Barely a glimmer of hope for jobless

THE REAL impact of rising unemployment is not in the percentages being bandied about and argued over about by politicians, unions and employers but in the queue at any labour office around the island.

 “I was working as an assistant at my husband’s company, but this is the first time that I’ve come here and I’m not sure whether I’m entitled to anything,” said Maria Meliou, 37 said.

Meliou, who has three children, has been unemployed for three months. Describing how her husband’s business – a company dealing in construction materials – started to go downhill about a year ago Meliou said that on top of this they had to pay the €350 company levy last month and were also blighted with a number of thefts worth hundreds of euros.

“We’ve also got a son in Greece studying and the rent over there is extortionate, if he could get a job that would really help but I don’t see that happening,” said Meliou, becoming more and more agitated as she listed more things that had to be paid or that had gone up in price.

Melious is one of some 33,000 now unemployed as is Elena Constantinou, who said that she had been unemployed for a month, and had only found out moments before speaking to the Sunday Mail, that her husband had just been laid off as well. They have a one-year-old baby.

There are also young twentysomethings who have barely seen a glimmer of hope despite their years spent specialising in a their desired subject, there’s middle aged professionals who’ve been made redundant for lesser paid recruits, and then there’s all the working class labourers who are unfortunate enough to be suffering the brunt of a shrinking industry.

Those left without a job are eligible for unemployment benefit which amounts to 70 per cent of the wage they were receiving at their last job. But benefits only last for a period of six months, before being completely cut off. And while the job market shrinks, it means more and more people are left wondering if they’ll be receiving any income at all if no employment opportunities crop up before their six months are through. And there is a growing likelihood that they will not.

FULL REPORT SEE FEATURES SECTION 

Full house at the Nicosia Labour office during the week

Our View: All roads lead back to public service payroll

UNEMPLOYMENT reached a record high in December, the rate climbing to 9.3 per cent which was one of the highest increases, over a year, in the EU. This gave rise to a collective lament by our politicians, all of whom called for development projects that would create jobs and kick-start the stalled economy. 

‘Development’ has now become the main slogan and the answer to all our problems, a bit like the demand for a ‘fair, just and lasting settlement to the Cyprus problem’. But as with all nice-sounding slogans they serve to the public the politicians offer no practical ideas as to how the objective would be realised. Who would initiate the desired development? 

The government has no money, because all the money it has borrowed will go towards paying the public servants. Private businesses which might undertake new projects cannot find funding because the banks, apart from pursuing tight credit policies, are charging extortionate interest rates. And as for investment from abroad, the competition from countries with lower labour costs, lower cost of living and fewer bureaucratic delays is very acute.

So how would the development the politicians are convinced would lower unemployment happen? Should we rely on divine intervention because we have not heard of the practical steps that would be taken to ensure there is growth? The truth is that politicians are not in the business of providing practical solutions for anything. They just come up with nice-sounding slogans (the Cyprus problem is the best example of this approach) and when nothing happens they blame the government for supposedly failing follow their suggestions.

Not that the government has shown great imagination or resourcefulness in stimulating growth. It announced some low-cost plans on Wednesday, while on Friday evening the CyBC reported details of the comprehensive plan for development prepared by the finance ministry. These included loan guarantees for small and medium businesses, opening of casinos, speeding up of the issuing of planning permits and incentives for opening new businesses. These could work if we were not so deep in recession, worsened by a credit squeeze.

But we should not be surprised, given the unfailing ineptitude the government has displayed in the handling of the economy, an ineptitude which continues today, despite record unemployment and sinking businesses. Commendable as its development plans might be, they are small-scale, because there is no money available.

The problem goes back to the public sector pay-roll and the government’s failure to deal with it in a conclusive and effective way. Fearing PASYDY’s reaction it made the smallest possible cuts (some temporary) to wages and grudgingly imposed a two-year freeze on wages. While this was just about enough to meet fiscal targets for 2012, it completely ignored the small matter of development spending, which everyone is now clamouring for.

