Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-05-28

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Thursday, May 28, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Government presents airport privatisation plan

[02] New strikes will cripple Cyprus Airways

[03] Judge orders Aids trial be held in camera

[04] Minister pledges to find the truth on public sector scam

[05] Government doing all it can to avert trouble

[06] Don't fine our students for underachievement

[07] Siesta time goes into force next week

[08] Top ranking for Cyprus university

[09] Cyprus film at Athens festival

[10] Toddler falls off balcony

[01] Government presents airport privatisation plan

UPGRADING and management of Larnaca and Paphos airports will be handed over to the private sector as the government adopts the latest international tendency towards smaller government.

Yesterday's meeting of the Council of Ministers decided on reduced government intervention in big projects that have until now been exclusively undertaken by the public sector.

The Cabinet decision to approve a bill handing over construction and management of the two airports to a private investor was announced by Communication and Works Minister, Leontios Ierodiaconou, who pointed out that the government would nevertheless continue to be the majority holder of the airports.

According to the Communication Ministry's proposal to the Council of Ministers, the state will maintain a percentage share holding of 65 to 70 per cent.

The government's continued majority control of the airports is intended to ensure that the public interest is served as regards national security, passenger security and protection of the environment.

Investments for both airports are expected to reach £200 million, with £160 million for Larnaca airport and £40 million for Paphos.

Speaking after yesterday morning's meeting, Ierodiaconou said that "in the initial stage of the transition, a state company will be established with a private aspect and, soon after, this company will invite a strategic investor to become a part shareholder, but the major shareholder will remain the state... The state company will have majority holdings and will be complemented by the private investor that will run the airports."

The Minister added that "the strategic investor should have the ability to run the airports" and that there are no companies in Cyprus with the required technical know-how to take on this task and therefore a foreign company, specifically European, is likely to be given the project.

Questioned about the employment status of airport workers facing this future transition to partial privatisation, Ierodiaconou said they would not be affected in the immediate future. He added that his ministry was in contact with the unions and would discuss potential problems.

The Bill will be presented to the House of Representatives for ratification.

The decision on the future of the airports comes in the wake of a leak to a newspaper on Tuesday, revealing that a four member Ministerial committee has been set up to examine the best method for selling off shares in government controlled organisations.

Cyprus Airways, the Cyprus Development Bank, Hilton Hotel, the Forestry Industries, the Refineries and the Pan-Cyprian Bakery Company are all on the list for part privatisation, after the airports,

The Minister of Communication and Works was asked yesterday if a fate similar to that of the airports awaited other government enterprises. He replied: "Let's limit our discussion to the issue considered by the Council of Ministers today."

In following the worldwide tendency towards smaller government, the Cabinet is motivated by a desire to modernise the Cypriot economy and raise funds in order to lighten the burden on the public purse, he said.

According to Tuesday's leak, the government intends to begin by gradually reducing its share in the state enterprises under examination. The four- member committee dealing with the issue is made up of the Ministers of Finance, Christodoulos Christodoulou, of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Nicos Rolandis, of Communications and Works, Leontios Ierodiaconou and of the Interior, Dinos Michaelides.

The committee is considering how to sell off shares in the three enterprises already listed on the Cyprus stock exchange - the Forestry Industries, which are only 51 per cent government owned, Cyprus Airways (82 per cent government owned) and the Hilton Hotel (81.3 per cent) - without having a negative impact on share prices.

All three enterprises suffered losses in 1997. The other three earmarked for partial privatisation - the Refineries, the Development Bank and the PanCyprian Bakeries - are expected to draw a positive response from potential investors.

[02] New strikes will cripple Cyprus Airways

CYPRUS Airways (CY) yesterday warned its unions that the company could not financially survive another bout of crippling strike action.

Communications and Works Minister Leontios Ierodiaconou and CY Chairman Takis Kyriakides also warned that the airline has serious problems and that a strike at this stage would worsen the situation.

Responding to yesterday's official announcement of a 24-hour strike by the stewards union Cynika for June 5, management warned of dire consequences if the action went ahead.

The announcement by Cynika -- the airline's largest union, which is involved in a wage dispute with management -- came just days after CY's pilots' union Pasipy threatened similar action if its differences with management were not resolved.

