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CYPRUS’ EU Presidential Secretariat remained in the spotlight yesterday when it emerged that a family connection of the Secretariat’s boss, Andreas Moleskis, was on the committee that appointed his daughter’s close friend and housemate to a top position.
The secretariat yesterday also accepted the resignation of the housemate, Athanasios Kagiaras, from the €60K per annum post as the Presidency’s events coordinator in Brussels following a series of newspaper reports that had highlighted the connection between Moleskis and his daughter.
In a letter to Politis newspaper the Secretariat’s head of logistics, Ninos Savvides said Kagiaras resigned “for reasons of dignity” and the secretariat had accepted.
THE NUMBER of Greeks protesting in Athens’ Syntagma Square against austerity measures, reached an estimated 60,000 on Sunday, the highest of 12 consecutive days of demonstrations.
People arrived from as far away as Crete to join the group that calls itself the ‘Indignant Citizens’ and has no links to unions or the political parties.
Organisers had hoped to get as many as 100,000 people to Syntagma Square, outside parliament, on Sunday but although they failed to meet this target, the demo had enough of an impact for the Prime Minister to call a cabinet meeting yesterday. There must be serious concern about public anger and discontent in the PASOK government which must fear the possibility of protests getting out of control.
BUSINESS leaders said yesterday that unless people employed in the broader public sector chip in like the rest, the social security fund is sure to implode.
The call for a fairer social security system came after a meeting between Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis and the leaderships of KEVE (Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and OEV (Employers and Industrialists Union).
Stavrakis handed them a copy of a study by actuarial firm Muhanna, showing that the government spends too much on pensions, which take up 2.9 per cent of GDP here compared to the eurozone average of 2.0 per cent.
The study assesses the cost of pensions for the next 50 years between €10 billion and €14 billion.
UNDER squeeze from trade unions and facing the spectre of a protracted disruption of operations, loss-making KEO yesterday put on the table an improved package as part of planned employee redundancies.
The offer came following “intense negotiations” between company management and unionists representing the some full-time 530 staff. KEO workers meet today to discuss the proposal and take a vote.
Union reps involved in the negotiations told the Cyprus Mail the company is now willing to give €2.5 million in compensation, and has agreed to shed 120 of its workforce, compared to 150 previously.
The beverage maker has also accepted on principle a demand for voluntary redundancies, although on this point the company has the final word.
JUSTICE MINISTER Loucas Louca is to recommend this month that the cabinet reduce and in some cases terminate state-provided security for politicians across the spectrum.
The police prepared a report last year, revising the security detail afforded politicians and state officials, proposing a reduction for some and a termination for others.
The change of leadership in parliament has provided Louca with an opportunity to submit before cabinet the comprehensive police review of the security detail.
Louca told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that he was waiting for a supplementary proposal by the police security committee on the level of protection proposed for newly elected House President Yiannakis Omirou and his predecessor, DIKO leader Marios Garoyian.
PROSECUTION lawyers were yesterday refused permission to submit a police service log recording the conversation of the Nicosia CID head with one of the defendants in the ongoing murder trial of Sigma owner Andis Hadjicostis.
The service log by constable Charalambos Charalambou contained details of a conversation between Gregoris Xenofontos and the former head of Nicosia CID Thomas Efthymiou who allegedly called Xenofontos to warn him that there was an arrest warrant against him.
The warrant was issued on January 14, three days after Hadjicostis’ murder and the telephone conversation allegedly took place on January 17.
POLICE caught over 300 drivers in the Nicosia area for a variety of traffic violations over the weekend with some of the worst offenders caught doing speeds of over 100km per hour in a 50km zone.
“We targeted Engomi especially as that is where you see a lot of illegal racing,” said head of traffic police, Demetris Demetriou yesterday. “Many people were arrested who were speeding, some doing up to 192km per hour on the highway and some doing speeds of 115km and 124km in town, where the speed limit in 50km per hour, if you can believe it,” he added.
THE Communications Ministry is still nowhere near finalising a deal to bring traffic cameras to Cyprus, despite a lengthy meeting by the tenders council yesterday.
The meeting was held to discuss the most recent of five bids that have been made to install the system. The aim was to conclude on an offer or reject all four, if they were considered insufficient.
However, Communications Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis told the Cyprus Mail that no final decisions have been made as yet.
“Nothing has been finalised. Any new developments will be announced, but the process is still ongoing,” said Marcoullis.
The police and fire brigade joined forces yesterday to launch a fire prevention campaign targeting the countryside and forests in particular.
Every fire will be assumed arson until proven otherwise, police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos warned.
He said the “deeper causes” of fires will be investigated to establish whether they were started intentionally or by neglect, Katsounotos added.
Lighting a fire within the radius of one kilometre of forest areas is strictly prohibited, he said, and those within that range must take care not to cause a fire through carelessness. This includes tossing a match, a lit cigarette butt or using flammable objects.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