A government which put the interests of the economy above the president’s popularity with PASYDY would have managed its finances more rationally. It would have imposed bigger cuts on public sector pay, so that it could have spare funds to spend on development projects; a redistribution of resources that would help the private sector create jobs. As things are, and with next to no hope of recovery this year, the government might not even collect the tax revenue that would help it meet its fiscal targets – a floundering business sector does not generate tax revenue.

Before the end of the year, the government may have to cut public sector wages again in order to meet the fiscal targets set by the EU, because its tax revenue is more than likely to fall short. But again the saving will go towards restricting the deficit rather than development. This is what happens when there is a government incapable of looking at the broader picture of the economy and takes piece-meal measures only when it forced to do so.

The lack of funds for development projects combined with tight credit, we fear, would continue to push up the unemployment rate and, at the same time, put downward pressure on private sector wages. Unions and employers may have reached an agreement on a wage freeze a few days ago, but market conditions will continue to push wages down. While nobody likes wages falling it might be the only way to battle unemployment, given the lack of funds for development project that would stimulate growth.

Tales from the Coffeeshop: the life and times of Don Christofias

THE MAN who appeared in Nicosia district court on Wednesday charged with being a public nuisance because he called the president a ‘vlakas’ last August, pleaded ‘not guilty’ and faces trial in June.

The 35-year-old, while driving his car had spotted the presidential limo on the road, poked his head out of the window and shouted ‘Fool, president resign’. He was heard by two presidential cops who, after an exchange of words, arrested him and took him to a police station where he had to give a statement.  

The CM, in the news report in its Thursday edition, translated ‘vlakas’ as ‘idiot’ which originates from the Greek ‘idiotis’, but ‘fool’, I think, would have been more accurate as there is a subtle difference, ‘idiot’ being a slightly stronger term. Translation aside, ‘vlakas’ is not a word that causes offence to anyone nowadays, not even to the thinnest-skinned village idiots.

It should be noted that the man was charged for causing public nuisance and not for insulting the president. If he had been charged with the latter, his defence could have been that calling the president a ‘vlakas’ was not an insult but a statement of fact, which he would prove in the court. 

THIS was not the only case brought by the authorities against citizens who spoke unkindly of the president. One hapless refugee pensioner now living in Paliometocho is facing charges of insulting the president during a chat in his village coffeeshop.

During the coffeeshop argument, the pensioner Takis Mattheou, according to a report in Alithia, asked: “With what authority is he going to hand over our properties to the Turks? Because he is president of the Republic, does he have the right to seize our properties and give them to the Turks?” 

A communist snitch who was at the village coffeeshop, reported Mattheou to the police and he was subsequently taken in to give a statement. He denies having insulted our great leader and the court case, after several postponements, is scheduled to be heard in May, with the commie snitch being the main prosecution witness.

There have been press reports of another case. A man who was shouting abuse against the comrade with the fragile super-ego, during a football match, reportedly, has also been charged and is due to appear in court soon. 

I feel a bit offended that all these people are being taken to court for insulting the comrade, and our establishment, despite all its efforts, has still not been charged.

IT IS NOT as if the comrade does not pick fights with newspapers. Before he became president, he filed a libel suit against Politis, because it described him as having a big bum. The paper had not even put it so crudely, speaking instead of his “ample posterior”, but the over-sensitive comrade considered this defamatory and sued for libel.

He was represented by the Tassos Papadopoulos and Associates law office as the offending article was published before he fell out with the late Ethnarch. The case has never been heard, one postponement following the other but the suit has not been withdrawn. The comrade has offered to withdraw the suit on condition that the newspaper paid the legal costs, but it has refused to do so.

If the case is eventually heard, the paper plans to summon the comrade and request that he has his bum measured so it could prove that its reference to his fat arse was factually correct and therefore not defamatory. There might have been a legal dispute over what constituted an “ample posterior” but this could easily have been resolved by seeking the views of experts on clothing sizes.

The comrade’s delusions have no limits. Deluding himself that he is a great statesman is one thing but deluding himself that he has small-sized bum that is worth going to court to defend, is just crazy.

THE INSULTS of the comrade have not been confined to Kyproulla. On Tuesday he was lampooned on French national television. He was featured for a few seconds on the Canal Plus show Le Petit Journal which takes a satirical look at current affairs.

