- Iran defiant as UN nuclear talks fail
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:18:13 +0000 -
Author:
Fredrik Dahl and Parisa Hafezi
The UN nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran's suspected secret atomic weapons research failed, a setback likely to increase the risk of confrontation with the West.
In a defiant response, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran's nuclear policies would not change despite mounting international pressure against what the West says are Iran's plans to obtain nuclear bombs.
"With God's help, and without paying attention to propaganda, Iran's nuclear course should continue firmly and seriously," he said on state television. "Pressures, sanctions and assassinations will bear no fruit. No obstacles can stop Iran's nuclear work."
As sanctions mount, ordinary Iranians are suffering from the effects of soaring prices and a collapsing currency. Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed over the past two years in bomb attacks that Tehran has blamed on its arch-adversary Israel.
In response, Iran has issued a series of statements asserting its right to self-defence and threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil tanker route.
The collapse of the nuclear talks came as Iran seems increasingly isolated, with some experts seeing the Islamic republic's mounting defiance in response to sanctions against its oil industry and financial institutions as evidence that it is in no mood to compromise with the West.
Elections on March 2 are expected to be won by supporters of Khamenei, an implacable enemy of the West.
The failure of the two-day visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency could now hamper any resumption of wider nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers as the sense grows that Tehran feels it is being backed into a corner.
In the view of some analysts, the Iranians may be trying to keep their opponents guessing as to their capabilities, a diplomatic strategy that has served them well in the past.
"But they may be overdoing the smoke and mirrors and as a result leaving themselves more vulnerable," said professor Rosemary Hollis of London's City University.
A team from the IAEA had hoped to inspect a site at Parchin, southeast of Tehran, where the agency believes there is a facility to test explosives.
"During both the first and second round of discussions, the agency team requested access to the military site at Parchin. Iran did not grant permission for this visit to take place," the Vienna-based IAEA said in a statement.
"It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin. We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached," said IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano.
A Western official added: "We think that if Iran has nothing to hide why do they behave in that way?"
"It is another missed opportunity," French Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said. "This refusal to cooperate adds to the recent statements made by Iranian officials welcoming the progress of their nuclear activities."
Iranian analyst Mohammad Marandi said providing the West with any more access than necessary to nuclear sites would be a sign of weakness.
"Under the current conditions it is not in Iran's interest to cooperate more than is necessary because the West is waging a war against the Iranian nation," he told Reuters.
Earlier, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran expected to hold more talks with the UN agency, but Amano's spokeswoman said no further meetings were planned.
Iran rejects accusations that its nuclear programme is a covert bid to develop a nuclear weapons capability, saying it is seeking to produce only electricity.
But its refusal to curb sensitive atomic activities which can have both civilian and military purposes, and its record of years of nuclear secrecy has drawn increasingly tough UN and separate US and European measures.
The United States and Israel have not ruled out using force against Iran if they conclude that diplomacy and sanctions will not stop it from developing a nuclear bomb.
"This was only to be expected, given Iran's evasions," a senior Israeli official said.
The failure of the IAEA's mission may increase the chances of a strike by Israel on Iran, some analysts believe.
But this would be "catastrophic for the region and for the whole system of international relations," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.
An IAEA report in November suggested Iran had pursued military nuclear technology and helped precipitate the latest sanctions by the European Union and United States.
One key finding was information that Iran had built a large containment chamber at Parchin to conduct high-explosives tests. The UN agency said there were "strong indicators of possible weapon development".
The IAEA said intensive efforts had been made to reach agreement on a document "facilitating the clarification of unresolved issues" in connection with Iran's nuclear programme.
"Unfortunately, agreement was not reached on this document," it said in an unusually blunt statement on Wednesday.
The IAEA mission's failure may reduce the chance of any resumption of wider nuclear negotiations between Iran and the six world powers – the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.
The West last week expressed some optimism at the prospect of new talks, particularly after Iran sent a letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton promising to bring "new initiatives", without stating preconditions.
But the United States and its allies may be reluctant if they feel that the Islamic state is unlikely to engage in substantive discussions about its nuclear activities.
