Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 99-06-05

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

Saturday, June 05, 1999

CONTENTS

[01] Opposition slams tax package as 'serving the rich'

[02] What's happening to all the special envoys?

[03] Government cracks down in Belgian food scare

[04] Civil Servants take health plan to ILO

[05] Russian woman missing for a month

[06] Bombers target Larnaca disco

[01] Opposition slams tax package as 'serving the rich'

FIRST reactions to the government's "economic recovery" package, submitted to parties on Thursday, have been nothing if not predictable.

Governing Disy yesterday described the package as a "well-balanced" set of proposals, while opposition parties charged the government with taxing the poor to protect the rich.

Full details of the package, which is to go before the House on June 17, have not been revealed, but a combination of press reports and politicians' statements suggest it contains the following:

<li>

a two per cent rise in VAT from the current 8 to 10 per cent, </li> <li>

increase in tax on diesel, petrol and liquor, </li> <li>

a 20 to 25 per cent hike in road tax, </li> <li>

an increase in the tax on four-wheel drive vehicles, </li> <li>

an end to certain tax breaks for semi-governmental and government employees, </li> <li>

a special £5 a month tax on mobile phones, and </li> <li>

liberalisation of interest rates. </li>

The package also includes a number of tax concessions aimed at relieving the burden on poorer classes. These include a readjustment of income tax brackets and the abolition of inheritance and housing taxes.

On Thursday night, the House passed the first part of the package: a 15 cent rise in the tax on a pack of 20 cigarettes.

The bill was passed by "emergency" procedures in a surprise move designed to prevent tobacco importers profiteering by rushing to import huge supplies as talk of a tax hike spread.

The government also asked the House to approve an extension to the Defence levy.

The tobacco price hike is expected to net the government £7 million this year and £12 million a year after that. But the price rise will also bring the Cost of living allowance (CoLA) up.

The whole tax package, if approved, would add an estimated £140 million to state coffers. Sixty million of this would be ploughed back into concessions for low-income groups.

The chairman of the House finance committee, Alexis Galanos, came out in support of the package yesterday.

"We consider the package balanced and we feel the government's aims will to a large extent be achieved," the Eurodemocratic Renewal party leader said.

"The increase in VAT sought is logical when viewed in conjunction with the increase there will have to be before we join the EU," he said. The VAT rate in the EU is 15 per cent.

The increases in other indirect taxes were to be "expected," Galanos added. Galanos said the proposal for liberalisation of interest rates was "as, if not more, important than socio-economic measures."

He said the proposals could be adjusted during debate at his committee and might be debated at the House plenum in conjunction with the 1999 budget.

But Akel deputy Avraam Antoniou said the tax measures would hit the poor hard.

"We don't dispute the fact that public funds have to be supported. What is debatable is where these additional funds should come from," the opposition party deputy said.

"I believe the government measures will mostly hit the lower classes rather than the rich," he said.

He said the proposals for concessions were, in contrast to the taxation proposals, ill-defined and vague.

Antoniou said the package was identical to one submitted by former Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou last year. The tax package was thrown out by the plenum and Christodoulou widely attacked for what was seen as a failure adequately to consult with parties before tabling his package. Christodoulou's successor, Takis Clerides, has urged parties to approve the package as a matter of urgency -- in order to narrow the gaping void between state expenditure and income -- but has also been careful to seek consensus on it.

Diko spokesman Andreas Constantinou said the government's economic policy as a whole was "unclear and ill-defined."

The opposition party charged President Clerides' government with serving the interests of the rich and privileged.

Edek leader Vassos Lyssarides was cautious in his response to the package. The opposition party leader spoke of the need to relieve the burden on poorer sections of society. But he said Edek would look at the government's economic policy as a whole rather than the tax package in isolation.

The minority New Horizons party described the taxes as unjust and part of a "short-sighted" economic policy.

Disy spokesman Prodromos Prodromou came to the defence of the tax package, describing it as "measured".

"The most important thing is that it is not just a package but a strategic proposal which extends to a four-year plan which gives the chance to spread the possible effects from this balancing effort," Prodromou said.

He said the package was based on "modern principles of socio-economic management" and rejected the suggestion it contained no specific proposals on tax concessions.

"Fifteen per cent of income from indirect taxation are to go on a series of specific relief measures," he said.

The Disy deputy added that there was "room for negotiation" on the specifics of the tax package.

Saturday, June 05, 1999

[02] What's happening to all the special envoys?

BRITISH envoy Sir David Hannay's candidature for a top EU post does not signal a sea change in the international community's willingness to resolve the Cyprus problem, Britain insisted yesterday.