The show featured a film clip of a limousine arriving at the EU summit, to the theme music of The Godfather, and the presenter asked, “At the EU summit, could you find Don Corleone?” The comrade stepped out of the limo and the presenter said “this was Cyprus.” 

It doesn’t sound very funny, but likening him to Don Corleone is certainly more insulting than calling him a fool. Will he sue Canal Plus or will he just complain to his good friend Nicolas Sarkozy about the lack of respect shown to him by French TV. 

You can see the film clip on http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/pid3351-c-le-petit-journal.html. Scroll down the page to Les Emissions, click the 31/01/12 show and fast forward to 10.40 minutes to see Don Christofias’ arrival.

WE NEVER expected such a stab in the back from France. The day after the offending show was broadcast, in an article about the comrade’s ability to secure foreign support for his positions, the editor of AKEL mouthpiece Haravghi wrote:

“That President Christofias succeeded in winning the absolute support of the French President – who on many occasions told him that ‘whenever Cyprus needs support we will be present’- must be appreciated by even those who do not back Christofias’ policy. 

We know that Sarkozy does not control what is shown on French TV, but if Tof thinks he has Sarkozy’s ‘absolute support’ then he must have a small bum.

WILD celebrations greeted the statement issued by the Russian foreign ministry, arguing that it was not the time for arbitration, suffocating time-frames and the calling of an international conference on Cyprus. 

It might not be the time, but the suffocating time-frames for an international conference have already been imposed by Ban Ki-moon and Russia cannot change anything, so why are we celebrating? 

Spokesman Stef-Stef tried to offer an explanation, which was monument to meaninglessness. “The position of Russia is very important because it comes from a permanent member of the UN Security Council and underlines the need for the resolutions of the organisation to be respected and implemented by everyone without exceptions.” 

He did not mention that Russia’s principled stand may have been secured by our principled government’s decision to allow the Russian ship carrying ammunition and weaponry for the murderous Assad regime to sail to Syria, despite EU sanctions. Indirectly assisting the murder of innocent Syrians seems a high price to pay for a statement about time-frames of no practical value.

LAST weekend, the Employers and Industrialists’ Federation OEV issued an announcement telling its members not to give their worker pay rises or the CoLA oat the end of the months. Unions were up in arms, threatening strikes and the labour minister Sotiroulla Charalambous decided to mediate.

It was inevitable that once the totally biased, former union representative Sotiroulla – whose arrogant and self-important style is truly comical - intervened any compromise reached between the two sides would be completely in favour of the unions. And it was.

There would be a two-year wage freeze but CoLA would be paid, while businesses “not facing particular financial problems” would give pay rises. The agreement would also prevent employers from making redundancies without first consulting a committee that would be set up by OEV and the unions in order to advise businesses on how “to avoid or restrict to the minimum possible lay-offs.”

I bet this Soviet measure, giving the right to a committee to tell businesses how they should run their affairs was Sotiroulla’s brilliant idea. But why did OEV, which is supposed to support the free market, agree to the unions having a say over a firm’s redundancy decisions and making suggestions for measures that a business could take “in the exceptional cases that faces serious financial problems”? 

If OEV has embraced the philosophy of the command economy that Sotiroulla and her boss subscribe to, it should inform its members.

THE OEV smart-asses were taken to the cleaners by the unions and Soviet Sotiroulla. Had they not publicly announced their demands and entered negotiations businesses would still have given zero pay-rises and increased working hours – staff know how difficult times are – and there would not be a committee of union reps that businesses would have to consult before making redundancies.

The problem is that OEV which negotiates collective agreements is as much a part of our inflexible labour market as the unions. Its employees justify their wages by negotiating with unions and agreeing wages and pay conditions for entire sectors, irrespective of the fact that sector does not consist of companies capable of paying the same wages.

This is why its negotiators went to Sotiroulla’s mediation and surrendered to the unions. OEV jobs would be safe for a few more years by maintaining this collective bargaining joke which keeps unions strong and businesses weak, even at a time of soaring unemployment.

WHAT A shame that turtle-lover Perdikis’ attempt to get the House to declare the super-biased pro-Turk, Big Bad Al, persona non grata and to seek his immediate replacement, failed. In the end, the House resolution was a mild slap on bum of the Aussie calling for the restoration of his “objectivity and trustworthiness.”

