Front Page Headlines
They did break the law, but… were saved by C. Clerides
Anastasiades, Malas, Papadopoulos went over 1 million euro spending cap on the 2018 election. According to an opinion by former Attorney General, spending by supporting parties was illegal because it should not have happened. Since however it should not have happened… it can’t be calculated into candidates’ expenses! Ambiguities and important differences between amounts mentioned in breakdown of incomes and expenses of six parties, when compared with total amount of election expenses appearing in ledgers. There were discounts for advertisements worth tens of thousands of euros, which were not included in total spending of candidates so that they appeared to have spent less.
- No deaths yesterday: They will not risk relaxation of measures
- Budget: Will again be decided during the vote
- They changed course: Tatar will receive EU vaccines
- President to ESK (Union of Cyprus Journalists): Journalism ethics and populism
- EU – Turkey: Intentions are not enough
Haggling up to the last minute
New Anastasiades intervention on Monday to prevent a new no to the Budget. (EDEK MPs) Efstathiou and Myrianthous will not vote if law on foreclosures does not change.
- He warns through Lute: Antonio Guterres seeks common ground and joint vision
- Hundreds of T/C properties in possession of municipalities
- Exceptions to Nouris’ edict on Chloraka
The embodiment of interests and corruption
Involvement in “golden” passport industry. Vacations in Seychelles with the Saudi’s jet. President also picks a fight with Union of Cyprus Journalists.
- Budget: All scenarios on the table
- Continuation of Lute contacts with sides, online and on the phone. A return to Cyprus is not out of the question
- Worst year for the missing. 25 identifications and only 10 exhumations happened
- Anachronistic Nouris edict for refugees stinks of racism and nationalism
Going down to the wire
Minister warns Cyprus could default if revised budget rejected.
- Decree bans new Syrian refugees from settling in Chlorakas, Paphos
15 proposals for 2021 budget approval
Petrides rings the alarm. Government submitted a total of 15 new proposals, presented today by “Alithia”, aiming to convince parties to vote in favour of revised budget. Finance Minister warns of default.
- Chloraka community president: Yes to Minister of Interior’s edict on migrants
- Response by Anastasiades: ESK statement on A. Paraschos was of “political nature”
- Points (editorial): AKEL and the five-party meeting
Main News
Lute to leaders: Will be difficult to re-engage UN in case of failure
Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros reports that UNSG envoy Jane Holl Lute is likely to return to the island in preparation for a 5+1 informal conference (two sides, three guarantors plus the UN) in New York.
According to information cited by the newspaper, the message Lute brought from the UNSG is that Antonio Guterres is ready to listen to the positions of the two sides but that in case of a new failure it will be extremely difficult for him to be involved once more in the Cyprus Problem.
More specifically, Lute informed the leaders that the conference will take place during the first half of February and that if the process fails once more then it will be very difficult to get any UNSG involved in the future.
Guterres also sent the message that he will first seek to see whether there is sufficient common ground to restart negotiations before discussing the possibility of Confidence-Building Measures. After the informal meeting, work will begin for a new Conference on Cyprus.
Also, Guterres has signalled that he is open to the suggestions and ideas brought by the parties and that he will not act as an arbitrator. He also sent the message that he is ready to seek an expansion of his mandate by the Security Council if both sides request it, and that he is ready to discuss different parameters if the sides want it.
According to the newspaper, the informal conference will last several days, starting with a dinner with the UNSG on the first day, separate meetings with the five parties on the second day and a joint meeting on the third day.
The Cyprus News Agency reports that Lute will continue her contacts with all sides ahead of the informal conference, without ruling out her return to Cyprus if that is deemed necessary. Phileleftheros reports that during her visit in Cyprus, Lute also met with negotiators Andreas Mavrogiannis and Ergun Olgun.
In a parallel development, Commission and European External Action Service spokesperson Peter Stano told journalists on Friday that the EU welcomes the restart of negotiations between Greece and Turkey, and reiterated that what is important for the EU is that differences are solved through dialogue.
