# Seems the President is serious



## Guest (Sep 19, 2013)

Seems that the Cyprus president is serious in trying to get Cyprus out of this mess

Anastasiades wants to dismiss CBC governor | Cyprus Mail

Anders


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

Well it would be the first thing he has DONE on his own without being told to.


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2013)

berni109 said:


> Well it would be the first thing he has DONE on his own without being told to.


Hardly his fault, trojka gives very limited space for maneuvering. And as long as they set the rules, Cyprus has a chance. In my opinion at lest

Anders


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

The President has set a number of targets for action within the Public Sector and also the mechanism to monitor progress. I think this kind of process by anyone is unheard of in Cyprus.

I am prepared to give him the opportunity and time to obtain results.

Pete


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

The point i was trying to make is that he has been in office for 6 months and done nothing of substance other than what he has been told to do.

Yes there are all sorts of things going on that may result in change for the better but this is cyprus afterall any anyone who has been here for a while knows that 'promises' from politians dont usually materalise.

A couple of examples that could have saved millions.
How many months have laiki bank employees received fat pay cheques that have all been taken from the bail-in pot or government coffers. Almost all will go eventually so why prolong the agony.
CYairways - a basket case if ever there was one. Someone needs to look at the reality of the situation. Why pour in millons more when they will never a cent returned. 
Maybe its because these are politicaly expedient.


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2013)

berni109 said:


> The point i was trying to make is that he has been in office for 6 months and done nothing of substance other than what he has been told to do.
> 
> Yes there are all sorts of things going on that may result in change for the better but this is cyprus afterall any anyone who has been here for a while knows that 'promises' from politians dont usually materalise.
> 
> ...


This is a problem with unions that have way to much power in this country. :spy:

Anders


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

Yes Anders, so why does pres nikos not just tell them the 'gravy train' has left cyprus and face up to them like a president who is in charge of the country.

This sort of change costs nothing and would set the right tone - but oh no cant upset anyone - it will have to be done eventually if ever cyprus is to avoid total bankruptcy. 

He has done the easy things set out in the MOU - most of whats left in there is going to be very painful for some. Hence the warnings from the troika about the risks of not sticking to their timetable. :clock:is ticking


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2013)

berni109 said:


> Yes Anders, so why does pres nikos not just tell them the 'gravy train' has left cyprus and face up to them like a president who is in charge of the country.
> 
> This sort of change costs nothing and would set the right tone - but oh no cant upset anyone - it will have to be done eventually if ever cyprus is to avoid total bankruptcy.
> 
> He has done the easy things set out in the MOU - most of whats left in there is going to be very painful for some. Hence the warnings from the troika about the risks of not sticking to their timetable. :clock:is ticking


But it seems that he is keeping the pace and timetable the trojka want. Otherwise they had not approved the second payment.

But most of this comes from the culture here. And you don't change it over night.

I still have very high hopes with this guy, and still he is not a dictator, he does not rule alone, perhaps unfortunately but....

Anders


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Anders makes a good point about not trying to change the culture overnight. Where fast changes have been made elsewhere chaos followed.

Berni109 made the point that "this is Cyprus after all any anyone who has been here for a while knows that 'promises' from politicians don't usually materialise." This is not an exclusive Cyprus problem but has everything to do with politicians worldwide.

Anders is also right to remind us that he not a dictator and has to use the parliamentary process which, of course, is hindered by the adversarial system that exists here, in the UK and many other countries.

Berni109 makes the point that the clock is ticking. This is quite right and why the President has turned to the Attorney General with regard to the CBC Governor who is delaying for no good reason other than his own agenda.

I see no case to be made at the current time that the President is not doing his job. A bank, with all it's legal responsibilities and account cannot be merged with another and shut overnight. I'm certainly seeing the branches closing now though. It is happening.

Pete


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## Pam n Dave (Jun 11, 2007)

We also need to bear in mind that the tourist season was in full swing and is only just winding down for the year. Not a good time to generate strikes or create union unrest.


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

Politicans the world over (has as already been said) are a gutless waste of space. Anything but what is actually needed for a quite life. Dont rock the boat or we will not get re-elected. If we need change do the minimum you can get away with. Too many friends:hungry: and plams to grease. - :yell:Rant over!

Why was i not supprised to read these:
"Policy implementation of Cyprus' programme critical, *uncertainties remain*" from the troika chief.
Only 14m so far collected of the 100m IPT expected - as if the other 80m will be paid in october.

Things take time - agreed - but the 'crafty ways' of doing things here in cyprus will take years to change and the economy does not have that long. (maybe we can just about hold out for the gas - some hope!)