The only thing the Downer debate produced was a few amusing sound-bites, the best one coming from the monster-raving-loony Koulias who said: “He operates as if he is an extension of the occupation and an ambassador of the Turks.” Chief Eurocock Syllouris was more restrained. “Diplomats like Downer should be treated like enemies of Cyprus.”

Perdikis, despite going to all the trouble to arrange the debate, had to be satisfied with having his lamely unfunny sound-bite reported be the media. “Downer, go home to the kangaroos,” he said. Had he known that the kangaroos had successfully declared Al persona non grata in the outback, he would not speak so disparagingly of them.

A DAY after the legislature’s resolution about Al, Ban’s spokesman in New York expressed the Secretary-General’s full confidence in his Special Advisor in Cyprus. Will Perdikis now draft a resolution that would be sent to the Security Council demanding the replacement of Ban because he has full confidence in a man who “operates as if he is an ambassador of the Turks” and is and enemy of Cyprus?

WE ARE happy to report that the marriage of the Garoyians is in rude good health and that Marios and Rotika are still swimming in an ocean of boundless love and happiness.  This was what the radiant Rotika earnestly revealed in an interview published in the last issue of Must magazine. 

Things are even better since Marios lost the House presidency because he now devotes much more time to his wife. “We are going through the best times of our relationship,” she said adding that after two years of marriage “we have a great love that has not changed.”

The interview was given to dispel scurrilous rumours that the couple was splitting up, that Marios was cheating and that Rotika had beaten up an alleged love rival.

These were all nasty lies spread by people who were envious of the happiest and most in love couple of Kyproulla. As Rotika said: “Envy always exists, regardless of whether you are the most beautiful, the wealthiest or the happiest.” People who say the bad things “cannot imagine how happy we are together.” 

The only thing missing from the perfect relationship was a child. “If it is God’s will we will have a child – the fruit of our great love.”

You have to admire Mrs Garoyian’s earnestness. You also have to admire her perfectly-shaped back-side which is shown in one of the photos accompanying the interview. I bet nobody would ever make fun of it as they had done of our poor comrade’s.

COMMENTING on the CM web-site last Sunday, a reader accused Patroclos of practising ‘hooligan journalism’. I have never been accused of hooligan journalism before, but I feel quite flattered and I think the reader may have coined a new phrase. I thank him.   

Man found murdered in his car

POLICE are investigating the murder of 22-year-old Andreas Papadopoulos from Lakatamia, who was found in his car with a gunshot wound to his head in the early hours of yesterday.

According to the police, Papadopoulos was found crouched over in his car’s passenger seat, parked outside a house on the Kokkinotrimithia – Paliometocho old road, in the Agioi Trimithias village in Nicosia.

The member of the public who found him at 4.20am, immediately notified the police, thinking Papadopoulos was just injured.

Police cordoned off the scene and scoured the area for evidence. 

An eye witness yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that the victim’s dog, who was in the car with him, was also shot in the snout, but survived.

The hit was reportedly drug-related. 

The head of Nicosia Police Headquarters, Kypros Michaelides, said the police found the victim in his car in the early hours of yesterday morning, after being informed by the member of public who came across the scene.

Michaelides clarified that the house outside of which Papadopoulos had parked wasn’t his, nor did he have any connection with it.

“Investigations are underway to determine the conditions under which (Papadopoulos) was found there and the reasons for why he was shot,” said Michaelides. “Preliminary investigations have shown that this person was shot at close range and intensive investigations and examinations are underway so we can figure out the reasons behind his death.”

Police yesterday began gathering statements from people close to the victim, in the hope of getting to the bottom of the murder.

“The specific person is indeed well known to the police, but obviously I can’t say much more on the matter,” said Michaelides.

State Pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous told reporters yesterday he had carried out a preliminary post mortem at the crime scene. A post mortem will also be carried out on the victim’s body to establish the official cause of death.

Former police spokesman’s home targeted

A HAND grenade was thrown at the Limassol home of former police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos in the early hours of yesterday.

Police say the attack was connected to Katsounotos’ current duties as the head of Limassol Traffic Police.

