Daily Press Review - 7/3/2019

Heavy responsibilities for Harris

Phileleftheros adds that the Inquiry noted that the main responsibility held by the President of the Republic was keeping Harris Georgiades in the position of Minister of Finance for a period of more than 4 years, resulting in the Bank’s catastrophic course and the expedited sale of the Co-op to Hellenic Bank.

 

Co-op findings report

Politis provides a detailed account of the Inquiry’s findings report which was published yesterday, saying that it will preoccupy the public debate for many weeks to come. Certainly, the political responsibilities of the Minister of Finance, is one of the most important elements, while the other is the criminal responsibilities that are assigned to three leading Members of the Co-op’s executive. According to the newspaper’s sources, the government will react, by fully covering for Harris Georghiades with regards to his political responsibilities. The opposition parties, however, yesterday discussed either the resignation or termination of the MoF, while DISY supported that the Inquiry focused more on the post-2013 period. The article goes on to say that the findings were not surprising, since they resulted from the public meetings of the Inquiry and the testimonies of the Co-op’s former members. The article argues that any responsibilities held for the pre-2013 period, are vague and not specific to persons. The report merely says that the Co-op’s management problems began since the pre-2013 period. The Inquiry also decided that the Central Bank was not idle during the developments of the Co-op. It adds that the Central Bank governor did not exercise her duties in the best possible way, but the Inquiry noted that the she had sent multiple letters to the Minister of Finance and the President of the Republic with regards to the problems in the Co-op, requesting them to take up measures.

 

Co-op: A Pre-mediated crime

Haravgi’s author argues that the Co-op Inquiry’s findings report confirms the fact that the Co-op was methodically led to collapse and that the ‘crime was pre-mediated’. The Inquiry also suggests that this is what the MoF had in mind since the start, since when the Co-op-Hellenic deal was reached, he said that it was the perfect solution. This statement contradicted everything he was saying during the electoral campaign of the President about giving the Co-op back to the people. Moreover, the findings report includes other indications that the Co-op’s collapse and subsequent sale, was pre-mediated, since the MoF was misinforming the Parliament, while he didn’t adequately update the remaining members of the Cabinet, perhaps trying to avoid any leaks to the media.



Harris unfazed, recalls rating agencies upgrades

Haravgi reports that the Minister of Finance seemed unfazed by the Co-op Inquiry’s findings report, which held him responsible for the collapse of the Co-op, as well as by the reaction of the opposition parties, which were called him to resign. On the contrary, in his statements after the publication of the Inquiry’s report, Harris Georgiades supported that the government took responsible decisions on the Co-op. He added that the government’s decisions ensured trust and stability and recalled the consecutive upgrades by international rating agencies, which he essentially said were caused by the Co-op’s collapse and the sell-off of its profitable business to Hellenic Bank with additional state subsidy.



Shame on you!  

The unilateral findings report on the Co-op’s collapse, has not caused a reaction by the government, even if it holds the Minister of Finance and the President of the Republic politically responsible for the Co-op. the author argues that President Anastasiades, the Minister of Finance and the CEO of the Co-op, were the key people who took the most important decisions on the Co-op, leading to its demise, consciously or not. The Co-op was ruined in their hands, the author argues, even though they repeatedly promised that the bank had been recapitalised successfully and would be returned to its shareholders. He adds that they were lying in the pre-election period, while they knew what was going on. He goes on to say, that they drove the Co-op to collapse, delivering its good part to Hellenic Bank, which instead of paying was even given additional guarantees.



What changes in Hotels

Some of the main changes occurring in the hotel industry – after the new law on categorization of hotels - are the ranking of hotels based on quality rather than size, the new hotel categories created including urban hotels, boutique hotels and suites hotels, as well as the introduction of the ‘mystery shopping/visit’ by private agencies as well as the Tourist Inspection Service conducted by the Police. The hotel classification process will now be carried out by the State Ministry of Tourism, based on criteria to be defined by the Council of Ministers, with a three-year duration.

 

Paphos at the ITB Berlin

The Paphos Regional Board of Tourism (ETAP Paphos), as well as dozens of hoteliers, participate this year at the ITB Berlin from 6 to 10 March 2019. Although in the last five years the German tourist market has been on track to upgrade, unfortunately due to the bankruptcy of Air Germania, the situation on the market is no longer as encouraging for 2019. As the Director of ETAP Paphos, Nassos Hadjiigeorgiou said, efforts are primarily focused on short-haul airline links to both main airports and regional airports of Germany in order to limit possible losses for 2019. Also in this report, the tourism operator and hoteliers will have the opportunity to be informed about the 2019 plans and will reap a more complete picture of the forecasts for the flow of tourists from Germany to Paphos and, more broadly, Cyprus for the coming season.

 

Patients request for access to medicines within GHS

Phileleftheros reports that the Cyprus Association of Patients and Friends has pointed out the need for patients to have access to medicines and treatments within the GHS. The president of the Association, Marios Kouloumas said that each person has the right to receive the required treatment in a short period of time. The patient also has the right to have a say in their treatment and to receive safe medicines. The president also talked about the revolution in medicines and about the various types of medicines that are being produced. A workshop is going to take place today at Bank of Cyprus with regards to the access to biological medicines in GHS framework. This workshop is destined for patients’ representatives and health professionals in order to inform policy makers on patients ‘concerns regarding access to medicines in GHS and to ensure the integration of patients’ opinions in the decision-making process.



Specialised doctors’ gaps are narrowing down

Haravgi reports that the Health Committee of the House of Representatives will examine today the Regulations regarding specialised doctors. The President of the Health Committee Costas Constantinou said that there will be no postponement since there is limited time and the various bills need to be passed by the House of Representatives by mid-May. Yesterday’s planned meeting between CyMA and HIO was cancelled due to miscommunication between the two. CyMA decided not to show up at the specified time because it was still expecting answers by the HIO in writing, on certain matters. However, the HIO thought that the questions were given to them, so that they could properly prepare their answers and give them during the meeting. The changes agreed with regards to specialised doctors’ regulations have already been incorporated and therefore, today’s discussion is expected to be limited to provisions with regards to specialised doctors.