Cyprus Press Review - 5/4/2019

Opposition preparing a resolution authorising Finance Minister’s resignation

Phileleftheros reports on the House discussion about the Co-op where the majority of opposition parties called for the resignation of Harris Georgiades. It is reported that a resolution is now being drafted by all but one opposition party authorising the immediate resignation of Finance Minister Harris Georgiades and will demand that the Government and the President of the Republic assume responsibilities for the collapse of the Co-op. Furthermore, the resolution will demand that the Co-op’s assets are protected and returned to the citizens. At the same time they will call the Government to respect the report and stop being so condescending towards it. The resolution which is set to go for approval next week, will be prepared by all the opposition parties except ELAM. They will also demand that criminal and civil responsibilities are assigned, while they will also mention the Minister’s decision to donate shares to the citizens. It will be underlined that at the same time he was promising that the Co-op would be returned to the public, he was methodically pushing for the Co-op’s collapse and its concession to Hellenic Bank.

 

Opposition parties to link Article 23 with Harris’s resignation

Politis reports on the opposition parties’ decision to proceed with a resolution that will authorise the Finance Minister’s resignation. The resolution will go for a vote on 12 April, when the discussion about the Co-op probe findings will end. The article also reports that next Monday, the government will present its plan in order to handle the matter of public sector salaries.

 

April 2018 was a crucial month for the banking system

Phieleftheros reports on April 2018 as a crucial turning point for Cyprus’ banking system. Exactly a year ago, the Co-op was looking for the ideal investor who could’ve restored the organisation, and maintained the stability of the financial system. A year later, the government and the Minister of Finance have come under fierce criticism by the leaders of other political parties, in relation to the political responsibilities that the Co-op probe report assigns. April 2018 was a crucial month for the closure of the Co-op and the change in the banking system as well as the additional weight assumed by the taxpayers. Also the public debt reached 107% of the GDP. Last year, on 4 April, the Republic gave the Co-op €2.5b, wishing to give the message that its customers shouldn’t be afraid for their deposits, due to the huge outflows of capital that went on. In return, the Ministry of Finance took up €7.6b NPLs with around €10b worth of collateral. Essentially, the taxpayers, one year later have been burdened with the Co-op’s NPLs, which most of them of high-risk. Last year, around the middle of April, the managing team was giving presentations to the different investors with all the information that were deemed necessary for the evaluation of the Bank. A few weeks later, the ‘good’ part of the Co-op, free from problematic loans, ended up at Hellenic Bank. Essentially, history shows that from the start of April 2018, with the transfer of €2.5b deposits, the banking map started changing. With the ECB’s blessing, Hellenic Bank was reinforced and with a share capital increase its shareholder structure changed, as it became the second biggest banking institution of Cyprus. The biggest difference in Hellenic Bank’s balance sheet, is the acquisition of €9.7b in deposits, which increased its deposits from €5.8b to €15.5b giving it even larger cash flow surplus.

 

Demetris Anagnostopoulos, HB’s new Chief Risk Officer

Phileleftheros reports that Demetris Anagnostopoulos has been appointed as Hellenic Bank’s new Chief Risk Officer. According to the bank’s announcement, Anagnostopoulos assumed his duties on the 2^nd of April. His appointment has been approved by the Board of Directors, while the ECB’s and CBC’s approvals are still pending. Anagnostopoulos, was until recently the Chief Risk Officer of Attica Bank, where started working in 2016. From 2013-2016, he was Eurobank’s managing director and previously, he was a senior CEO at United Bulgarian Bank, a subsidiary of National Bank of Greece. Previously, he served as Chief Risk Officer and as a member so Finansbank Turkey’s BoD. He worked for more than 17 years at Citibank Greece, in various senior management positions. He was born in Athens and his studies include, among others, a Business Degree from California State University North ridge School of Management and Business Administration and an MBA.

 

Our guardians were supporting the other side

Phileleftheros’ author offers a detailed account of the Co-op probe’s findings and raises some disagreements on how the Probe approached the matter. He argues that neither the CCB, nor the Ministry of Finance, nor the Presidential Palace lifted their finger to support and help the Co-op, and as a result, it was declared non-viable and was sent to Hellenic Bank, culminating in the biggest transfer of wealth f(rom the many and poor to the few and rich), in Cypriot history.

