EAC unions renew government loan

By Staff Reporter

Electricity authority unions have approved the renewal of a €100 million loan to the government for another month,  granted late in 2012 amid warnings of a state default.

Reports earlier this week suggested that unions were opposed to the renewal but on Thursday they decided to agree as a gesture of good will and understanding.

They denied their original reservations over renewing the loan had anything to do with the approval of a bill paving the way for privatisations.

“The (EAC) board should understand however that this money belongs to the workers and, in accordance with prudent management, they should be returned without further delay,” the unions said.

The EAC, state telecoms CyTA, and the ports authority, had agreed to lend cash out of their employee pension funds in December 2012 following stark warnings of imminent default issued by the administration of former president Demetris Christofias.

On Thursday, unions took a shot at Finance Minister Harris Georgiades, who pointed out recently that semi-government organisations did not belong to the workers.

They said they agreed with the statement that the organisations belonged to the taxpayer and they should remain thus “so that the people will not fall prey to speculators and opportunists.”

The unions reiterated their determination to defend their organisation by every legal means possible.

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.