With Britain's envoy going for the prestigious post of Deputy High Representative for EU Common, Foreign and Security Policy, it seemed he was yet another high-profile diplomat about to jump the Cyprus ship.

"Britain is still committed to efforts to find a settlement, and Cyprus is still a high priority for the international community, even if some get frustrated over the stalemate," a British source told the Cyprus Mailyesterday.

Recent developments have seen unprecedented changes on the Cyprus diplomatic front, with envoys leaving rather than coming to the divided island, which in the past attracted more than its fair share of emmisaries.

The casualty list so far reads as follows: UN Cyprus negotiator Diego Cordovez, who resigned in April; US troubleshooter Richard Holbrooke, set for to represent the US at the United Nations; and State Department co- ordinator for Cyprus, Thomas Miller, who has been appointed as ambassador to Bosnia.

And this all on the eve of the "big push" for Cyprus, touted for early September.

Hannay, in the end, was pipped to the EU post by France's candidate, Pierre de Boissieu, but does he still fancy the Cyprus envoy job?

"I'm not sure how much he wanted the EU job or whether the British government wanted him there, but he will be carrying on as special representative for Cyprus," the British source said.

"Hannay sees the Cyprus problem as an intellectual and diplomatic challenge, and has incredibly thick skin, which is quite valuable for a job like this, where attitudes on both sides are so intense," a western source said.

"People are going to get upset and he is not going to be popular, which shows he's doing his job," the source added.

Hannay's EU candidacy seems to have been superseded by some political horse trading, in which Britain secured French votes for their men on the EU commission by not contesting Boissieu's appointment.

"I think the job was sacrificed for French support of other British candidates," the British source said.

Despite the departure of Cordovez, the UN are reportedly ready to upgrade their presence on the island by appointing present Chief of Mission Dame Ann Hercus as special advisor.

"New York has decided it's important to have an upgraded presence on the island, which would allow more direct communications with the Secretary- general," said Unficyp spokeswoman Sarah Russell.

If Hercus does get the nod, it would give her more clout, because she would be taking on two roles in one, thus by-passing another layer of red tape.

"As far as the UN are concerned, it's not a cutting down," said Russell.

"Cordovez hasn't really done much since Glion, and Hercus has taken on the situation effectively," said a western source.

Saturday, June 05, 1999

[03] Government cracks down in Belgian food scare

CYPRUS health authorities made it official yesterday: mayonnaise and sauces produced in Belgium should not be eaten, and should be removed from store shelves, lest they contain dioxin, a cancer-causing poison rocking Europe's food industries.

The caution was issued by the Public Health Committee, following an urgent meeting to chart the island's response to the threat of dioxin in the food supply.

More countries, including the United States and South Korea, yesterday barred the import of Belgian chickens, eggs, pork and beef, and food products derived from them, amid growing fears that beef and milk products could also be tainted with dioxin.

The Cyprus Public Health Committee urged people with Belgian mayonnaise and sauces at home not to eat them until the government determines their safety.

The Committee said that, since Belgian mayonnaise and sauces had no production dates, "for purely preventative reasons, they are going to be withdrawn from store shelves." The time suspected for dioxin contamination is January 15 to June 1.

"We imported... some products with Belgian eggs, mayonnaise and sauces. We have now detained these products," Sophocles Anthousis, Health Service head at the Ministry of Health, told the Cyprus Mail.

"They will be withdrawn from the market until we investigate the whole matter to see if these products were produced between January 15 and June 1. Then they will be destroyed. Otherwise, if these products were not produced in this period, according to the EU instructions, then they will be freed" for sale, he said.

"We investigated the majority of the supermarkets," he said, "and we gave instructions... to withdraw these products. Also we advise consumers, if they have any articles of mayonnaise or sauces produced in Belgium, not to use them."

Dr Pavlos Economides, head of the Agriculture Ministry's Department of Veterinary Services, said the island's Limassol Port quarantine on feed stocks from Belgium, Spain, France and the Netherlands would remain in effect until his department was sure they contained no dioxin.

Livestock in those countries is thought to have been fed the contaminated feed.

Economides said feed stocks already in stores or in use in Cyprus posed no problem: "Fortunately, our importers did not get any supplies from these (dioxin-tainted) companies."

While Cyprus regularly imports European beef, Economides said, "the information I have from our ports is during this time, from January 1 to June 1, we didn't import any beef from Belgium. No pork or poultry for more than the last couple of years either."

He did not know whether beef from other affected countries had come into Cyprus.

Achilleas Patzinakos, permanent secretary of Health Ministry, yesterday declared Cyprus had "not imported Belgian eggs or poultry for the last two years."

