By Charlie Charalambous
PARTY leaders have been accused of planning a trip to New York for September’s UN General Assembly, as an excuse to run up hotel bills and do everything else but push forward the stalled peace process.
Political leaders have faced growing criticism ever since the government decided last week that they should accompany President Clerides to the UN General Assembly.
Sending the various leaders to mingle with diplomats and influence people is done at a huge cost to the tax payer.
“As our political leaders wish to go to New York to promote their party line… they should do so at their own personal expense or that of their party,” a statement by Alexis Galanos’ European Renewal Movement said yesterday.
Earlier this week, government spokesman Christos Stylianides defended the astronomical cost of accommodating party leaders in the style to which they are accustomed.
He said the presence of the collective leadership in New York was deemed “necessary and in the interests of the Cyprus problem.”
Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides justified their presence by saying it would help establish if the time was ripe for a “new Cyprus recourse to the UN General Assembly,” something that political analysts consider extremely unlikely.
Galanos’ Euro movement is also sceptical about the plus side of a trip to the Big Apple.
“The practice of sending the political leadership to New York has been followed in the past and manifestly offers no tangible benefit.”
A similar New York sojourn by party leaders three years ago had the government picking up unpaid hotel bills – above and beyond their daily allowance and hotel stay – that ran into thousands of pounds.
Two years ago, a whistle-stop tour of five continents by political leaders – to gain support for Cyprus – cost the tax payer a cool one million pounds.
“Some might argue that sending the political leadership to New York would be useful for enlightenment purposes… this would only be true if the visit was aimed at influencing centres of decision-making and not staying cooped up in a hotel – as always happens,” said the Galanos movement’s statement.
Suspicions about the politicians’ motives for a trip to New York started to surface when it was preferred to a previously arranged visit to South Africa for a meeting of Non-Aligned nations.
It seems the attractions of Broadway in the Autumn far outweighed the prospects of a winter break in Africa.