According to the head of Limassol Police, Yiannis Georgiou, Katsounotos has a good idea who was behind the attack and a number of people have been summoned to give statements.

Georgiou added that the force would not tolerate such acts against members of the police and it would be “relentless” in investigating the case.

“The throwing of this hand grenade is directly connected to the duties of the police lieutenant and this fact is of great concern to the police,” said Georgiou. “Investigations are heading in a specific direction, which was indicated by Mr Katsounotos,” he added.

Police Chief Michalis Papageorgiou visited Limassol Police Headquarters early yesterday morning to be briefed on the case. He spoke to Katsounotos and gave specific orders on how the case should be investigated.

The military hand grenade detonated at a little before 2am in the front entrance of Katsounotos’ two-storey home, which he shares with his family and in-laws. Katsounotos was on duty at the time of the incident.

The front door, verandah and a family car suffered extensive damage. Evidence was collected from the scene for more tests. 

CoLA deal a pyrrhic victory, say economists

THE AGREEMENT brokered by Labour Minister Sotiroulla Charalambous to  exempt companies from granting pay rises other than those pegged to inflation through the Cost of Living allowance (CoLA)  could create more problems than it solves, say economists.

While the agreement between the Employers and Industrialists Federation, OEV, and two major trade unions, SEK and PEO eliminates the risk of industrial action, it could add more burdens to the already struggling economy.

"It neither safeguards the robustness of enterprises nor serves the workers as a whole," economist Spyros Episkopou, chief executive officer of Epicentral Consultancy told the Sunday Mail.

The deal would only serve those with jobs and who benefit from inflation compensation, Episkopou added.

Cyprus’s enterprises are not particularly competitive, reflected in the size of the current account deficit, said academic Alexander Michaelides. Maintaining the wage indexation system, also known as the cost of living allowance, does not help, Michaelides said. 

"When unemployment rises above 9 per cent and the trend continues, it seems that by insisting on CoLA, unions haven't got it that they are risking more jobs," said Michaelides, director of the Centre of Banking and Finance at the University of Cyprus.

The deficit of Cyprus's current account, which reflects all flows of goods, services and transfers with the rest of the world, is expected to narrow to 5.0 per cent of gross domestic product by 2014 from 7.8 per cent in 2010, a reflection of the slowdown in demand and economic output.  It had peaked at 17 per cent in 2008.

Sotiris Fellas, deputy secretary general at PEO, said that the indexation of wages to inflation is not linked to unemployment. "This is demonstrated in the development of unit labour costs," he said.

In the third quarter of 2011, Cyprus's unit labour costs rose 1.3 per cent compared to a year before, according to the European Central Bank. In the eurozone, unit labour costs rose 1.6 per cent in the same period. This meant that Cyprus's competitiveness improved compared to that of the eurozone in that period.

However, the long-term development of unit labour costs in Cyprus shows an alarming picture. From the fourth quarter of 1998, immediately before the launch of the euro, the single currency bloc's unit labour cost fell 5.5 per cent, while in Cyprus it rose 9.6 per cent. 

The increase was nearly 12 per cent in Greece, 9.4 per cent in Ireland and 7.3 per cent in Portugal. 

Fast forward more than a decade later, all three countries were, like Cyprus, shut out of financial markets and had to resort to an international bailout in the last two years. In Germany, the eurozone's largest economy which is de facto dictating bailout terms, they fell almost 19 per cent.

As a result, Cyprus is one of the most expensive countries for production in the eurozone; its  unit labour costs index stood in the third quarter of 2011 at 111.6, compared to 107.7 in Greece, 106.6 in Portugal and was close to that of Ireland's 115.8.  

Hope in sight for end to bus strike

COMMUNICATIONS ministry and bus companies yesterday continued meeting in a bid to iron out their differences and bring an end to the bus drivers’ strike, which has been inconveniencing the public since last Wednesday.

According to media reports yesterday, the two sides hope to reach an agreement by the time the weekend was over.

Speaking to the CyBC yesterday, Communications Minister Efthymios Flourentzos said the differences between the two sides “are shrinking”.

“I hope a solution is found,” said the minister. “We are awaiting a response from the bus companies regarding our suggestions and alternative proposals that we posed (on Friday night).”