- French Socialists dig in heels on EU austerity
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:15:12 +0000 -
The French Socialists' abstention in a parliamentary vote on Europe's future bailout fund has provided new fodder for concern among EU-watchers about how a possible left-wing presidential election victory would affect the eurozone crisis.
The Socialist Party, whose candidate Francois Hollande leads opinion polls for the April-May election, sat out Tuesday's lower house vote to create a permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in protest at austerity policies in Europe.
President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government called the move a "historic error" and berated the Socialists in parliament on Wednesday. Even the left-leaning newspaper Liberation was critical in an editorial.
"A vote today against the ESM is a vote against Europe, a vote against the euro and a vote against European solidarity, and it's not behaviour fitting to the gravity of the situation," government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse said.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon accused the Socialists of bringing election campaign tactics into parliament.
In a scolding comment, Liberation said left-wingers were acting like ostriches. "Some of them quibbled, most found the most pressing thing to do was not decide and others stepped up their vindictive jibes," it said. "If the left wins power, it needs to do better. And know what it wants."
The abstention, which did not prevent the bill passing in the conservative-led National Assembly, was in line with Hollande's campaign pledge to seek to amend an EU fiscal compact agreed last month to add clauses on growth and investment.
While Hollande is staunchly pro-European and advocates fiscal discipline, his stance raised questions about the compatibility of his views with Germany's in resolving the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis.
"I don't think this is a game changer. But it can be interpreted as revealing a part of the Socialist platform – that to be European we have to be very pro-growth – which is at odds with the Germanic view on what solidarity means," said George Magnus, senior economic advisor at UBS.
"If we see more instances like this in the run-up to the election, they could be perceived as marking out a political and negotiating position vis-a-vis Germany which would be seen as quite different and potentially capable of causing uncertainty about how the process would evolve."
The left objects to the fact that the creation of the ESM is conditional on ratification of a fiscal compact treaty that enforces austerity measures in countries with big deficits.
The ESM bill passed by 256 votes to 44, with 131 abstentions. Only the ruling UMP and centrists voted in favour.
"Austerity cannot be a condition of solidarity," said Martine Aubry, the Socialist Party leader who is set for a key ministerial post if Hollande wins power. "By this abstention we state our refusal of austerity."
The Socialists' leader in the lower house, Jean-Marc Ayrault, a Germanophile tipped for a government post if Hollande wins, said the new EU treaty was incomplete.
"Bringing debt and deficits under control, yes, but without investment mechanisms and deploying the ECB and euro bonds for growth it would be a treaty that starts as a failure," he said.
The issue highlights differences between France's two main political parties on how to tackle Europe's economic woes.
Hollande wants the EU treaty to stipulate that a certain amount of spending should go into investment, education and green energy. He also wants welfare clauses.
Those ideas would not necessarily jar with leaders in Italy and other southern states, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also begun to emphasise growth, although driven by structural economic reforms rather than public spending.
But EU leaders, and financial markets, would frown heavily on any attempt by Hollande to slow up the fiscal compact which Sarkozy and Merkel put together in recent months.
Analysts say the Socialists' behaviour, such as Hollande's recent lambasting of the financial sector, is more about keeping left-wing voters on board than indicative of future policy.
"There would be issues with Hollande, but not unmanageable ones," said Nomura analyst Alastair Newton in London. "The reality once one gets behind the desk in government is always slightly different to when one is on the stump campaigning."
- Sweden's ‘Chicago’ grapples with deadly wave of shootings
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:12:33 +0000 -
A wave of execution-style shootings and a police station bombing in Sweden's third largest city have sparked fears that gangster violence is taking hold in a Nordic country widely seen as one of the world's safest places.
Only minutes into the new year, a 15-year-old was found with gunshots to his chest and one to his head outside an apartment block in one of Malmo's poorest and most troubled districts, where firefighters have occasionally sought police protection.
Eight killings have occurred across the city since a 36-year-old with links to organised crime was gunned down in a parking lot in May last year. The latest victim, a 48-year-old man, was found shot in a car at the end of January.
None of the murders have been solved, and now some newspapers are calling Malmo "Sweden's Chicago".
"Why don't police have better control?" national daily Svenska Dagbladet asked in an opinion piece, suggesting Malmo look to New York which slashed its crime rates in recent decades.