A provisional strike date of June 10 has been mentioned, and if a meeting with pilots scheduled within the next few days proves unproductive, an official strike date is likely to be set.

In response to the new threats, CY called on the unions to return to the negotiating table to help the company survive competition, and expand to secure its future.

"Otherwise, they will have total responsibility for the disastrous consequences," CY said. "There is still time for reason to prevail."

But Cynika said yesterday it would not accept anything other than the 4.5 per cent rise that staff are seeking in wages and other benefits.

The union said that, according to an agreement singed with the company in 1995, their members are entitled to the same wage increases as those agreed in the semi-government sector.

This amounts to 2.5 per cent in wages from January 1, 1997 and 2.0 per cent in benefits.

"They (CY) are trying to disengage the wage structure from the public service," Cynika said. "It is a clear downgrading of our payments and we are not going to be victims and will not accept any drop in our standard of living."

The union said the fact that the company's finances were improving should be a factor in determining wage increases.

But CY said money was still tight and that Cynika's demands would cost them an additional one million pounds a year.

The 4.5 per cent being sought would actually work out at close to seven per cent for the company after social insurance and the six-monthly Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA) was added.

CY said that, in general, staff costs per employee had risen by 50 per cent between 1992 and 1997, while the total wage bill had risen from 25 per cent of total expenditure to 33 per cent in the same period.

"All this at a time when members of the Association of European Airlines have managed to reduce their (wage) costs from 35 per cent to 28 per cent (of total expenditure).

"Cyprus Airways operates in a competitive environment, so it is unacceptable for Cynika to compare it with the semi-government or public sectors for the purposes of securing wage increases," CY said.

Kyriakides described the airline's increased wage bill as "tremendous".

"I have just one question," he said. "Do we (CY) want to compete in the international arena? How can we offer cheap flights for £45 with our wages costs."

The pilots' strike threat centres on the company's failure to complete a deal on the renewal of their collective agreement.

The main sticking point is a row over promotions to Captain in CY's charter firm Eurocypria.

CY pilots want to be given top jobs in Eurocypria if they have longer service than their charter firm counterparts.

[03] Judge orders Aids trial be held in camera

TEMPERS flared yesterday at the Larnaca courthouse when relatives of the Aids waiter, upset over what they saw as media intrusion, confronted the press pack.

The atmosphere outside the courtroom turned ugly when photographers spotted 28-year-old waiter Andreas Nicolaou Michael, accused of exposing two women to the deadly Aids virus, sitting in the canteen area.

Although photographers did not attempt to snap the Larnaca man, his sister and another relative started screaming and shouting insults at journalists.

At one point a relative said threateningly: "If you don't leave I will get him to come out and bite you."

Police then intervened to calm frayed nerves and journalists were persuaded to keep their distance. The defendant later entered the courtroom under police guard and with his head covered.

Before the start of trial proceedings, the court decided to hold yesterday's hearing in camera to hear the testimony of two prosecution witnesses.

Explaining its decision, the court cited "public interest" in protecting the identity of the two Cypriot women with whom Michael allegedly had unprotected sex without informing them of his condition.

Both women are understood to be married with children.

A third charge concerning a 25-year-old Norwegian tourist has been withdrawn by the prosecution because the woman has left the island and failed to return.

Heightened sensitivity surrounding Michael's case was underlined by the extra police presence, something which was conspicuous by its absence in the same courthouse last year, when Ayia Napa fisherman Pavlos Georgiou was convicted for infecting his British girlfriend Janette Pink with the HIV virus.

Nor was there nothing resembling the strict measures seen yesterday when a Nicosia court last month tried a British-born Cypriot woman on similar charges. She was convicted and sentenced to seven months in jail.

This may be partly due to the fact that the accused lashed out at a photoreporter during a previous appearance.

However, judge Tefkros Economou's gagging order seemed to have had little power outside the courtroom, when one of the witnesses willingly told her story to a TV crew.

Michael, who denies the charges, faces a maximum two-year prison sentence or a £1,500 fine or both under an antiquated colonial law aimed at preventing the spread of contagious diseases.