Bus drivers across the island – except the Larnaca District, who stopped striking on Wednesday night after reaching an agreement with the ministry – have been on strike over the companies’ failure to pay them their January wages.

The result was thousands of passengers – old and young – being inconvenienced, with some school children even being unable to turn up to school.

Concern in north over proposed Islamic centre

UNIONS, media outlets and opposition political parties in the north are accusing ‘the government’ of pandering to the Islamist interests of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) after it gave the green light for the building of “theology complex” on the outskirts of Nicosia. 

The wave of accusations came after the ‘council of ministers’ rushed through an agreement in which EVKAF, an umbrella organisation for religious foundations, would rent a 200-donum site to the religion-based Cyprus Science, Honour and Aid Foundation (KISAV) on a 30-year contract for a rent of just 100 Turkish Lira per year. (around €50).   

One of the first to condemn the move was Teachers Union (KTOS) boss Sener Elcil who said the deal was the work of the AKP, whose aim it was “to fill the north with Sheikhs”. 

“They [the government] are taking orders from the AKP and the Turkish Embassy,” he said, adding: “New religious foundations are being formed by the day and we have no idea by whom”. 

According to reports in the Turkish Cypriot press, KISAV was formed a mere two months ago by a small group of mainland Turks from Kahramanmaras and Konya, Turkey’s religious capital. Attempts by the Cyprus Mail to contact KISAV resulted in failure. The NGO has no website and is not registered with directory enquiries.

Criticism of the deal also came from the owners of the nearby International Cyprus University (UKU) whose administrators said they had been struggling for 20 years to obtain the land into which they hope to expand their campus. Another company, Turkmall, said it offered the authorities 417,000 pounds sterling and a promise to invest €15 million in a shopping and leisure centre on the site – a proposal which the company said had been looked favourably upon by EVKAF. KISAV’s proposal foresees an €8.5 million investment on a project that will include a theology school, a mosque, accommodation and a swimming pool. 

Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Ersin Kucuk sought to play down the accusations by saying, “It is wrong to think only of the economy and trade” and promised the complex would “bring benefits the people”. He added that once the 30-year lease expired, the complex would again become “public property”.

However, his words did not prevent further protest from political parties wary of mainland Turkish investment in the north. Indeed, last week the north was brought to a virtual collapse when electricity and telecommunications workers stopped work angry at plans to sell of currently ‘state-owned’ corporations to mainland Turkish companies. 

“The socio-economic invasion of north Cyprus is gaining speed and no one can keep up with it,” head of the left-wing New Cyprus Party (YKP) Murat Kanatli said . In a press statement Kanatli recalled how the previous year ‘state-owned’ Eastern Mediterranean College in Famagusta had, without consultation, been sold off to the Turkish-owned Doga Group, believed by many to be the property of Fetullah Gulen, an influential but moderate religious figure currently in self-imposed exile from Turkey in the US Gulen runs thousands of educational institutions both in Turkey and throughout world. 

Malev’s demise a blow to passenger numbers

LARNACA airport is feeling the financial strain after Hungarian airline Malev stopped its weekly routes to and from Cyprus after it went belly-up earlier in the week.

According to Hermes Airports’ spokesman Adamos Aspris yesterday, the airline used to carry out three weekly flights to and from Budapest over the winter, while in the summer, there used to be up to eight flights a week.

“Certainly, the cancellation of operations by an airline that flies to and from Cyprus is a blow, which is accompanied by financial losses on various levels,” said Aspris. “And the continuation of the economic crisis is evidently creating unfavourable prospects for other airlines too, which are facing financial difficulties.”

Hungary’s 66-year-old national flag carrier, which was forced to cease flying after the Hungarian government was forced by the EU to withdraw financing, transported around 78,000 passengers to and from the island in 2011.

A Malev flight was expected to arrive on Friday night – but didn’t – and one passenger turned up at the airport yesterday expecting to fly out to Hungary, without being aware the airline had gone bust, according to the Larnaca News Agency.

The head of the travel agents’ association, Victor Mantovanni, the Hungarian government has promised to foot the bill for those who prepaid any tickets.