For their part, police refuse to reach the conclusion that the bomb at the police station and the killings were definitely linked, which would gangland violence is out of control.
"We believe it's linked to the prevalence of weapons. It is big. But I can't say why we have a larger share here than in Stockholm," Hans Nordin, Deputy Chief Commissioner of Police in the Skane region of southern Sweden, told Reuters.
With a population of just 300,000, Malmo is one of Sweden's roughest cities, long a base for smugglers because of its proximity to Denmark, with which it has been connected by a bridge since July 2000.
Roughly 40 per cent of Malmo's population are first- or second-generation immigrants and one in three is unemployed, compared with a national rate under nine per cent. Among young immigrants, the rate is nearly 40 per cent.
Formerly a prosperous industrial town, much of the old industry has declined and jobs have vanished.
Gangs took root here decades ago, starting with motorcycle groups and increasingly dominated by immigrants, at first thanks to an influx in the 1990s of refugees of Balkan wars and then, over the past 20 years, immigrants from the Middle East, Africa and eastern Europe.
Along with the July 2011 killings of 77 people in Norway by right-wing fanatic Anders Breivik, the city's problems have helped to shatter the cherished image of Sweden as a refuge of safety and peace, sparking a national media debate, soul-searching throughout Sweden and street protests.
Dozens of police reinforcements sent in this year are still in the city.
"I'm thinking of leaving Malmo because it is getting more and more dangerous," said Henrik Hammar, 28, who stocks shelves at a grocery store and was awakened when a small bomb exploded at the police station in his neighbourhood at the end of January, close to where the latest victim was found.
"When it comes to shooting, we are used to that in Malmo. But not bombs," Hammar said outside the police station with a shattered window and a hole torn in its brick wall. The bombing happened in Fosie district, a centre of the violence.
The wave of killings since May is not the first to shake Malmo. Peter Mangs was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of three murders and 13 attempted murders over a seven-year period, a string of shootings on Malmo's streets targetting immigrants.
Luciano Astudillo, a Chilean-born former MP who was moved by the New Year's Day shooting to launch a campaign to say "Enough is enough," compared the crime wave to the violence that plagues Mexican border towns.
"We have the same problem here as in the north of Mexico though on a smaller scale," he said, pointing to the drug and weapons smuggling that pass through Malmo from Denmark on their way to the rest of Scandinavia.
"So it is logical for the gangs to gather here and fight each other," he said.
Astudillo said he hopes the protests he has helped lead, including a street demonstration by more than 6,000 people on Jan. 6, will make politicians notice what is happening.
"I don't think murders will become more and more frequent in the near future, but there is nothing that indicates things will improve a bit longer-term," said Tobias Barkman, a crime reporter at regional daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet.
"Society has fallen behind - with regards to the police and to the social situation. It's hard to see any rays of hope."
- Cyprus EU presidency enlists world's fastest yacht
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:41:45 +0000 -
The government has enlisted the world’s fastest yacht, Esimit Europa to promote the forthcoming EU presidency by attending a launch event and flying the presidency’s emblem on its mainsail.
Igor Simcic, owner of the Cyprus registered yacht and founder of the pan European project said: “I found the invitation to take part at the Cypriot Council of the EU presidency takeover as a great honour and a big recognition to the project’s endeavours in the field of international diplomacy.”
Simcic and the government have already begun discussing ways in which Esimit Europa can promote the presidency, last week meeting separately with deputy European affairs minister Andreas Mavroyiannis and communications ministry permanent secretary Alecos Michaelides.
They have continued discussions about different possibilities of the Esimit Europa 2 yacht’s presence at the official event during the presidency take over.
“In the upcoming weeks we will make a detailed analysis of the possibilities of our cooperation and send a proposal to the Cypriot government” said Simcic.
He added: “We are happy to help Cyprus in fulfilling the priority tasks during the presidency and additionally strengthening its close relationships with the all EU member states.”
Esimit Europa 2 yacht sails under the patronage of José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and with representatives from different European countries aboard encourages economical and political cooperation between the European nations.
The world's fastest yacht, Esimit Europa, will fly the emblem of the presidency on its mainsail.
- Christofias begins contacts in Brussels
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:36:42 +0000 -
President Demetris Christofias today began a series of contacts with the College of Commissioners in Brussels.
