Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 99-12-24

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

Friday, December 24, 1999

CONTENTS

[01] Cabinet approves winter tourism plan

[02] Supreme Court puts 140 civil servants out of a job

[03] Iranian remanded on drug trafficking charge

[04] Markides under pressure on Ergates

[05] Turks send detained German tourist for psychiatric tests

[06] Drugs through the post

[07] Fee subsidy for repatriated children

[08] Cyprus could still host Israel-Syria talks

[09] Market tax bill in the balance

[10] Turks abandon water balloon project

[11] Arson attack against union man’s car

[01] Cabinet approves winter tourism plan

THE CABINET has approved a plan to boost winter tourism, which provides subsidies and incentives for foreign tour operators.

After months of discussion between all parties in the tourism sector, the plan will finally get off the ground once it is approved by the House of Representatives.

Travel agents, hoteliers, local authorities and officials from the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) all contributed to the plan.

Most of the incentives are aimed at foreign tour operators to tempt them to bring more tourists to the island in the winter period, which runs from November 1 to March 31 every year.

Among those the cabinet approved is the reimbursement of tour operators for the seven-pound boarding tax per passenger they pay to bring tourists to Cyprus.

Tour operators will also receive a 12-pound subsidy for each tourist they bring in, and hoteliers have pledged to provide an extra free room for every 10 booked by the operators.

This will be provided in addition to other incentives given.

Cyprus Airways (CY) is also chipping in with 20 pounds being offered to all tour operators from the UK and Germany for every passenger flown in on the national carrier.

The plan also provides that CTO set aside &#61484;250,000 from its annual budget to promote winter tourism abroad. An equal amount should also be set aside by the Education Ministry to boost cultural events in winter, particularly in the Famagusta district.

The cabinet said the measures were expected to be approved by the House in time for the operators to put together their winter packages for the 2000/2001 season.

The Commerce Ministry is optimistic that with the proposed incentives, there will be an increase in winter tourism so that the billions of pounds already invested in hotels will be made use of.

One of the biggest problems facing winter tourism is the closure of bars and restaurants, which refuse to stay open unless they are guaranteed clients. Tour operators on the other hand do not want to put `dead' resorts on their brochures.

Currently, a quarter of the island's two million plus tourists visit during the winter season. The CTO wants to increase this figure to 30 per cent, around 600,000 tourists over the winter period.

Friday, December 24, 1999

[02] Supreme Court puts 140 civil servants out of a job

A SUPREME Court decision yesterday put approximately 140 public servants out of a job, and another 940 could soon be next.

The Court yesterday decided that a 1996 law making 1,080 public sector contract workers permanent civil servants was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court decision said the law had violated equal opportunity laws as the contract workers were given permanent positions without open examinations being carried out for other interested parties as required.

The Court also said that some of the places' requirements had been tailored to fit with specific workers' qualifications.

The decision's immediate effects will be for 140 of the former contract workers to be removed from the public sector, while the rest of the 1,080's professional fate hangs in the balance.

The decision came after an appeal from eight civil servants and several others who would have been interested in applying for the positions.

Speaking to CyBC yesterday, the chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee handling the issue and Akel press spokesman Andreas Christou said, "The House voted (the 1996 law in) after a lot of co-operation with the government," and had not considered whether it was constitutional at the time.

He continued that there was another aspect of the issue besides the legal angle: "Some people for many years worked in the public sector as contract workers."

Christou said the contract workers in question had remained in the public sector so long that their ability to do their jobs had been established and that, at some point, they demanded more recognition.

"We knew that there would be problems, but it was a mature demand, it was political, it was a demand from all of society, from the media too, I want to remind you, from the political parties, the House, the government and the contract workers themselves."

He said the best solution would be for contract workers to be employed only when they were required and that more permanent needs be filled with permanent staff.

Edek deputy Doros Theodorou said yesterday that he believed all the island's contract workers carrying out civil service duties should be made permanent with the help of a more carefully planned law.

But lawyer Andreas Angellides said court decisions had to be upheld in a democracy, and added it would be legally impossible for these 140 to be left without a job, just because there had not been appeals against the positions held by the remainder of the now-permanent workers.

Friday, December 24, 1999

[03] Iranian remanded on drug trafficking charge

Yousef Ali Sistani, 45, was arrested at Larnaca airport on Wednesday, after police found 3.67 grams of cannabis tucked under his armpit.

Sistani arrived on the island at 8.25am on an Iranair flight from Teheran.

During his remand hearing, Sistani claimed that he had brought the drugs from Iran to deliver them to an Iranian man -- whom he named -- on the island.

Police checks in immigration department records found two individuals with the name that Sistani had given residing illegally in Cyprus since 1997.

The court heard that police were searching for more clues concerning the intended receiver of the drugs.

Police believe the suspect is a member of a large drug trafficking network bringing drugs to Cyprus.

Before handing down its decision, the court asked the suspect if he had anything to say.

Sistani changed his previous claims and told the judge that the drugs were for an Iranian and a Cypriot.