What is emerging as Europe's worst food crisis since Britain's "mad-cow" beef alert has forced the European Union to order the destruction of all egg, chicken, pork or beef products from nearly 1,000 Belgian farms that used feed laced with dioxin, the most toxic of man-made substances.

Belgium has banned the transport of chickens, pigs and cattle until it learns what animals ate what feed. Its major stores have swept shelves of all chicken and egg products.

The US Agriculture Department on Thursday banned all imports of poultry and pork products from the EU, pending a review of those imported since January to see if any were tainted.

South Korea yesterday also banned the import of all Belgian farm products.

While Patzinakos declared that all mayonnaise and sauces from Belgium were withdrawn from sale, checks with stores yesterday showed this was not necessarily the case.

Belgian mayonnaise was still for sale in some stores; some supermarket managers had not been visited by health inspectors; and some managers were given incorrect information by the Health Department about what constituted suspect Belgian food.

The original EU directive warned against all Belgian foods with an egg content over two per cent -- including pasta, cakes and mayonnaise. And Economides said Belgian mayonnaise containing "7.5 per cent of eggs" had been ordered withdrawn from stores.

Kyriakos Michael, marketing manager of Papantoniou's Market in Paphos said the Health Department told his manager, Kyriakos Koupas, that Belgian mayonnaise with less than 7.5 per cent of eggs was safe.

Michael expressed dismay at the apparent confusion, adding -- contrary to Patzinakos and Anthousis -- "we have not received any kind of notice" from health authorities about the dioxin scare, and no health authorities had visited his market.

But Zeno Clerides, assistant purchasing manager for Charalambides Hypermarket in Nicosia, said health officials had visited his store, and it had removed all food products from Belgium.

The Verkest fats and oils company, of Ghent, Belgium, supplied dioxin- tainted fats to feed producers in Belgium, Holland and France. They, in turn, supplied the feed to poultry, pig and cattle farms in their countries and Germany.

Verkest managers Lucien Verkest and his son, Jan, have been arrested by Belgian authorities and charged with fraud.

Dioxin, a herbicide production by-product and one of the most toxic of man- made substances, can kill some species of newborn mammals and fish at levels of 5 parts per trillion (or one ounce in 6 million tons).

Economides said in humans, "one to four parts per trillion is the accepted daily intake."

Saturday, June 05, 1999

[04] Civil Servants take health plan to ILO

The union, which opposes the health scheme, will complain that the government put the scheme before the House, while its particuars were still being discussed among concerned parties.

Pasydy members demonstrated outside the House of Representatives during Thursday's committee meeting to discuss the new health plan. Pasydy president Andreas Papapolyviou told journalists that overseas experts had studied the proposed scheme and had identified gaps in the proposal which would cause serious long-term problems. He added that Pasydy had asked that the plan go for discussion by party leaders before it went to the Health Committee.

The union opposes the health plan because it claims it will deprive Pasydy members of health benefits they currently enjoy. Government doctors and their breakaway union Pasiki are, however, in favour of the plan.

The proposal was put before the house on Thursday by Health Minister Christos Solomis, who called the day "historic".

The sceme was fist proposed over six years ago. Around half the cost would be contributed by employers and workers. Solomis has gone on record as saying the first phase of the scheme's implementation will cost around £187 million. In February, he said he expected the scheme to be approved within a year to 18 months.

Saturday, June 05, 1999

[05] Russian woman missing for a month

Following a quarrel last March, Svetlana Tiourina, 33, stormed out of the house in Tala after a row with her former husband.

Her ex-husband, Alexander Tiourin, only reported her missing to police this month, after he phoned a relative in Russia who informed him she had not returned.

The husband said he had not bothered to report her missing to police, believing Svetlana had gone back to Russia after leaving in a rage.

Svetlana arrived in Cyprus as a tourist in December, and was staying with her ex-husband in Tala village until the argument on March 27. There has been no trace of her since.

The missing woman is described as blonde with brown eyes and 1.7 metres tall.

Saturday, June 05, 1999

[06] Bombers target Larnaca disco

At around 2am yesterday, a home-made device exploded in the outside bar of the Iguana disco on the Larnaca-Dhekelia road.

The disco was not open for business as it was undergoing refurbishment for its planned opening night yesterday evening.

The cost of the damage to equipment and to the bar is estimated at around £3,000.

The owners of the disco said the opening night would go ahead as scheduled, as no serious damage had been done.

Police investigators believe those responsible for planting the bomb could be rival club owners who didn't want to see the popular Iguana take their custom.

Larnaca CID are continuing their investigations.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article