 

New job opportunities at Melco

Melco Group, the company bringing City of Dreams Mediterranean, Europe’s first Integrated Casino Resort (ICR) to Cyprus, has announced new career opportunities at the Cyprus Casinos “C2” satellite casino in Αyia Napa, which is scheduled to open this summer. Cyprus Casinos Ayia Napa will initially have approximately 35 opportunities in various roles such as Slot Attendants, Cage Cashiers, Supervisors and Security Officers. At a later stage, new career opportunities will be announced for the C2 satellite casino in Paphos.

 

J&P-AVAX - TERNA: €270 million contract for City of Dreams Mediterranean

J&P-AVAX announces that in a joint venture with TERNA, a 100% subsidiary of the GEK TERNA Group, has signed a contract with the company of Chinese interests ‘ICR CYPRUS RESORT DEVELOPMENT CO LIMITED’ for the construction of the hotel and casino "City of Dreams Mediterranean" in Limassol. The announces also describes the project’s facilities while notes that the General Meeting of the Company's Shareholders has recently decided to rename it from J & P-AVAX SA to AVAX SA, and the corresponding approval from the General Commercial Register of the Ministry of Economy and Development of Greece is pending.

 

CCCI demands the criminalisation of the strike

In response to the 24-hour strike of the lorry drivers, the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry reinstates the demand to criminalize the strike. Specifically, the CCCI invites the Government and the Parliament to take the necessary initiatives to immediately promote relevant legislation to prevent such situations in the future. For their part, Povek, an organisation which promotes the rights of a large number of professional groups, including lorry drivers, warn with new dynamic measures if there is no interest in dealing with their problem. The representative of Povek, Mr. Kyriacos Moustakas said that so far, the companies running the port haven’t shown interest in their demand to address the delays in servicing them.

 

Everything back to normal at Limassol port

Hundreds of cargo containers that were left undelivered on Thursday due to the lorry drivers’ strike, have been delivered today, following the stoppage of the strike. Yesterday, the lorry drivers went on a 24-hour work stoppage over delays in servicing them at Limassol port, and they called for stricter measures if Eurogate and DP World Limassol did not address the matter. The representative of Povek Mr. Kyriacos Moustakas express his belief that the companies running the port, along with the Government will address the problem and warned with stronger reaction if otherwise. Meanwhile, the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry strongly condemns the lorry drivers’ strike.

 

Cyprus to host CMMI, a centre of excellence in marine and maritime activities

Cyprus will host an independent, international, scientific and business centre of excellence in marine and maritime activities, the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI), driven by the needs of industry and society. The Institute which will be established under the MaRITeC-X is an EU project funded by the European Commission under the HORIZON 2020 Programme with €15 million and the Cypriot government for an additional €15 million. “This is a huge success for Cyprus,” Natasa Pilides, Deputy Minister for Shipping said speaking to the media following a Cabinet meeting. She added that among the projects evaluated, MaRITec-X finished third in Europe and first in Cyprus. Pilides said the CMMI will have the Deputy Ministry’s and the government’s full backing while the Municipality of Larnaca, the Limassol Chamber of Commerce, Universities and other organisations will join as stakeholders. The CMMI will promote partnerships, globally, among top academic and research institutions and businesses, helping to address the needs of businesses, countries, and regions in blue economy activities. The CMMI aims to become the partner of choice for all blue economy development activities at the local, regional, European, and global levels.

 

Smoker fathers pose a threat to their babies

Politis reports on the findings of a new Chinese scientific research which found that, future babies born from smoker fathers have an increased risk of congenital cardiovascular diseases. It is already widely accepted that both active and passive smoking by the mothers, during pregnancy, is harmful for the baby as well. They conducted a meta-analysis of 125 research reports, and there was a total of 137.574 participants who were children with congenital heart disease. The first meta-analysis focused on fathers instead of mothers and looked at the link between smoking and heart disease and found that the risk of heart anomalies increase by 74% when a future father is a smoker, by 25% if a pregnant woman smokes, and by 124% when a pregnant woman is constantly exposed to passive smoking. That is why fathers-to-be should quit smoking as they provide the largest source of passive smoking for any pregnant woman, which the study proves to be a greater threat to a baby than the pregnant mother smoking herself during pregnancy.

