‘Cyprus not at gates of support mechanism’

CYPRUS is not before the gates of the EU support mechanism, the government said yesterday, responding to criticism from main opposition DISY chief Nicos Anastassiades.

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said for a country to join the support mechanism it must have difficulties in refinancing its loans and obligations and Cyprus has no such problem.

“The government acted pre-emptively and secured financing for its needs,” Stefanou said, referring to a €2.5 billion Russian loan. “At the same time, it does not rest and is systematically and coherently working on consolidating public finances.”

Stefanou rejected Anastassiades’ charges of inaction and delay in taking measures, saying it dared to put an end to distortions and rotten phenomena created by others.

“The government is in fact tackling the structural problems, many of which are the creation of the DISY administration (1993-2003),” Stefanou said.

Speaking at his party’s congress yesterday, Anastassiades said public finances have been derailed and the island was one step away from the support mechanism.

“One step from the moment others will decide our fate and our country,” the DISY leader said.

Anastassiades said that despite calls from his party and other organisations, the government had refused to take any substantive measures, exhibiting unprecedented “diffidence and inaction”.

“Which in turn led to successive downgrades of the Cypriot economy and brought us before the tragic dead end we face today,” he said.

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.