.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou told Astra radio that the ministry will announce its plan for the gradual return of students as well as the date of the final exams of the year on Wednesday, Haravgi reports.
When asked what will happen with T/C students that go to school in the south, Prodromou said he is aware of the problem but that he cannot provide solutions since he is not responsible for the checkpoints issue.
In another development, Politis reports that 1,525 T/C workers who live in the north but are employed in the construction sector in the south sent a new letter to President Anastasiades and UNFICYP. The T/C workers ask to be allowed to cross in order to start working since construction sites are now open, and undelrine that they are not tourists but people living on the island.
In their letter, the 1,525 said that crossing the checkpoints should be considered an internal transit by citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, and that the issue of the checkpoints should have been included in the government’s roadmap for loosening of measures.
Oikonomiki Kathimerini reports, citing T/C sources, that the Ersin Tatar “government” is hoping to reopen checkpoints by July, due to the north’s increasing need for an inflow of cash from other EU countries through tourism.
Energy Ministry will extend contracts with ENI and TOTAL
Alithia, Haravgi, Oikonomiki Kathimerini
Energy, Economy, Regional/ International Relations, External Security
OVERVIEW
The dailies report that Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis told the members of the parliamentary committee on trade that the ministry is looking into extending the government’s contracts with the ENI/TOTAL joint veture, during a video conference on Tuesday.
According to the reports, Lakkotrypis clarified that no contract extension will be necessary for the ExxonMobil/ Qatar Petroleum joint venture, since the original contract covers the affected period.
The government’s position is that the decisions taken by ENI/TOTAL and ExxonMobil/Quatar Petroleum to postpone drillings for a year and for 18 months respectively, should be seen as a positive development since the two consortiums did not cancel their activities outright.
Parliamentary commmittee president Andreas Kyprianou (DISY) also commented on Turkey’s action in the Cypriot EEZ, repeating the government position that Ankara’s actions are political in nature and that they are being closely watched by Nicosia.
AKEL MP Costas Costa put forward several suggestions by the opposition party, calling for the reduction of fuel and electricity prices, the purchase of cheap fuel by the Electricity Authority to take advantage of the current low prices in oil.
Oikonomiki Kathimerini cites diplomatic sources that believe that the end of the pandemic will bring Cyprus’ strategic partnerships back to the forefront.
However, the newspaper points out that the situation is not favourable given negative predictions regarding the energy sector in the region. The rapid fall in oil prices could lead to new postponments by international companies involved in the Cypriot EEZ and in the Eastern Mediterranean, Oikonomiki Kathimerini notes. The newspaper also points to the uninspiring results of ENI’s and TOTAL’s drilling in the Lebanese EEZ and the financial troubles reportedly plaguing Noble and Delek in Israel.
Oikonomiki Kathimerini also cites concerns by technocrats that the international economic crisis that is just beginning will lead governments to re-examine their energy priorities. In the case of Cyprus, this could lead to a change of course regarding natural gas infrastructure and the exploitation of the “Aphrodite” gas field. This change of course could include a reconsideration of whether Egypt will be able to absorb the amounts of natural gas that were originally going to be exported to the country.
Council of Europe expects data from Turkey on enclaved property rights
Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Property, Human Rights, EU Matters
OVERVIEW
The Republic of Cyprus is expecting that Turkey will submit data regarding properties of Greek Cypriots residing in the occupied areas as soon as possible, ahead of the examination of the issue by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in June, the dailies report citing the Cyprus News Agency.
The Committee of Ministers of the Stasburg-based international organisation, is tasked with monitoring the implementation of decisions taken by the European Court of Human Rights. In September 2019, the body decided to re-examine issues concerning property rights of enclaved persons as part of its monitoring of Turkey’s compliance to the ECHR’s ruling in the case brought by the Republic of Cyprus against the Republic of Turkey in 2001.
In a letter dated April 14th, the deputy permanent representative of Turkey to the Council of Europe informed the Committee of Ministers that the country would not be able to send this information on time due to the measures imposed in the north of Cyprus as a response to the coronavirus pandemic. Turkey notes that the collection of this information can only begin when the “interior ministry” and the Immovable Property Committee in the north can restart their operations.