[04] Minister pledges to find the truth on public sector scam

Department director Lakis Christodoulou has been accused of using his employees on government time to build his luxury residence in Nicosia.

"Georgia Erotocritou has been appointed as investigating officer into the issue which has arisen at the Water Development department and concerns Mr Christodoulou," said Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous after yesterday's cabinet meeting.

"The investigation will discover what exactly happened at the building site, " he added.

Results of the disciplinary action will be forwarded to the Attorney- general as will the file of an on-going police investigation into any alleged criminal offence.

Last week, police arrested four employees from the department while they were working on Christodoulou's home, where water department machinery was also found.

Themistocleous said he expected the public services commission to suspend Christodoulou now that an investigator had been appointed.

"It's in the public interest to resolve this matter as soon as possible."

[05] Government doing all it can to avert trouble

Responding to comments by US Special Cyprus Co-ordinator Thomas Miller, in which he said the situation in Cyprus could get worse before it got better, Stylianides said the government was handling the situation responsibly in order to avert all possibilities of trouble.

He went on to say that any settlement in Cyprus must be based on a federal state with one citizenship, one sovereignty and one ruler, refuting Miller's hints that the issue of sovereignty may be on the negotiating table.

As far as the government is concerned, Stylianides said, "there is no issue of sovereignty to negotiate."

In his speech on Tuesday, Miller said the deployment of the Russian S-300 missiles and threats by Turkey to block their arrival would have a negative effect on efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, although he added that Washington did not question Cyprus' right to buy the missiles.

He said the situation could get worse if the crisis over the missiles was allowed to deepen further.

[06] Don't fine our students for underachievement

According to the paragraph, university students who do not pass courses accounting for 12 units per semester must pay the money to the university. The law has, however, been suspended over the past few months, University Rector Miltiades Haholiades said yesterday, adding he hoped it would soon be abolished altogether.

Haholiades said the law served no purpose, as it was poor students who had to work to finance their studies and therefore had less time to spend on coursework who were being penalised.

Other, stricter, penalties did exist to deal with students who underachieved without extenuating circumstances, he added, including, in extreme cases, expulsion.

The rector said that around 50 students had been affected over the last academic year, but most of these had subsequently made up the classes and had not been fined.

No date has yet been set for the House to examine the issue.

[07] Siesta time goes into force next week

The practice is enforced by the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, but excludes pharmacies, bakeries, kiosks and hairdressers and barbers, as well as shops situated in the tourist areas.

Shops will stay open until 7pm.

[08] Top ranking for Cyprus university

Spanos' top twenty ranking is based on his prodigious output in leading journals between 1989 and 1995.

The Worldwide Institutional Rankings in Econometrics also places the Cyprus University in 70th position for its contributions to the subject, out of 200 academic institutions.

Yale University tops the global league in important contributions to econometric theory.

But due to the efforts of Spanos, the Cyprus University is ranked third on productivity alone.

The university's world rankings can only improve, as the data for the study goes back several years before the Cyprus University was opened.

Econometrics is a specialised discipline that attempts to prove economic models via mathematical equations.

[09] Cyprus film at Athens festival

The festival will take place from June 2 to 5. Roads and Oranges, which was filmed on the island by Cypriot director Aliki Danezi-Knutsen, will be shown on June 3 at the Danaos cinema.

Also on the programme are films from Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada and Africa, as well as the acclaimed British film, Welcome to Sarajevo. Entrance is free.

Roads and Oranges tells the story of two very different sisters who are brought together when they travel to Turkey in an attempt to learn the truth about the fate of their father, missing since 1974.

The festival aims to use film in order further to acquaint Greece with the aims and nature of the Commonwealth, and to promote the alliance as an upholder of human rights and democracy.

Further information about the festival is available on 0030-727-3378.

[10] Toddler falls off balcony

Police said Dionysos Leonid Passenov, a Russian Greek, fell from the balcony of the apartment building at around 4.30pm "under unknown circumstances".

The boy was rushed to Polis hospital and then taken by ambulance to Paphos and from there to Limassol for specialist treatment.

He sustained serious, but not life-threatening, head injuries, police said.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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