Fiscal policy pays dividends, says President

Government fiscal policy is paying off dividends which are increasingly becoming more obvious to the people, President Tassos Papadopoulos has said, as he addressed a huge gathering of bank employees, who met on Saturday to honour the vanguard of their trade unionists.
“We are just months away from achieving our strategic goal to join the Eurozone and adopt the Euro as our currency in 2008. The role of ETYK (bank employees’ trade union) will be decisive in this respect,” Papadopoulos said.
He said international competition and globalization cause changes that inevitably affect the banking sector, noting that since Cyprus’ accession to the European Union in May 2004 a new era has dawned in the banking industry.
“Today ETYK is so powerful that it fears nobody except its own strength, which if exercised wisely and in a responsible manner it can become very effective,” he added.
He called on bank employees to use this power to achieve consensus and not to impose things.
“Danger lies in what international norms describe as arrogant trade unionsim,” he concluded.
The President, who in the 1960s served as Labour and Social Insurance Minister, praised the pioneers of the bank trade unions who had to face many difficulties in their task to claim better working conditions.
ETYK President Loizos Hadjiloizou outlined the long and at times difficult road bank trade unionists over the decades had to walk, saying that the vanguard of this movement in the banking sector paid a hefty price for their courage to claim better working conditions.
“Today we pay tribute to these people and show respect and recognition for all they have achieved,” he added, as he handed veterans of the bank trade unions honorary certificates.