By Martin Hellicar
EFFORTS by Disy deputy Rikkos Erotokritou to heal a bitter reshuffle rift within the ruling party seemed to be floundering yesterday.
On Sunday, party leader Nicos Anastassiades banished deputy Prodromos Prodromou from the Disy political bureau. The deputy’s “crime” had been to make public his concerns about how many seats had been given to junior government partners the United Democrats (UD) in last week’s cabinet reshuffle.
Erotokritou said he’d had “calm, productive and constructive” discussions with Prodromou and fellow reshuffle dissenter Demetris Sillouris yesterday. He said his aim was not to gag Prodromou and Sillouris but rather to stop the party squabbling in public.
But Prodromou made a nonsense of his fellow-deputy’s endeavours yesterday, launching a fresh public attack on Anastassiades, who he said had gone “beyond the pale.”
The Disy leader has labelled Prodromou as “self-serving” and charged him with “parroting” opposition party rhetoric. The catalyst for the attack was Prodromou suggesting President Clerides’s reshuffle appointments showed he was veering towards following a Cyprus problem policy akin to that of UD leader George Vassiliou. Clerides ousted Vassiliou from office in 1993 by promising a more hard-line Cyprus problem policy.
UD men Michalis Papapetrou and Frixos Savvides secured the Government spokesman and Health Ministry posts respectively, while fellow party member Costas Themistocleous held on to the Agriculture portfolio. Vassiliou heads Cyprus’s EU accession talks team.
“I tried to keep tones down, to be silent even, but I cannot be quiet when I see the party sinking, and when some people think we can move forward through shouting, aggression and threats,” Prodromou said, pointing the finger at Anastassiades.
He accused the Disy leader of lying about the way he had been expelled from the political bureau.
“The party president, Mr Anastassiades, goes on television and announces that I am banished from the political bureau. Is this right? Is this any way for the leader of the largest party to behave? Then, in an attempt to cover up his slip-up, he says he did not break the news on air but had told me by telephone previously — well, nothing of the sort happened,” an irate Prodromou said.
He welcomed Erotokritou’s initiative but insisted the rift was not about any personal differences he had with Anastassiades, but rather about “principles.”
“It is an matter of being free to discuss things when this is necessary and useful,” Prodromou said, suggesting Anastassiades was guilty of suppressing those who did not see eye to eye with him.
Prodromou said he would be seeking an audience with Clerides is an effort to clear the air.
The party executive were called to an extraordinary meeting late yesterday, with the Anastassiades-Prodromou spat expected to dominate discussions.
Disy vice president Panayiotis Demetriou has also been trying to patch up the rift, while main opposition party Akel have been doing their best to fan the flames.
Akel have claimed Disy struck a secret deal with Vassiliou to back him to succeed 80-year-old Clerides in the 2003 elections. This was why the UD had been given so many cabinet seats, Akel said.
Vassiliou yesterday dismissed these suggestions as “unprecedented fantasy.”
No such issue had ever been tabled with Disy, he insisted.
“Neither has there been any such discussion, nor have I shown any such interest,” the former President said.
But Edek leader Vassos Lyssarides did his best to pour salt on the Disy wounds, saying he saw plenty to suggest Clerides was softening his Cyprus problem stance.
He singled out the appointment of Disy deputy Socratis Hasikos to the Defence ministry as evidence for this. While owner of Alithianewspaper, Hasikos was known for his stance against the common defence dogma military pact with Greece — a cornerstone of Clerides’s Cyprus problem policy.
Hasikos, who yesterday paid an official visit on Archbishop Chrysostomos, stated the dogma was here to stay — a statement he has made on an almost daily basis since his appointment.
Chrysostomos, for his part, said the new minister had assured him the dogma would continue and had expressed the hope it would one day become an “offensive” rather than a “defensive” pact.