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2013)

berni109 said:


> Politicans the world over (has as already been said) are a gutless waste of space. Anything but what is actually needed for a quite life. Dont rock the boat or we will not get re-elected. If we need change do the minimum you can get away with. Too many friends:hungry: and plams to grease. - :yell:Rant over!
> 
> Why was i not supprised to read these:
> "Policy implementation of Cyprus' programme critical, *uncertainties remain*" from the troika chief.
> ...


Why should the remaining 80 not be paid? You have until 15 of November to pay. Much of the outstanding IPT is from expats, and I am quite sure they will pay

Anders


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Berni109: you seem to revel in negativity about Cyprus and everything related. Do you have any constructive suggestions to offer?

In stating "the economy does not have that long", do you really think the EU would let a member country go bankrupt for such a relatively small amount? The knock-on effects, destabilisation of many other member countries and a real threat to the banks would follow leading to a crisis in the viability of the EU, something many politicians would see as an opportunity to be seized.

If the government does nothing you complain, if it does something, it is too slow for you or it's not good enough. Are you really saying "The end is nigh" and there is no solution?

Pete


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Some people are just not happy unless they are spouting doom and gloom and negativity.
We cannot expect things to be sorted out overnight when the previous government made such a mess of things.
The last president only got in to office by blackmailing the previous one with things he knew about him to make him withdraw from going for another term.
That alone should have told people what sort of person he is.

Lets give the new guy a chance and stop having a go at him.


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

I thought pres nikos was a great hope for the future of cyprus but the lack of short term activity on his part worries me.

Bring up the past solves nothing - its gone - the future is all we have. The only people who are paying for the past mistakes are normal citizens - as ever - politicians walk away richer then when they arrived.

I hope you guys are right and he does turn it around in time to avoid an unmitigated disaster. The people of cyprus deserve better than they have at present.:fingerscrossed:


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## Guest (Sep 22, 2013)

berni109 said:


> I thought pres nikos was a great hope for the future of cyprus but the lack of short term activity on his part worries me.
> 
> Bring up the past solves nothing - its gone - the future is all we have. The only people who are paying for the past mistakes are normal citizens - as ever - politicians walk away richer then when they arrived.
> 
> I hope you guys are right and he does turn it around in time to avoid an unmitigated disaster. The people of cyprus deserve better than they have at present.:fingerscrossed:


I talk to many Cypriots around where we live and many of them say that in a way we brought this on ourselves. And perhaps they are also right.

Anders


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

"we brought this on ourselves"
hindsight is a wonderful thing when looking back at the PAST. Realising too late that you have cocked it up means you have to do something to rectify the situation rather than 'navel gazing'. Same applies on a personal or national level.
The locals coming to their senses will only make matters worse in the short term as they reduce their consumption to match a lower budget.

As you can see from my posts i distrust politicans of any colour but all our futures are in their hands so we must hope that the current bunch start to get their act together a bit sharpish.


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2013)

berni109 said:


> "we brought this on ourselves"
> hindsight is a wonderful thing when looking back at the PAST. Realising too late that you have cocked it up means you have to do something to rectify the situation rather than 'navel gazing'. Same applies on a personal or national level.
> The locals coming to their senses will only make matters worse in the short term as they reduce their consumption to match a lower budget.
> 
> As you can see from my posts i distrust politicans of any colour but all our futures are in their hands so we must hope that the current bunch start to get their act together a bit sharpish.


That can go for many countries, not least UK. As a swede I can say I am proud that Sweden has a very strong economy and luckily are NO Euro member

Anders


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

Anders, you are a lucky man. i dont know much about the Swedish economy - the UK one is probably in much a worse state than is cyprus. UK are very good at 'smoke and mirrors' so hopefully we wont need to go to the imf any time soon.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

As of Q1 2013 the national debt of the UK amounted to £1,377.4 billion, or 90.7% of total GDP. It is forecast to rise to 95.6% of total GDP in 2013, further rising to 98.7% of GDP in 2014. Due to the Government's significant budget deficit, the national debt is increasing by approximately £121 billion per annum, or around £2.3 billion each week

Cyprus has a national debt of €15.350 billion which is 85.8% of GDP (2012 est.) All these figures are from Wiki.

So the UK does appear to be in worse shape than Cyprus. The major difference is that the UK earns enough to meet it's debt repayments and can therefore borrow more. Thus it can maintain the policy of government after government borrowing to survive. This is why the UK governments have fought to keep interest rates low. If they rise it is likely that the debt repayments could not be met, credit ratings would plummet even more with further borrowing made much more expensive and eventually not being available. That part of the UK scenario is impossible to manage and the total debt can never be repaid.

If Cyprus manages the gas situation correctly it's situation could be reversed in a relatively short time. No other country in the EU has this luxury to look forward to. In fact if all the predicted gas could come on stream I would imagine that gas prices would fall enough to endanger the Netherlands economy which is propped up by their gas exports and seriously affect Russia.

