* Economy on the brink of collapse *
European member of parliament and former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides has called for the president of Cyprus to resign in order to appease the public outcry from the worst economic and energy crisis to his the island in nearly four decades.
He said that if president Demetris Christofias was to resign, this would be “patriotic” and would help save Cyprus, suggesting that a single universally agreed candidate be proposed to conclude the remaining 18 months of the terms.
Kasoulides, a senior member of the opposition Democratic Rally and the European Popular Party was tipped to win the elections in 2008, but Christofias narrowly got voted in with the support of the smaller centre-right Democratic Party that has since abandoned the coalition.
Christofias has been harshly criticised for his government’s poor handling of the reasons leading up to and the aftermath of a deadly munitions explosion on July 11 in which 13 seamen and firefighters were killed, and the adjacent Vassiliko power plant was knocked out, plunging the island into darkness.
The blast, measuring 1.5 megatonnes, resulted from the poor storage of 98 containers of arms shipped from Iran and headed to Syria, which were reluctantly confiscated by Cyprus following United Nations sanctions.
Electricity rationing has been introduced with controlled brown-outs that have made people even more frustrated with fridges and air conditioners often switched off at the hottest period of the year when outside temperatures peak at above 40 degrees centigrade. Businesses have been affected by having to invest in generators and letting staff work less hours.
The communist newspaper Haravgi splashed across its front page on Friday comments by Christofias that “The people elected me and I am only accountable to them.”
However, hundreds and on occasion thousands of angry people have been gathering outside the presidential palace for the past three weeks calling for Christofias and his government to resign. A reshuffle is expected after the cabinet resigned on Thursday, following the withdrawal of junior coalition ministers.
BRAVE DECISIONS
Kasoulides said that “brave decisions ought to be taken” in the next 18 months, in order to save the economy from the brink of disaster and warned that “if we don’t accept the political cost of undergoing major reforms, then very soon we will face bankruptcy.”
He added that “we should all be ready to accept the prospect of the [peace talks with the Turkish Cypriots] failing, in particular after the recent hard-line statements by [Turkish prime minister Reccep Tayip] Erdogan,” adding that as time passes, Cyprus risks losing the support of impatient foreign powers.
Erdogan had said in statements a week earlier that Turkey would not recognize the Cyprus presidency of the European Council in the second half of 2012, as long as the island’s division remains unresolved.
“Our foreign policy should once again turn to Europe,” Kasoulides said, “and Cyprus should stop being identified with Iran, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela. This policy led president Christofias to decide to keep the deadly containers in Cyprus, ignoring the please by three European states to help us destroy the shipment.”
He added that it was also imperative that Cyprus joins the Partnership for Peace programme, something which president Christofias has held out against, saying that the organisation was an arm of the pro-western NATO.
CANNOT HANDLE EU AFFAIRS
Regarding the EU presidency only 11 months away, Kasoulides said that “Cyprus has shown that it cannot and does not want to handle European affairs. The strong view of the Europhobic state, which is widely seen within the E.U., must immediately be overturned.”
Returning to the explosion at the naval base, he said that “had Cyprus responded to its obligations as a European state and a country that respects [U.N.] Security Council resolutions, then the shipment would never have stayed in Cyprus and would not have exploded. It is undignified for a president to witness the punishment of subordinates who had been implementing a political decision he had made, ignoring are the terrible risks and dangers.”
Communist AKEL party spokesman Stavros Evaghorou was just as blunt in his response, saying that “those who have started tailoring the suit for president of the Republic in 2013 should realise that there is a constitution and this should be respected.”
Describing the president’s foreign policy as “multi faceted”, Evaghorou said that Christofias’ successes included the state visits of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pope Benedict XVI, Russian President Demetri Medvedev, the visit to Paris and the meeting with President Nicholas Sarkoszy and the establishment of the Committee for the Cyprus Issue headed by Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
“All these prove that Cyprus’ position internationally has been upgraded, regardless with what others say,” Evaghorou concluded.