The delegation includes foreign minister Erato Kozako Marcoullis, acting finance and communications minister Efthymios Flourentzos, interior minister Neoclis Sylikiotis, commerce minister Praxoulla Antoniadou, agriculture minister Sophoclis Aletraris and labour minister Sotiroulla Charalambous.
Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou and deputy European affairs minister Andreas Mavroyiannis.
Christofias began the day at the offices of Cyprus' permanent representation in Brussels, followed by a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
The delegation will then attend a joint meeting with the College of Commissioners to discusss economic policies, and structural changes in the allocation and distribution of produced wealth.
Later today, Christofias will receive Androulla Vassiliou, Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Commissioner and will also meet the staff of the Permanent Representation of the Republic in Brussels.
On the sidelines of the President’s meetings, the members of the cabinet who are accompanying the President, will hold bilateral meetings with the College’s commissioners.
President Christofias and his entourage return home on tomorrow.
Christofias and Barroso at this morning's meeting (Reuters)
- Two western Journalists killed in Syria
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:24:39 +0000 -
Two Western journalists were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs today when shells hit the house they were staying in, opposition activists and witnesses said.
They were Marie Colvin, an American working for Britain's Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said.
A witness contacted by Reuters from Amman said shells hit the house in the Baba Amro district of Homs in which they were staying and a rocket hit them when they tried to escape.
Both were veteran correspondents of wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. Colvin was a fearless reporter who lost an eye when she suffered a shrapnel wound while working in Sri Lanka in 2001. In public appearances after that attack, she wore a black eye patch.
Ochlik was born in France in 1983 and first covered conflict in Haiti at the age of 20. Most recently he photographed the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Video broadcast from Homs showed the bodies among the rubble, one with its legs severed by shrapnel.
Activists in Homs say at least two other foreign journalists were wounded. One was named as British photographer Paul Conroy. Another, a female American journalist, is in a very serious condition, they said.
"Up to this point we have two dead. They are still under the rubble because the shelling hasn't stopped," an activist in Homs named Omar told Reuters. "No one can get close to the house."
"There is another American female journalist who is in a really serious condition, she really needs urgent care," Omar added. The house was hit by more than 10 rockets, he said.
Pro-opposition areas of Homs have been under a sustained bombardment from government forces since Feb. 3. Several hundred people have been killed, activists say.
The Syrian conflict is especially dangerous for journalists to cover as opposition and rebel forces are for the most part bottled up in enclaves. Last week New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid died of an asthma attack while trying to reach an opposition zone.
Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin (pictured) and French photographer Remi Ochlik are said to have died this morning
- BoC takes €1 billion hit on Greek debt
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:46:04 +0000 -
BANK of Cyprus (BoC), the island’s biggest lender, yesterday posted a €1.01 billion net loss for 2011 after taking provisions for a Greek sovereign debt swap.
BoC said the total impact of its participation in a voluntary swap of Greek government bonds with a 60 per cent impairment, amounted to €1.3 billion for 2011.
The nominal value of the Greek government bonds held by the group – after the write-down -- totalled €975 million at the end of December 2011.
The total nominal value of bonds affected by the write-down was €2.08 billion.
Excluding the impairment, the group's net profit for the period reached €312 million, an annual increase of 2.0 per cent.
Profit before provisions and tax reached €802 million – up 11 per cent.
“Due to the uncertainty concerning the Greek bond swap program, the group has cut the nominal value of the bonds it holds by 60 per cent, a fact that affects net profits,” a joint statement by BoC chairman Theodoros Aristodimou and CEO Andreas Eliades said.
The statement said with the clarification of the conditions of the swap, the group will make the necessary adjustments.
Eurozone finance ministers yesterday agreed on a €130 billion rescue for Greece to avert an imminent chaotic default after forcing Athens to commit to unpopular cuts and private bondholders to take bigger losses.
The accord will enable Athens to launch a bond swap with private investors to help put it on a more stable financial footing and keep it inside the euro zone.
Private sector holders of Greek debt will take losses of 53.5 per cent on the nominal value of their bonds.
They had agreed to a 50 percent nominal write-down, which equated to around 70 per cent loss on the net present value of the debt.
