Turkey must overcome internal divisions and get back to long-delayed reforms early next year to show it is serious about wanting to join the European Union, the bloc's enlargement chief said in an interview. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said he expected more Balkan countries to apply for EU membership following Montenegro's move earlier this
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2009 must be the year of a comprehensive settlement for the divided island of Cyprus, the European Union's enlargement chief said in an interview, urging all parties, and in particular Turkey, to step up efforts. Greek and Turkish Cypriots have lived separately since a Turkish invasion in 1974 in response to a Greek-inspired coup. Leaders
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TAKING STOCK Well, we made it. The response was encouraging, mostly in the comments that a publication like “Cyprus Gourmet Magazine” fills a need. Praise for the recipes and the editorial content generally, especially the wine information which tells readers where the wines can be bought and how much they will cost. We shall continue
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MONTHLY COMMENTARY JOHN O’DONOGHUE Consultant Adviser Caratfin Insurance Advisers So, it is alleged that Bernard Madoff, past chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange and investment master of Madoff Investment Securities, was in fact running a ‘Ponzi scheme’ that accumulated losses estimated to be in the region of $50 bln, the figure he himself admitted to
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The Employers and Industrialists Federation, OEV, has hailed the reduction in prices, even if these are due to the sales season, but has slammed the attitude of the association of small shopkeepers, Povek, as “unreasonable reactions” to an early sales period. OEV said that the reduction in prices in any way is desirable and a
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The International Air Carrier Association (IACA) has welcomed the recent joint efforts of Eurocypria, Cyprus Airways, the Cyprus Tourist Organisation and the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism to improve tourist accessibility to Cyprus, but again warned that concrete action is urgently needed by the government to correct the situation and boost tourism. IACA, that
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The government of Cyprus has decided to offer all students enrolled at gymnasiums a grant of EUR 350 per student to buy notebooks, a reduction of the initial proposal for EUR 500 in aid. Education Minister Andreas Demetriou believes that because there are so many children involved, around 8,800, when the proposal is put to
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Businesses need open encouragement from both political and business leaders in order to have the courage to trade across the divide, according to research published by the Cyprus Centre of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). The research, by Mete Hatay, Fiona Mullen and Julia Kalimeri, found that intra-island trade is only a tiny
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Cyprus and other EU countries are under threat of significant penalties as a result of non-compliance with the European Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD) of 2006 and monitoring the energy efficiency of buildings, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Despite the measures taken by Cyprus to combat energy loss and improve energy
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. Hoteliers rightly want the government to abandon plans to build a luxury hotel and conference centre in Nicosia, arguing that low occupancy rates in the capital will drive the project to failure. The Association of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises, STEK, is against plans to demolish the derelict Philoxenia Hotel and build a new luxury hotel
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