What a wonderful thought.

Pete


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

Pete,
"What a wonderful thought" indeed! 
and were it to be managed on the norwegian model for the benifit of the country without various little fingers in the honey pot then so much the better and if pres nicos was not offering to repay russian 'bail in' money out of it - better still.

I would be more than pleased if Cyprus does come out of its current predicament in a much stronger position economically but I have watched the situation here for close to 40 yrs and i dont wear rose tinted glasses.

As a reality check the world price of gas is falling so it may be cheaper to buy in 2018/20 than the cost of exploiting any reserves that are confirmed.


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2013)

berni109 said:


> Pete,
> "What a wonderful thought" indeed!
> and were it to be managed on the norwegian model for the benifit of the country without various little fingers in the honey pot then so much the better and if pres nicos was not offering to repay russian 'bail in' money out of it - better still.
> 
> ...


Gas will always be needed, and price will probably follow the economic situation in the world. 

Anders


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

berni109 said:


> Anders, you are a lucky man. i dont know much about the Swedish economy - the UK one is probably in much a worse state than is cyprus. UK are very good at 'smoke and mirrors' so hopefully we wont need to go to the imf any time soon.


Harold Wilson once said that a week is a long time in politics.

Well a year is a long time in macroeconomics!

Pete has correctly quoted GDP figures for both Cyprus and UK as at *2011*, but 'independent' (ie EU) forecasts show a different outlook for the future. The UK debt vs GDP is set to rise to 98.7% in *2014* whilst Cyprus is set to rise to 124%.

There is no comfort in either figure, so no point scoring is intended. Anders can rest assured that Sweden enjoyed statistics of 38.4% in 2011 rising to 40% in 2014.

References:

UK http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/eu/forecasts/2013_spring/uk_en.pdf
Cyprus http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/eu/forecasts/2013_spring/cy_en.pdf
Sweden http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/eu/forecasts/2013_spring/se_en.pdf

I truly hope that the gas revenues will solve many of the economic woes of Cyprus, but I also truly doubt it, except on a domestic level. I just cannot see the economic viability of a gas pipeline to Europe via Greece (too expensive) or a gas pipeline via Turkey (politically highly unlikely).


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## thejohn32 (Feb 6, 2010)

David_&_Letitia said:


> Harold Wilson once said that a week is a long time in politics.
> 
> If you are looking for quotes that sum up the president I prefer Winston Churchill who said.
> 
> ...


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

I'll throw into this discussion the Merkel effect. As she has now won another term she will, like all true politicians, believe that she is totally invincible and unfailingly right.

Will she continue her vindictiveness towards Cyprus or was that just a reaction to the previous Idiot President who consistently chose to upset everyone and everything related to the EU?

Is it out of the realms of possibility that pressurised by her coalition partners she could claim glory for a solution to the economic problems of Cyprus via an investment in gas?

The number of issues in the total EU melting pot make any economic predictions ultra fragile.

Pete


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## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

I have been involved all my professional life in generating organisational change in blue chip companies and government agencies. Trust me it is not easy. Particularly so when the middle management see any sort of change as a threat to the customs and practice they have developed over time. No matter what the top person says, to make change effective and lasting you must have the willingness of the people in the middle. They may not be visible from the outside but if they want they can destroy the efforts and direction of any otherwise sensible plan for improvement or modernisation. 
Stick with the top guy, he needs all the support he can get.


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## berni109 (May 28, 2010)

Its all very well 'talking the talk' but we need to see nicos 'walking the walk' as used to be said by various management consultants i had the misfortune to meet but the sentiment is sound.

i have seen it happen over and over again where the man at the top really wants the organisation to change and tells everybody so but fails to 'DO' enough to make change happen and time results in the status quo remaining.
cut out the dead wood of middle management, place people at the top who are like minded ( painful for a period but by hell does it sharpen up those remaining).

but siga siga, this is cyprus afterall and do they really want a northern european work ethic. much easier to run the country like a middle eastern bazzar.


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## Guest (Sep 27, 2013)

berni109 said:


> Its all very well 'talking the talk' but we need to see nicos 'walking the walk' as used to be said by various management consultants i had the misfortune to meet but the sentiment is sound.
> 
> i have seen it happen over and over again where the man at the top really wants the organisation to change and tells everybody so but fails to 'DO' enough to make change happen and time results in the status quo remaining.
> cut out the dead wood of middle management, place people at the top who are like minded ( painful for a period but by hell does it sharpen up those remaining).
> ...


Don't forget that they have just borrowed about 10 billion Euro that has to be paid back, plus the 7-9 billions that Laiki got before and that debt is now transferred to BoC. This can of course be a motivator for change when the thumb-screws are tightened

Anders


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