"I brought the drugs for a Cypriot and an Iranian, and I did it to make some money because I am poor. Nobody wants to go to jail, I am not a drug trafficker, but they have cheated me," he added.

Friday, December 24, 1999

[04] Markides under pressure on Ergates

Deputy Demetris Eliades yesterday angrily condemned the state's failure to close the Marios & Andreas foundry near Ergates in early December, when tests on the villagers' blood showed dangerously high levels of lead- and cadmium blood-poisoning.

To make sure Attorney-general Alecos Markides got the message, Eliades, chairman of the House Environment Committee, faxed him a letter yesterday, "signed by the director-general of the Parliament" urging him to get a court order closing the foundry.

"In my opinion," Eliades said, "the foundry must be closed... until it complies with the 50-milligram standard of particulates per cubic metre (of expelled air)." EU countries are already being forced to adopt this code.

"It should have been closed - not now - but from the day they received the results of the tests carried out by (Charing Cross University) Hospital in London by Dr (Michalis) Voniatis," he said.

"That was the unanimous decision, and the urging to the government by the Environment Committee last Tuesday," said Eliades, noting his fax to Markides yesterday left no doubt where the committee stood.

Markides, while having filed criminal charges against Marios & Andreas for allegedly exceeding the Cyprus 300mg emission limit, had declined to seek a court order closing the foundry until his criminal lawsuit was heard. He based his refusal on grounds the factory had somehow overnight cleaned up its act.

However, Eliades' committee on December 14 learned that Labour Department spot-checks of the foundry showed it was emitting particulate levels of 366mg, 399mg, and 500mg per cubic metre of air - well in excess of the Cyprus 300mg standard.

Markides was in New York at the time of the committee hearing for the Cyprus proximity talks. But Labour Minister Andreas Mousshiouttas was not. And he was visibly irked at the foundry's emission numbers as read out to Eliades' committee.

"Mousshiouttas said he had written to Markides" about the emission tests, Eliades said.

"And the Minister said that he was going to contact the Attorney-general to file another request for an injunction" to close the foundry until Markides' criminal case is heard.

Markides yesterday denied having received any evidence the foundry still exceeded the Cyprus 300mg pollution standard.

"In order to go to court," Markides said, "I have to have evidence that the contravention of the law continues. And for the time being, no such evidence was provided on behalf of the (Labour) Ministry."

"Therefore ... as far as the injunction is concerned, I will have to wait to see what the evidence is," Markides said, adding: "It is their business to bring the evidence to this office. I am not going to run after them" to get it.

Lest Markides mislaid Mousshiouttas' December 14 letter, Eliades said yesterday: "We transferred to him (by fax) the results" of the Labour Ministry's latest tests on the foundry's pollution, and Dr Voniatis' latest tests on Ergates villagers' blood-poisoning.

Eliades' letter to Markides, signed by Parliament's director-general, declared: "I have been instructed by the chairman of the Environment Committee to transfer to you the last results of the tests being carried by the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance regarding the above factory, and to call upon you to take the proper measures for the protection of the health of the inhabitants of Ergates."

Friday, December 24, 1999

[05] Turks send detained German tourist for psychiatric tests

The reports claimed 61-year-old Beyer Klaus Herbert had insulted his female interpreter in German during the proceedings.

She left the courtroom in tears, the papers said.

"The court ruled that Mr Herbert was having a fit and decided to put him under observation at the psychiatric unit for two days," Kibris said. He is due back in court today.

"He went a little bizarre in the court and the police took him for a psychiatric examination," a UN source told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

The source said he was still hopeful for Herbert's early release, but it now seems unlikely he will be freed in time for Christmas.

The UN is not involved in the negotiations to free Herbert. They are merely monitoring the situation. All contacts with the Turkish Cypriot side are being made by the German embassy in Nicosia.

Herbert strayed into the occupied areas on December 11, his birthday, after becoming separated from a group of fellow tourists visiting the Paralimni area.

Friday, December 24, 1999

[06] Drugs through the post

Pantelis Apostolides, 28, was arrested on Wednesday outside the post office after he had just picked up a packet sent to him from Greece, containing 70 grams of cannabis.

Police later searched the suspect's home and found pieces of aluminium foil with traces of cocaine.

Apostolides apparently told police that the cocaine was for his own use.

The suspect claims the cannabis had been send to him by a friend in Athens, who was going to pick it up after he arrived on the island.

Apostolides maintains that he told his friend not to send the drugs, but it was too late because he had already sent them.

The defence lawyer told the court that his client was not a cannabis user.

His client, he said, had visited the drug squad to report his problem, that he was a user of other drugs and not cannabis.

Police confirmed that the suspect had in fact visited the drug squad and said that they would investigate his claims about the cannabis.

They also told the court they were looking for a second suspect, and the person who provided Apostolides with the cocaine.

Friday, December 24, 1999

[07] Fee subsidy for repatriated children

According to an official statement, the decision to grant a 450-pound subsidy was made at a December 17 Cabinet meeting and applies to children who, from the start of their repatriation, began their education at a private high school recognised by the Education Ministry.