BoC said it is pushing ahead with its plan to boost capital, expected to be complete next March.
It will do so through a rights issue of up to €396.3 million and a voluntary exchange of convertible securities of up to €600 million, the lender has said.
“With the completion of the program and the very satisfactory liquidity it possesses, the group will actively continue to support its customers and the economy,” the joint statement said.
The bank said that excluding the write-down, it has achieved its profitability goals for the year and “remains in position to tackle the challenges of the uncertain economic environment.”
The bank closed the year with a total of €28.9 billion on its loan books, a 4.0 per cent rise from 2010.
Some €10 billion in loans were given in Greece.
Deposits were down 7.0 per cent at the end of 2011 – €29.7 billion.
The percentage of non-performing loans (NPL) reached 10.2 in 2011, compared with 7.3 per cent in 2010, the bank said.
NPLs in Cyprus were 9.5 per cent while the respective figure for Greece was 11.6 per cent.
- Our View: Petty disputes have no place in restoration of cultural heritage
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:44:47 +0000 -
THE HISTORIC Apostolos Andreas monastery at the tip of the Karpass peninsula must be very close to collapsing for our political and church leaders to have given their go-ahead to the carrying out of restoration work. Of course, this is no guarantee that the project will be undertaken, because the start of work had been announced on several occasions in the past, without anything being done.
The first attempt was made in 2003, with UNOPS bankrolling the restoration work which would have taken place under an Italian architect. Although it had the support of the Cyprus government, the plan did not meet with the approval of a group of Greek Cypriot politicians who managed to block the project. New plans for supporting the structure were drawn up by the Patras University in Greece and it was announced that work would begin in the latter half of 2005, but a dispute over which side would administer the project led to its abandonment.
After the election of Demetris Christofias in 2008, the two sides decided to put their differences aside in order to save the monastery, which is part of the island’s cultural heritage. In June 2009 it was announced that work would commence in the next few weeks but, predictably, it did not, because the two sides could not agree who would administer the project.
When the UN proposed, a year later, that the project could be administered by Evkaf, the Turkish Cypriot religious organisation, Archbishop Chrysostomos would not hear of it as the monastery belonged to the Church. “I would rather see Apostolos Andreas collapse than accept that this monument belongs to Evkaf,” he said.
On Monday, the Archbishop called a news conference to warn that the monastery’s main arch had subsided and there was a danger this would cause the collapse of the main structure. The Turkish Cypriot authorities constantly obstructed the maintenance of the monastery, he said, but this time he was determined to send builders to fix the arch, even if they ran the risk of being arrested.
It was a cheap show of bravado by Chrsysostomos who knew very well that without co-operation from the Turkish Cypriots, the monastery would collapse. Was he prepared to allow such an important historic monument to become a pile of rubble, in order to score political points?
Thankfully, the issue has been taken out of the Archbishop’s hands. The technical committee dealing with cultural heritage and consisting of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot members will take charge of the project. It will use the Patras Univeristy restoration plans. We hope the petty disputes are put aside and work begins soon, because time is running out.
Apostolos Andreas monastery is located at the northeastern tip of the Karpas peninsula
- Bill to sideline the executive on gas going to a vote
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:41:05 +0000 -
A CONTENTIOUS bill stripping the Commerce Minister of the power to negotiate with companies interested in offshore gas prospecting has managed to survive the minefield of the legislative process and will be tabled for voting at the plenum tomorrow.
The bill has been drafted by DISY deputies Averof Neophytou, Lefteris Christoforou, Georgios Georgiou, European Party MP Demetris Syllouris and independent MP Zacharias Koulias. It’s geared at boosting the powers of the permanent secretary of the Commerce Ministry and of the head of the Energy Service Solon Kassinis.
The bill would give an advisory committee consisting of technocrats and permanent secretaries of ministries the power to negotiate the production-sharing contract with companies interested in prospecting in Cypriot waters in the second licensing round. Up until now, the power to negotiate belonged by law (the 2007 law on hydrocarbons) to the Commerce Minister and the Cabinet.
At the House Commerce Committee yesterday, a representative of the Attorney-general’s office was called in to vet the bill as well as two others - and found himself in the crossfire of MPs from opposing parties.
