Front Page Headlines
With risk of relapse they’re discussing relaxations
They’re designing an action plan for de-escalation of restrictions by March. A given that relaxations will be implemented by February 1. Gradual lifting depending on situation with hospitals. (Social) Distancing but also use of masks until summer. Changes in the setting of appointments for vaccinations of people aged over 80 years old were announced yesterday by the Heath Ministry. Invitation for appointments to all who are over 90 years old. An additional half a million doses from Pfizer/BioNTech will be received by Cyprus, with Health minister Constantinos Ioannou stating that the vaccination of all citizens by September is viable.
- Old airport: Its utilisation remains on ice
- Harris Georgiades: Conflicts of interest in Cabinet gargled
They left alarm on
Scientists are not ready to plan a de-escalation – They’re asking for more tests. Particular concern for schools. They’re also going to the Finance Minister.
- Nicosia mobilises over solution model
- Glorified Petrides, indirectly dumped gaps on Hasikos: Harris’ ‘testimony’ to Investigative (Committee) without names and addresses
- New vaccination procedure after wave of reactions
- Tsunami of complaints: Revelations from Despina Olympiou – Trainer forced female athlete to lie down together. Female athletes-victims in Cyprus too.
- Earth-shattering changes in the area of Justice – A new packet of bills is ready after intense processing by the entire legal chain. Advisory Council to be set up, Article 144 activated.
Here’s the corruption… ‘They forgot’ the conflict of interest
Harris ‘ratted out’ Anastasiades and his former colleagues. Bells were ringing, but the government was whistling indifferently. And a letter that burns Harris for ‘gratuitous’ granting of citizenship. Harris Georgiades ‘ratted out’ President Anastasiades and his former colleagues in the Council of Ministers, who are linked with offices which submitted applications for ‘golden’ passports, telling the Investigative Committee that no one ever claimed a conflict of interest and/or asked to be excluded from the decision-making process.
- Intense altercation on both sides on Cyprus Problem. Support for BBF from Security Council
- Government exposed with Yioliti case
- After the outcry age subcategories enter the vaccination appointment-setting procedure
- Actions necessary to break the silence
Major CBI scheme flaws seen in 2017
Former finance minister tells inquiry couldn’t recall any cabinet conflict of interest (in Citizenship By Investment scheme)
- Revised plan for vaccine rollout amid scramble for appointments
- Solidarity throws doubt on budget passing
Citizenship-by-Investment Programme: Hole-ridden from 2007 (under Tassos-Christofias)
Revelations before Investigative Committee. Citizenship applications passed through the Council of Ministers without discussion. Citizenships-by-investment in a legal void since 2007 due to lack of regulations. Harris Georgiades: Unfortunately a programme that was set up with good intentions to help economic growth was left to receive such abuse by some.
- Conflict with DIKO: Government – Does AKEL agree with DIKO on the defunct Republic?
- Permission from Supreme (Court): Yes to trial for cancellation of search warrant in the house of woman requested by Yioliti
- Decisions expected: Today crucial day for state budget
- Coronavirus-developments: Decline in new cases continuing
Main News
Discord breaks out between DIKO, government over UNSG reports
Haravgi, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The dailies report on an altercation that broke out between DIKO leader Nicholas Papadopoulos and the government in response to the lack of clear reference to the Republic of Cyprus and to the sought-after solution in the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres’ reports on UNFICYP and his Good Offices mission.
According to Haravgi, Papadopoulos protested over the Republic’s “epic failure”, which he said foreshadows what the Republic will face at the informal five-party meeting. “They have reduced us to a community and the basis of the solution has disappeared. It is by now clear that the President of the Republic will go to the five-party meeting with a defunct Republic of Cyprus all while the Turkish side is advocating a two-state solution”, Papadopoulos said on Tuesday. Phileleftheros reports that Papadopoulos’ comments laid the burden of the blame on President Anastasiades.
Papadopoulos’ comments drew a reaction from government spokesman Kyriakos Koushos, who referred to Papadopoulos’ comments as a red herring, stating that as a full member of the EU bloc and the UN, the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) cannot be considered defunct. Nor did it run such a risk when former president Tassos Papadopoulos participated in Burgenstock under the arbitration of the UNSG or when he negotiated from time to time as the GC leader on a Cyprus problem solution, said Koushos.
Koushos turned to AKEL on the matter, calling on the party to clarify whether “our participation in the five-party conference would mean either abolition of the RoC or that the RoC will become defunct…”
The UNSG’s reports also raised reactions from other political parties, as recorded by Phileleftheros. EDEK expressed its dissatisfaction with the UNSG’s reports, referring to its concerns over his ‘Pontius Pilate-style’ policy of keeping equal distances between the two sides, in a way that remains silent in the face of the Turkish side’s provocations.