“Therefore, people who are abroad can seek the services of other airlines and keep the receipts, so they can be refunded by the government in Budapest,” said Mandovanni. 

He added that Czech national airline CSA is also facing viability problems, resulting in a reduction of its routes to Cyprus. 

Envoys we love to hate

IT’S BEEN a long-time brewing but parliament finally passed a resolution censuring UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer on Thursday, around seven weeks before he drafts a crucial report on the status of the peace process. 

That report will decide whether the two leaders go to an international conference for the “end-game” or the UN Good Offices pack up their bags and leave –assuming they can of course. Being branded an “undesirable” does not necessarily get you a ticket home.  

DIKO, EDEK, the Greens and EVROKO tried to pass amendments declaring Downer a persona non grata but cooler heads prevailed among the two main parties DISY and AKEL. 

Instead, Downer was unanimously censured for “undermining” the Cyprus Republic and making “lop-sided and damaging statements” which go against UN resolutions on Cyprus. 

MPs called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to “restore” the special advisor’s “objectivity and trustworthiness” though no clear guidelines were given on how the South Korean might go about it.

During the debate, Greens deputy Giorgos Perdikis told the Australian to “go home” while independent MP Zacharias Koulias accused him of operating as “an ambassador for the Turks”. 

According to EVROKO leader Demetris Syllouris, Downer should never have been allowed to come to Cyprus in the first place. 

“He is clearly promoting the positions of Turkey and leading the Cyprus problem to an end which favours Turkish interests. We do not want a second Greek Cypriot ‘no’ but any plan which clearly serves the interests of Turkey like the Annan plan did will not pass,” he said. 

International relations expert Hubert Faustmann said the resolution was clearly for domestic consumption. 

“They’re just scoring points against Downer. UN mediators are the most popular lightening rod for nationalist outbursts. Anybody who tries to solve the Cyprus problem is a target,” he said. 

“In substance, we are in a pre-election period. They know the negotiations will end in disaster. Either the process will lead to an international conference and fail or Ban and Downer will try to pull out and likely fail. Whatever happens will be seen as a failure to the Greek Cypriot public, so the politicians are posturing and trying to score points among the more hardline segments of the population,” he added. 

A diplomatic source said the attacks on Downer were “pure deflection” and showed how “bankrupt the process now is when you start attacking the UN”. 

“They are trying not to face up to the reality of having a stalemate,” he said. 

“Internationally, it’s considered absurd. Technically, you could ask to replace Downer, but the UN will then turn around and say, ‘well ok but you’ve complained about every single envoy before him so what do you want?’,” he added.    

A government source said the effort in parliament was an attempt to harm the peace talks.

“They’re targeting the process, not Downer,” he said. 

“They’re acting as if the Cyprus problem was created yesterday and we have all the time in the world. As if we have no experience of what is or is not feasible. We’re talking about 37 years of repeated failures,” he said.

Another political source who did not wish to be named said the island was getting closer than ever to permanent partition, arguing that the rejectionists were manoeuvring so they could put the blame squarely on President Demetris Christofias.  

Failure or not, Downer now joins a long list of UN officials considered “not very nice”; a list compiled by Cypriots throughout the long history of the Cyprus problem which, like the fate of the Universe, has no universally agreed beginning or end. 

Almost every UN official who has ever worked on Cyprus has at some point fallen foul of one side or the other. The former UN Secretaries-General Perez de Cuellar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan all lost favour with the Greek Cypriots, as did special representatives, envoys and advisers Oscar Camillion, Gustave Feissel and Alvaro de Soto to name a few.  

The irony being that the only institution Greek Cypriots have ever accepted to lead efforts for a solution of the Cyprus problem is the UN. 

They are not alone, however, in pillorying UN mediators. 

In 2006, the Turkish Cypriots accused UN Special Representative Michael Moller of being pro-Greek Cypriot. Ferdi Sabit Soyer said: “We have started to see Moller as a Greek Cypriot and not as a UN representative.” 

Peruvian diplomat de Soto also fell foul of Turkish Cypriots in 2003 when the former leader Rauf Denktash charged him with ignoring the realities, failing to research the causes of the Cyprus problem, and accepting “the Greek Cypriot government’s position to control the whole island”. 

