During Monday’s budget debate in the House, the state of the economy played second fiddle to the Cyprus issue as most opposition parties used the platform to lambast President Nicos Anastasiades for his handling of reunification talks.
Diko and socialists Edek accused the president of flip-flopping and making one concession after another to the Turkish side, all for the sake of keeping the negotiations going.
“With the agreement reached during [last Thursday’s] dinner, all of the president’s commitments have flown out the window,” asserted Diko leader Nicolas Papadopoulos.
The president, he said, agreed to resume talks without having consulted with the political parties or the Greek government.
Moreover, Anastasiades has accepted timetables as well as a multi-party conference on Cyprus to discuss security and guarantees – backtracking on his earlier position that no such conference would be held unless all other chapters were closed.
Papadopoulos said that under the agreed process, the two communities will be submitting their respective maps on the very eve of the five-way conference of January 12, featuring the three guarantor powers.
Given that the territorial re-adjustments may not have been finalised by that date, Turkey can be expected to use territory to extract concessions on the issues of security and guarantees.
In short, Papadopoulos warned, the president has backed himself into a corner.
“He will not be going to Geneva to negotiate, but to capitulate.”
On the economy, Papadopoulos acknowledged that the situation today is improved compared to the 2013 meltdown.
But that turnaround came at a terrible cost: some €20 billion in depositors’ savings were wiped out in the bail-in, while since March 2013 provident funds have been depleted to the tune of €1.3 billion as people tap into their savings to finance consumption.
Papadopoulos stated that Diko will vote for the 2017 state budget, but will be submitting several amendments of its own.
In a similar vein, Edek leader Marinos Sizopoulos said President Anastasiades has caved in to most of the Turkish side’s demands, for example by failing to outright reject Turkish guarantees over Cyprus even for an interim period.
The trajectory of the negotiations has played into the hands of Turkey, which ultimately aims to bring the whole of the island under its political and military control.
The Edek chief said that Cyprus may have exited the economic adjustment programme, but remains under the thumb of its international creditors.
“The exit from the memorandum will truly be achieved once the economic and social consequences on the people have been reversed, and once the debts have been repaid in full,” he said.
Andros Kyprianou, head of main opposition Akel, pledged his party’s support to the president’s Cyprus efforts.
Kyprianou urged the two leaders, but also political parties in both communities, to “think of the coming generations, and not of the next elections.”
Failure to reach a settlement now would elevate the risk of northern Cyprus being assimilated into Turkey’s economic and political sphere, he added.
Akel was far less congenial to the Anastasiades administration where the economy was concerned.
Noting his party would vote against the budget, Kyprianou said that whereas certain economic data were showing signs of improvement, this did not translate into a better standard of living for people.
Wages were constantly being cut, work hours deregulated, and labour rights eviscerated.
Cyprus, he said, holds “a sad lead” in terms of the number of underemployed people, while 29 per cent of the population is on the poverty line.
The investment projects being touted by the government – the privatisation of the port of Limassol, the marinas and the casinos – benefit only the elites, not society at large.
For his part, ruling Disy leader Averof sought to give a positive spin on the resumption of the Cyprus negotiations.
He argued this was the first time in the history of the Cyprus problem that everything – including security and guarantees – is on the table.
In previous attempts, such issues had been decided by outside parties or via UN arbitration, whereas now they are being negotiated by the two leaders.
Conceding that dangers lie ahead, Neophytou stressed however that only a proactive approach can solve the Cyprus problem:
“It is those who hesitate when confronted with the risks, who never achieve anything. I am not hearing any concerns about what might happen if the Cyprus issue reaches a dead end.”
On the peace dividend from a solution, Neophytou said that new investment would drive the economy, and stressed the resultant savings on military spending.