According to the announcement, the decision defines repatriated Cypriots as "a person of Cypriot descent from the male line, who holds Cypriot nationality or can obtain it having moved back to the Republic after having permanently settled overseas for a period of at least the 10 years before their repatriation."

The announcement invited interested parties to apply to the Education Ministry, with a copy sent to the Office of the President's Commissioner for Expatriate and Repatriate Issues.

Friday, December 24, 1999

[08] Cyprus could still host Israel-Syria talks

In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), Tzur said Cyprus could still be a venue after the initial stages of the negotiations. The first round of talks will take place in the US.

But at a later date, "Cyprus could be a good venue for the talks, it has close relations with both countries and has a record of supporting the peace process in this region from the beginning," Tzur said.

He said Cyprus was also close to both countries and confirmed that Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides had sent letters to his Syrian and Israeli counterparts informing them of Cyprus' readiness to host the talks. "But it is not only an Israeli decision, other parties are involved," Tzur said.

Cyprus last week officially announced its offer to host peace talks between Israel and Syria, who have agreed to resume negotiations after nearly four years of deadlock.

Friday, December 24, 1999

[09] Market tax bill in the balance

THE FATE of a controversial bill to tax 1999 capital gains made on the stock market hung in the balance yesterday with reports that President Glafcos Clerides has vowed to reject any legislation charging investors anything less than five per cent of their profits.

The uncertainty and resultant anxieties felt by tens of thousands of investors abruptly ended the market's one-day break from a streak of down closes, almost reversing in full Wednesday's 1.3 per cent rise in share prices.

The all-share index yesterday surrendered 8.21 of the 9.28 points it gained on Wednesday to close at 717.52, with all seven sectors of the market finishing the day in negative territory.

Hardest hit were tourism companies, whose index slumped by a painful 6.85 per cent, while the blue chips of the banks appeared to hold well in the face of the negative sentiment. Their sub-index ended only 0.11 per cent lower.

News reports circulating yesterday said President Clerides, who is known to have given his full support to plans to tax stock market profits, was adamant that anything below five per cent for 1999 gains was unacceptable. The President, according to these reports, planned to use his constitutional powers and return such legislation to the House for review.

The House is scheduled to debate and possibly vote on the bill next Tuesday, together with other market-related draft laws.

Meanwhile, a prominent deputy of the ruling Disy, the party that Clerides founded more than two decades ago, said the party would support any proposal to tax market investors less than five per cent.

A lower tax, according to deputy Prodromos Prodromou, would be closer to the party's original stance of a zero tax. Prodromou is a member of the House's powerful Finance Committee, which is scheduled to meet on Monday morning to consider the bill. The outcome of that meeting could determine the fate of the stock market tax since it is usually at committee level, rather than on the Plenum's floor, that controversial lawmaking issues are settled.

In a sudden and still unexplained change of tack on Tuesday night, Disy and its leader Nicos Anastassiades abandoned their opposition to taxing any capital gains made on the stock market and instead agreed a proposal for a five per cent tax in 1999 and zero tax for the year 2000 and 20001.

The party said its position was based on the government's own pledges not to tax investors in the tiny and young market.

The communist Akel, which has recently overtaken Disy in opinion polls as the island's most popular party, said yesterday that its position on the issue was dictated by the principle of wherever there is profit there should be tax.

"The level of the tax is not a matter of principle here," declared Akel deputy and spokesman Andreas Christou. "It will be a success if the tax is three, five or 15 per cent. We believe that because there was profit then there should be tax."

Other parties represented in the House have yet to formulate a final position on the proposed tax, raising the possibility that the issue might remain in the balance until Tuesday.

If this turns out to be the case, market investors should brace for two more sessions of woes. The market held its last pre-Christmas trading session yesterday and will not reopen until Monday.

[10] Turks abandon water balloon project

The transportation was halted on Wednesday. According to the General Directorate of the Turkish State Water Works (DSI), the project was abandoned because of difficulties in implementation.

DSI chief Dogan Atinbilek said the drinking water demand of the occupied areas would be met by transportation tankers, carrying 10-15,000 cubic metres of water. Atinbilek said tenders for the tanker transportation would be opened in the coming days.

The DSI's plans to launch a project for a water pipeline remains on the cards, Atinbilek said, but added they would not be finalised for another two to three years.

Friday, December 24, 1999

[11] Arson attack against union man’s car

The fire was set yesterday at 4.30 am in the front part of a car belonging to Dimitris Koushi, who works for the central slaughterhouse in Kofinou, and is the Sek Trade Union Workforce Committee Area Secretary.

The car was parked outside Koushi's house.

The fire was put out by the fire service, but not before damaging the front part of the car.

Koushi told police that he did not have any disputes with anyone.

"If someone did want to hurt me, it is probably for my actions as a union member at the slaughterhouse," he said.

He added that members of right-wing Sek at the slaughterhouse did not follow their colleagues on Wednesday's two-hour strike over changes to CoLA.

Larnaca Fire Service Chief Kakoullis Moundoukos said yesterday: "the fire is not accidental, but we cannot say that it is arson. It should be investigated carefully before we can safely say what it was."

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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