EDITORIAL: A new era for Cyprus?

Now that the dust has settled from the longest election campaign Cypriots were ever tormented to, the sixth president of the Republic finds himself in front of momentous decisions. For now, his priorities seem to be in good order, preparing to embark on an international tour to defend himself against arguments that feared a communist taking over as head of state.

On the political front the new chief executive has to convince the public on both sides of the divide that he is genuinely keen on resolving the Cyprus problem. Despite the old camaraderie between Demetris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat, the Turkish Cypriots are a bit hesitant as the communist AKEL party was not forthcoming in supporting the 2004 peace plan. On the other hand, Talat has repeatedly stated that he follows the policies set out by Ankara. Christofias has to convince the Turkish government that it can no longer blame the Greek Cypriots for intransigence and has to abide by new initiatives if it wants to have any hopes of securing a favourable review from the EU next year.

Should the political issue be the only concern in any Cypriot’s mind? Unfortunately, yes, as the economy, social welfare, industrial progress, shipping, farming, education and tourism and so much more depend on getting Cyprus out of the quagmire it is presently stuck in.

Here, Christofias could find an ally in DISY if only he can disengage from the hard line of outgoing Tassos Papadopoulos. The main opposition party, that has pledged to return to the president’s advisory National Council, should help open doors in Brussels through the dominance of the European Popular Party of which DISY is a leading member. This is the only way we can overcome the Greek Cypriot “isolation” of recent years.

Once we get the ball rolling, Cyprus could find itself in better days. A stable political situation could force Turkey to reconsider its excessive military presence on the island, something that will relieve the Cyprus government’s budget through a shorter-term professional army.

We can then get on with the economy. Unfortunately, despite the recent tax reform, for which AKEL claims part of the glory, all that the outgoing administration did from the outset five years ago was to blame all ills on the “previous administration” of Glafcos Clerides, disregarding the fact that so much was invested in that decade leading up to EU accession. The pensions reform is still outstanding, the Social Insurance Fund is near bankrupt and the ageing problem has not been addressed in the past five years. The boost to state coffers came from non-recurring injections in the form of the tax and property amnesties, the National Health Scheme is still to get off the ground, while the issue of corporatisation was not even raised for fear of violent reaction from the coalition’s main partner, AKEL.

These are all matters that the new president must deal with, on the one hand maintaining the welfare state and the mixed economy as his principle concern, while on the other hand trying to prevent the flee of investors and international companies after a senior AKEL official admitted that corporate taxes would be raised.

Until the, President Christofias needs to talk frankly about reform, meritocracy and corporate governance, while keeping public spending in check.