De Soto soon found a balance when he presented the final version of the Annan plan for referenda in 2004, drawing the ire of the Greek Cypriot ‘NO’ camp. 

“Unfortunately, the Greek Cypriots did not avail themselves of the unprecedented opportunity offered by the framework provided in Burgenstock,” said de Soto.  

UN officials are not the only ones attracting the wrath of Cypriot politicians. Britain’s former special envoy David Hannay drew fire from all Cypriots. Denktash believed Hannay was biased towards the Greek Cypriots while the latter attributed the hated Annan plan to his authorship. Both sides agreed however that he behaved like a “snobbish colonial governor”.  

Speaking to the Sunday Mail from Paris, de Soto said: “One of the things I was told when I started in late 1999 was that eventually this happened to pretty much everyone. I was told first, the press will start behaving swinishly with any envoy, representative or adviser, and then, the rejectionist parties will start to undermine the UN chap. 

“I was told this was standard practice. I don’t think anyone was surprised (when it happened),” he said. 

The Peruvian said he tried to engage the more critical segments of the media, talk them through the process and provide them with background but was met with “palpable hostility”. 

Asked if the latest attacks on Downer might affect his work, de Soto said his long spell as an Australian MP would have prepared him well for any rough and tumble in Cyprus: “Australia is famous for having one of the toughest parliaments on the face of the earth.”

But why does every mediator/facilitator end up in the crosshairs of mostly Greek Cypriot politicians and media? 

“Critics probably don’t want to approach the end game. If they don’t have a substantive plausible argument against coming to terms with that, it’s not surprising politicians will find other ways to undermine the process,” said de Soto.

The former special adviser said Greek Cypriots were probably now going through a period of “internal reflection” as Annan suggested they do in his 2004 report. 

“Do they really understand what a federal solution means? Political equality? Strong power at the centre? Have they asked this question? If they don’t accept these things, they should come out and say so.”

More and more outside observers familiar with the Cyprus problem are suggesting that Greek Cypriots are not prepared to accept the High Level Agreements of 1977 and 1979 signed by Makarios and Spyros Kyprianou respectively with Denktash. The agreements stipulate the basis for a solution as being a bizonal, bicommunal federation. 

“These are just labels. What matters is the content,” said Syllouris who argues the National Council’s unanimous decision of September 2009 should be the basis for any solution. As the last joint statement agreed by party leaders, it calls for the complete removal of all settlers, armies and guarantees, and the implementation of the EU acquis, four freedoms and full human rights across the island.  

“Does this mean the National Council is unanimously against a bizonal, bicommunal federation?” he asked. 

A loaded question but a good one. 

Yesterday marked the 58th anniversary since the UN got involved in Cyprus. During one of those years, an experienced UN official told a new colleague to Cyprus: “You understand that this is not really about solving the problem, because you can’t solve it, it’s about managing it.” 

Many UN officials have failed to heed those words and tried in vain to break the back of this ageing conflict, Ban and Downer included. 

Reports suggest they’ve had enough and want out but according to Faustmann, now is not the time for closure.   

“Why does the international community want a solution now? Tactically, it’s a wrong move and a bit fake really. I can understand the frustration of Ban and Downer if you look at the progress in the last two years; a snail is faster in comparison. But I don’t believe the domestic setting with Christofias’ unpopularity is ripe for a solution. At the same time, the EU carrot of Turkish accession is dead and Turkey is already moving towards a Plan B. 

“It will be a disaster if we get a second Greek Cypriot ‘no’. This gives Turkey a free ride for the Taiwanisation of the north. Everybody knows a solution is the best way out for everyone, particularly with the introduction of hydrocarbons,” he said. 

“There will be better chances for 2013 with a stronger leadership,” he added.

Ironically, the only way a compromise solution can pass in the Greek Cypriot community is with the support of the two biggest parties and sworn enemies, AKEL and DISY. 

Could their brief collaboration in parliament last Thursday to prevent parliament from seeking Downer’s removal in the eleventh hour be a precursor to a new alliance for a new era? 

Not likely. 

Alvaro de Soto also felt the wrath of Greek Cypriot politicians