‘The government of a fair society has been turned into a VIP government’

MPs yesterday censured Education Minister Andreas Demetriou for snubbing a Watchdog Committee meeting scheduled to discuss the possible squander of taxpayer money on VIP services used by ministers and other state officials.

The issue was tabled by DISY MP Giorgos Georgiou and his DIKO colleague Angelos Votsis following reports last year that Demetriou had wasted public money by opting for VIP services during stopovers at German airports while on state business.

Georgiou yesterday criticised the minister for his “unacceptable behaviour” to disregard the committee over an issue that concerned himself and the government he participates in.

“The government of a fair society has been turned into a VIP government with a private plane and extravagant travels and accommodation for ministers and other state officials in luxurious VIP lounges,” Georgiou said.

Daily Phileleftheros had claimed last December that Demetriou racked up a €1,065 bill for a total of four hours of VIP lounge services at Frankfurt and Munich airports on three separate flights.

For one of those flights, the Cyprus Embassy in Berlin received a bill for €327.25 for a VIP booking even though the minister never showed up at the airport.

Votsis censured the minister for not attending or contacting the committee to explain the reasons for his absence.

“For the committee this is highly unacceptable,” Votsis said.

He added that the committee decided to postpone the discussion of the matter for next Tuesday and expected the minister to be present and explain the criteria for using the VIP services.

Demetriou had defended himself at the time, saying he did nothing different from what any other minister does when travelling and accused the paper of engaging in low level populism.

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.