 

Adverse consequences

According to a global study “State of Global Air, 2019”, air pollution, both environmental and indoors, can decrease the life expectancy of a child born today by 20 months, on average. Air pollution poses the same or even greater threat to children than smoking, and decreases life expectancy more than drinking unsafe and unclean water does. Air pollution is more aggravating for people in developing countries where life expectancy is already lower than developed countries, for various reasons. On the other hand, in developed countries, new born babies’ life expectancy is decreased by 5 months due to polluted air. According to this article, polluted air accounted for the 10% of mortality rates internationally in 2017, and it was the 4^th cause of premature death – following poor diet, cancer and smoking.

 

1 out of 5 deaths caused by poor diet

Phileleftheros shared the findings of another international scientific study, which found that poor and unhealthy diets are responsible for 1 out of 5 deaths across the world. They claim that poor diets cause more deaths than both smoking and hypertension. Consuming healthier food options such as whole grain foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts and decreasing unhealthy foods which include any beverage with sugar, salt, fats and red processed meat, could save many lives.

 

Leptos Limassol Park: A green heaven

Leptos Estates creates a new unique development for Limassol, ‘Limassol Park’, which will be one of the most luxurious developments for holidays in Cyprus. The project is located in a unique location southwest of the historic center of Limassol, on the peninsula of Akrotiri in one of the greenest areas of Cyprus. The Limassol Mall, the Fassouri waterpark and the famous Lady's Mile sandy beach, as well as the new City of Dreams Mediterranean Casino Resort are within reach.

 

Doctors received their contracts for the GHS registration

Phileleftheros’ sources report, that general practitioners (GPs) have already received their contracts for registration in the GHS, while pharmacies’ registrations are continuing. At the same time while the procedures for implementation of the GHS are proceeding very quickly, the Cyprus Medical Association through its president turned against those who overlook the Association’s code of conduct said in a statement Petros Agathaggelou. The president of the Cyprus Medical Association and the representative of the pediatric company, Michalis Anastasiades commented on the latest concessions by the Health Insurance Organization, and said that there still remains a gap on the issue of the maximum number of visits. In addition, public health professionals – including radiologists technologists, radiotherapists technologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and employers of the Nuclear Medicine Departments (NMD) – are still protesting because they were not invited to the ongoing debate between the State Health Services Agency (OKYPY) and doctors’ and nurses’ unions concerning the structures and hierarchy in public hospitals.

 

American Heart Institute will not join the NHS – announcement

The American Medical Centre AMC announced on Thursday that it will not be joining the national health scheme Gesy and accused the health insurance organisation HIO of deceiving the public over the participation of private hospitals in the scheme. The proposed health scheme is not viable and its implementation will lead to the degrading of the quality of healthcare said Nicosia's AMC spokesperson Dr Marinos Sotiriou. Responding to HIO statements on Wednesday that a growing number of healthcare centres in the Nicosia Limassol and Paphos districts will be joining Gesy Sotiriou said that it gave the impression that the wheel is turning in favour of Gesy but this is not the case. The HIO is hopelessly attempting to feed media outlets with inaccuracies and false information regarding the intention of certain clinics to join Gesy Sotiriou said. The American Medical Center/American Heart Institute, Soteriou said, “will join the Platform of Private Medicine, as its goal is to continue operating independently.”

 

MoH: Pharmaceutical Industry will join the GHS (video)

The Minister of Health revealed that the local pharmaceutical industry has said that it will join the General Health System. In yesterday’s meeting with Constantinos Ioannou, representatives of the local phameceutical industry expressed their desire to join the GHS, along with all of their products. It’s worth noting that the Ministry of Health, is one step closer to reaching a deal with pharmaceutical importers. As regards the number of personal doctors that have registered in the system, the Minister said that this has surpassed all expectations. “The number of personal doctors that has registered in the system has surpassed all expectations. We are headed towards the right direction, but this doesn’t mean that there aren’t any reactions. There will be problems, as this is the largest reform (of the country), as well as because of the negative climate of the past few months”. As regards the registration of paediatricians, Ioannou mentioned