Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 11-12-06

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] Unions suspend strike action, will consider other measures

[02] Archbishop and Chief Israeli Rabbi sign Joint Declaration

[01] Unions suspend strike action, will consider other measures

Speaking after a meeting of the unions general council, its General Secretary Glafcos Hadzipetrou said measures would be decided on Wednesday following a meeting of all trade unions.

At the same time, President Christofias has welcomed the development.

We strongly feel that there has been no social dialogue and that the Minister of Finance has violated the agreement he signed with the unions, said Hadzipetrou, adding that they gave us the impression that the role of trade unions was not recognized.

He said President Christofias appealed to the union to convey to its general council his plea for a suspension of strike action and he (the President) acknowledges that everything that happened was unorthodox. He assured us that nothing similar will happen in the future, he added.

Amid the continuing financial crisis and the weak growth of the Cypriot economy, projected at a mere 0.2% GDP in 2012, the government introduced a series of austerity measures that would enable Cyprus to meet its medium term commitments to the EU and particularly for a budget deficit of 2.8 GDP in 2012 and a zero deficit by 2014.

Hadzipetrou said that the measures taken are painful and therefore we are planning our reaction during an all-trade union meeting. He also announced PASIDYs intention to meet with leaders of the biggest political parties to discuss the unions readiness to give the amount of 35 million euro demanded from civil servants, in a fairer manner than that decided with the new measures.

[02] Archbishop and Chief Israeli Rabbi sign Joint Declaration

They also called on all religious leaders as well as all men and women of goodwill to join them in this pledge.

In a joint declaration they signed Archbishop Chrysostomos and Rabbi Yona Metzger noted that the thousands of years of historical connections between the People of Cyprus and the Jewish People have assumed a new modern fraternity since the establishment of the State of Israel. At the same time, new relationships of mutual respect have developed between Christian and Jewish communities, they added.

``We, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger and the Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos, give thanks to God for the blessed increase of this mutual respect and affirm our commitment to advancing these excellent relations between Cyprus and Israel,`` the declaration noted.

``We acknowledge with regret that such relations were not always the case everywhere in the past, and we thus condemn all acts of disrespect towards any other religious community, its integrity and its Holy sites``, it added.

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