As it stands, the bill states that the criteria governing the awarding of hydrocarbons licences are determined by the Cabinet. The advisory committee of technocrats will assess the bids, but the final decision on whether to award a licence or not rests with the Cabinet – although that would be a mere formality.
Ruling AKEL has slammed the bill, saying it diminishes the authority the executive branch has over the assessment process. The legislative proposal has the backing of DISY, the European Party and apparently DIKO, and should garner enough votes.
But a second bill, drafted by DIKO deputy Angelos Votsis, did not pass muster with the Attorney-general. Under the bill, DEFA (Natural Gas Public Company) would become the exclusive importer as well as the exporter of natural gas on behalf of the state.
In short, it gives DEFA carte blanche to handle all facets of trade in natural gas. Moreover, the bill seeks to deprive the government of the exclusive right to replace/reappoint the members of DEFA’s board of directors until 2015. Under the proposal, the government would need parliament’s consent to do so. But this latter provision is unconstitutional as it violates the principle of the separation of powers, a representative of the Attorney-general’s office told MPs.
The bill is also problematic in that it directly contradicts the 2007 law on hydrocarbons which states that it is the Cabinet which decides on how natural gas is to be imported and sold.
And according to the Attorney-general’s office, expanding the remit of DEFA would mean hiring new staff. This in turn would entail extra government spending. But under the Constitution, the House may not legislate an increase in government expenditures.
Also in the pipeline is a bill by AKEL’s Nicos Katsourides. This aims to allow players other than DEFA to import natural gas, in order to liberalise the market. It would thus open a window for the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (and/or private IPPs) to import natural gas for a transitional period until such time as Cyprus becomes a gas exporter in its own right. It also provides for the regulation of DEFA by the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA).
The DIKO and AKEL bills will be finalised and submitted to the plenum, possibly next week.
At a charged session of the House Commerce Committee yesterday, Neophytou alleged that Katsourides’ bill had in reality been drafted by CERA to “bring the EAC back into play”.
All three bills were intended to be submitted to the plenum before the second offshore licensing round got underway, but none made it in time.
- Mountain dwellers plan to protest cut in fuel allowance
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:38:50 +0000 -
THE RESIDENTS of mountainous areas are threatening measures against a government decision to cut their heating allowance this year.
A heating allowance has been given since 2003 to anyone living in an altitude of 600 metres or higher.
Residents were expecting some €5 million as help with the winter heating expenses.
The allowance is not part of the budget proper but Cabinet would annually issue a decision to pay it out, until this year when it was cut as part of the state’s efforts to curb expenses, said Tasos Michaelides, head of the mountainous communities’ committee and Palechori community leader.
The communities sent a letter to the Interior Ministry requesting the allowance and received an answer from the ministry’s acting permanent secretary Andreas Ashiotis that they had no money to spare, Michealides told state broadcaster CyBC.
Michaelides said that people struggled because electricity consumption (often the only source of heating) was “many times higher” in the mountains than in the cities.
The winter in Cyprus this year has been unexpectedly cold and long, raising consumption.
On top of that electricity bills – already the most expensive in the EU – have risen after taxpayers were asked to pay a 6.96 per cent surcharge to cover the costs of a naval base explosion in July which damaged the island’s main power station. In addition to the surcharge, an additional 1.5 per cent increase was introduced in January as part of a price increase authorised in 2009 by the energy regulator. VAT will also rise from 15 per cent to 17 per cent on March 1.
Michaelides said a mountain resident may need to pay as much as €6,000 a year “just to heat his home”, and the loss of the allowance made life on the mountains less attractive because it amounted to cuts ranging between €350 and €800.
Michaelides said residents had two choices: “abandon their communities… or else react. Because we have decided to stay in these communities we will react for sure,” Michaelides said.
Michaelides said they would appeal again to the Interior Ministry asking for a meeting and would decide on what measures to take if they were ignored.
The allowance was allocated to household units who got varying amounts depending on family size and altitude, among others. It was normally paid out at some point in February or March, to subsidise the previous winter’s heating expenses, Michaelides said.
“People can’t take any more,” Michaelides said referring to the hefty bills residents in the mountains incurred.
Residents were expecting some €5 million as help with the winter heating expenses this year