Citizens’ Alliance also took a hit at Guterres’ failure to recognise Turkey’s responsibility in changing the status quo of Famagusta, which it said was as equally unacceptable as his reference to the Republic of Cyprus as ‘Greek Cypriot authorities’, equating it with the illegal regime.
ELAM said the concerns it has repeatedly raised are once again being vindicated, and referred to the need for those driving us into a new fiasco to assume responsibility.
AKEL, on the other hand, reiterated its call to President Anastasiades to prove his determination to stand behind a federal solution: “AKEL stresses that at a time when the basis of the solution to the Cyprus Problem is being intensely doubted, in order to see a two-state solution tabled, in other words partition, only an unfaltering consistency towards a solution of a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality, as described in UN Resolutions, can ward off dangers.”
Despite the government’s comebacks, Phileleftheros reports that the UNSG’s lack of reference to a bizonal bicommunal federation in his reports is also big source of concern for the government.
KEY ACTORS
Papadopoulos (DIKO)
>> UNSG’s report reduces RoC to a community, while getting rid of basis of a solution.
>> Anastasiades will go to 5+1 summit with a ‘defunct’ RoC while Turkish side advocates two-state solution.
AKEL
>> Reiterates call for consistency on behalf of Anastasiades in working towards a BBF with political equality.
EDEK/ Citizens’ Alliance
>> Disapprove of UNSG’s relegation of RoC to status of a community, in a way that ignores Turkish provocations.
UNSC stands behind BBF solution model
Haravgi
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
Haravgi reports that after the UN Secretary-General’s (UNSG) Special Representative Elizabeth Spehar briefed the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday on UNFICYP and the Good Offices mission, the UNSC unanimously reaffirmed its support for a bizonal bicommunal federal solution to the Cyprus Problem.
The daily reports that the UNSC stood in support of the UNSG’s efforts toward returning all parties to the negotiating table.
The paper cites statements to the press issued following the meeting by UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, who said that the UNSC has yet to set a date for the informal five-party summit.
Former FinMin testimony sheds light on CIP shortcomings
Alithia, Cyprus Mail, Haravgi, Phileleftheros, Politis
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
The testimony on Tuesday of former Finance Minister Harris Georgiades before the Investigative Committee probing citizenships by exception granted through the Republic’s nixed Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) shed light on the government’s inadequate checks on applicants, though Phileleftheros reports the Committee’s questions did not probe deep enough.
The dailies report that Georgiades, who served as Finance Minister from 2013 until 2019, testified that he was only made aware of the inadequacy of checks being performed by the Interior Ministry in 2017 by Constantinos Petrides, who took on the role of Interior Minister at the time. Georgiades said he and Petrides immediately began planning solution measures, and kept President Anatasiades in the loop.
Politis and Phileleftheros report that Georgiades indirectly laid the burden of the blame for hole-ridden CIP application checks on Socrates Hasikos, who served as Interior Minister from 2013 until 2017, who was however not mentioned by name throughout Georgiades’ three-hour-long probe hearing.
Asked by the Committee why he had not spotted these shortcomings sooner, Georgiades said these could only become evident to the Interior Ministry, adding that the Finance Ministry was only responsible for checking that applicants had met the scheme’s investment criteria.
The dailies report that Georgiades testified that he recommended applications be approved by way of derogation in only a small number of cases, but conceded that the programme as a whole, despite its good intentions, was subject to abuse. The Committee pointed to the lack of legislative ordinances that would safeguard the CIP, which was rather governed by a set of criteria. Phileleftheros reports that Georgiades told the Committee that there were times when intermediaries, such as law offices, intervened to prevent the tightening of rules.
Politis reports that Georgiades avoided stating his position on the blatant conflicts of interest that arose through CIP applications for President Anastasiades and other members of the Council of Ministers at the time, who shouldered the responsibility of approving or rejecting applications, despite the fact that close relatives or former colleagues of theirs at law offices were behind those applications.
Georgiades said there was a code of conduct whereby should any conflict of interest have arisen, that person would be required to request to be excluded from the decision-making process, though he said such an issue never came up.
According to the Cyprus Mail, when Georgiades was asked whether, during his stint, foreign officials ever conveyed to him their misgivings about the island’s investment programme, Georgiades recalled three instances. These involved Marshall Billingslea, the US Treasury Department’s Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, during his visit to Cyprus; a visiting delegation of the US Congress; and European Commissioner Jyrki Katainen.
On Thursday, former Finance Ministers Michalis Sarris and Charilaos Stavrakis are set to testify before the Investigative Committee, while President Anastasiades and the Archbishop will also be taking the stand on February 2 and January 26 respectively, according to the Cyprus Mail and Alithia.