ALMOST three months have passed since the resignation of Andreas Moleskis, the head of the secretariat of the EU presidency and his replacement has not yet been appointed. It took a little over a month for President Christofias to choose a replacement, but his choice, Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis, has still not taken up his new post – he remains in Brussels as Cyprus’ Permanent Representative to the EU.
Why has he not yet taken up his new post? This lack of urgency, which appears to be the trademark of the Christofias government, could prove very costly and embarrassing for Cyprus, which is scheduled to take over the EU presidency next July 1. Has any work been done in the three months the secretariat has been without a director or has everything been put on hold until the new man arrives? And will Mavroyiannis be able to complete all the necessary preparations in nine months, assuming he takes charge by the beginning of October?
Writing in the Sunday Mail about the presidency last July, Dr Phedon Nicolaides had this to say:
“But the problem is that the Cypriot preparations are not made in relation to the issues that will be facing the EU in 2012. We already know that the EU will be revising its budgetary system and reforming the rules on agricultural subsidies and regional funds, which are its most costly policies. There will be deeply technical and acrimonious discussions. Solutions require expertise and innovative approaches. The Secretariat will need to have the necessary manpower. So far it is staffed by people who know EU policies but do not necessarily have either the credentials or the stature to steer negotiations in Brussels. The Secretariat needs external expertise.”
There is also the small matter of establishing co-ordination procedures for ministries that would have to work together on issues, something Moleskis had been trying for two years to achieve, but without much success. On Friday Politis quoted a member of the Secretariat as saying, “we need to up our tempo a great deal”. The Secretariat is moving – the people who will chair committees and working groups had been chosen and some were in Brussels getting briefed – even though it is headless, which is a positive development.
There is a suspicion that the government had been too busy dealing with a host of pressing problems to have had time to think about the EU presidency. The fact that the Secretariat has been leaderless for three months has not helped. It is high time the government started taking the EU presidency seriously, because there are only nine months left.
