Cyprus Editorial: Another case of Troika faux pas ?

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Some of us used to have great esteem for the Troika inspectors and their masters until Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem came along, proving that it’s not too hard to imitate and even match the blunders of the Christofias administration. Since then, it’s been gaffe after gaffe, with our international lenders gradually losing credibility for the amateurish way they have been handling the crisis, in Cyprus and elsewhere.
Now, they have been duped into a tug-of-war between the President Anastasiades who wants to kick-start the economy and get Cypriots back to work again, and the Central Bank chief who is busy defending the autonomy of the institution.
Instead of staying on the sidelines and perhaps taking a mediatory role between the two obstinate sides in order to help the current economic stalemate, the ECB, IMF and the Commission have thrown their support behind Governor Panicos Demetriades suggesting that the Cypriot parliament should stand down from amending a law that would give equal resolution authority to the Minister of Finance.
The Troikans seem content with the pace of our centralbanker who does not seem too enthused about what’s happening in the real world.
As a result, another month has passed and the Bank of Cyprus is still in a state of resolution, the economy is bleeding, unemployment is rising and SMEs are shutting down on a daily basis, while civil servants and (independent) central bank staff are clinging on to their cushy jobs and a secure salary at the end of the month. Wage payments and the settlement of invoices in the private sector have trickled down to a lethargic pace and the whole economy has ground to a halt.
If the government cannot get rid of the Governor in order to replace him with one who will share the president’s vision for the economy, could they at least tell him (and the Troika paymasters) to move any faster? Otherwise, at this pace, we might not even have a Bank of Cyprus to save by July 31.