He also said that Turkish statements regarding a rapprochement with the EU should now be followed by specific actions, the Cyprus News Agency reports. Stano said it is clear that the EU expects Turkey to have a constructive approach and to work towards de-escalation.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayip Erdogan has announced that he could meet with Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after the beginning of exploratory talks on January 25, Haravgi reports. Erdogan said that bilateral discussions with the EU continue intensively, including with contacts with the EU leadership as well as with the leaders of the UK and Germany.
Erdogan said that the Foreign Ministers of Greece and Turkey have contacted each other ahead of the beginning of exploratory talks on the maritime differences between the two countries, and that things are moving in the direction of a meeting with Mitsotakis.
Commenting on Erdogan’s statements, Mitsotakis said that Greece has always been open to a meeting and that this would be useful given the increasingly positive climate.
KEY ACTORS
Stano (Commission spokesperson)
>> EU welcomes restart of exploratory negotiations between Greece and Turkey
>> Turkish statements on rapprochement should be followed up with specific actions
>> EU expects Turkey to take constructive approach and work towards de-escalation
Erdogan (Turkish President)
>> Mitsotakis and himself could meet after the restart of exploratory negotiations
Mitsotakis (Greek prime minister)
>> Greece always open to meetings, which would be useful given increasingly positive climate
Anastasiades says journalist union’s criticism political in nature
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Politis
Negotiations Process, Human Rights
OVERVIEW
The discussion in the press continues over an article published by veteran journalist Andreas Paraschos in Kathimerini on Sunday January 10. The article claimed that President Anastasiades has avoided working for a solution to the Cyprus Problem after Crans Montana, choosing instead to continue personally benefiting from the Cyprus Investment Programme.
Paraschos claimed he was told that Anastasiades boasted about the profits, and about how they were transferred to the Seychelles with a private jet, and that he had said this during a social event. The claim was not substantiated, which led the newspaper publishing a clarification on the particular point of the article that mentioned the money transfers.
Paraschos later quit his position as newspaper director of Kathimerini, accusing the owners of the newspaper of taking the initiative to communicate with the President before Anastasiades had made any complaints, and that Paraschos was not informed of this ahead of time.
In a letter sent to the Union of Cyprus Journalists (ESK) on Friday, according to Politis, President Anastasiades responded to the statement with which it had supported Paraschos. Anastasiades accused the union of making a political statement, which according to him is a negative mark on pluralism and public debate.
Anastasiades accused ESK of adopting the accusations expressed in Paraschos’ article despite the fact that G/C political leaders and former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, who were named by the journalist, had denied the rumour. He added that it is well known that during his four decades in politics he has shown respect to freedom of expression.
Anastasiades asked whether spreading fake news without proper investigation or substantiation can be excused by the journalistic code of conduct, and asked how ESK would react if he were to accuse journalists without evidence of being paid by foreign governments to harm his reputation.
He said that ESK is correct that journalists are also subject to criticism, but pointed out that instead of the particular article being criticised it is being used by journalists to ask him to prove the claims are not true instead of asking for the original claim to be substantiated. This would be as if a journalist was accused without proof of being a Turkish agent and then was called to prove otherwise himself, instead of the accuser being criticised, he said.
ESK president Giorgos Frangos told Haravgi that with its statement, the union followed its duty to defend journalists. He added that ESK did not defend the article in question, but the right of a journalist to publish it. Frangos also said that the union is not tied to a political party and will stay that way, and underlined that ESK is not concerned with the political repercussions of the issue, but only with defending journalists.
In a statement on the issue, AKEL spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou said that the government has come to embody corruption. Stefanou pointed to the involvement of the President’s law office and of those of members of his government in the golden passport scheme, the incident of the President’s vacations in the Seychelles which was followed by the naturalisation of the Saudi owner of the jet that took him there.
Stefanou also pointed out that Anastasiades is the first President who has discussed the possibility of a two-state solution with politicians, diplomats, journalists and the Archbishop.