Daily Press Review - 28/11/2019

In the press today:

 Some fronts open and others close for ETYK

There are quite a few fronts that remain open with the banks because of the changes and rearrangements taking place in the sector. In other cases, there is scope for bank administrations to reach an agreement with ETYK, and elsewhere the conflict is intensifying. However, with the management of small banks the union of bank officials seems to have no significant open fronts. The most crucial labor dispute is with the Hellenic Bank as management relations and ETYK’s relations have reached the ‘cutting edge of the razor’. On November 21, ETYK sent a letter to the chairman and members of the Board of Directors through a law firm. The letter states that if the bank does not proceed with the granting of annual salary increases and COLA by 27 November, which was yesterday, then private criminal cases will be filed against the members of the bank's management without further notice. Hellenic Bank does not want to comment on the matter at this stage. The relations between the small banks and ETYK are different. For example, the leadership of ETYK was informed by the management at AstroBank that it has already given instructions for granting the annual salary increases COLA according to the union agreements. According to the ETYK circular, the incremental increases will be given retroactively from 01/01/2019.

Plea by SEK over bank charges

Trade union SEK yesterday called on the banks to respect the pleas of the House of Representatives regarding their charges. In an announcement, the union said that Bank of Cyprus’ recent decision to postpone plans to increase its fees and charges in January is just a half-truth. “All the charges that were imposed from August 2018 onwards must be frozen until 30 January 2020, which is when the deadline the House set for the Central Bank and government to present it with substantiated, fair and socially acceptable solutions expires,” said SEK. Besides BoC, SEK said the rest of the banks are keeping quiet, which isn’t doing them any favours. One of these (Hellenic), with a multipage document it has sent its customers, informs them in writing that: “It is authorised at its sole discretion to impose commissions, fees and charges from time to time.” The union said, “The definition of ‘sole discretion’ is completely subjective and is used mainly by those who are active professionally in a monopoly environment, i.e. the banks, which according to an admission by Financial Ombudsman Pavlos Ioannou (to the House Institutions Committee on 6/11/19), are a monopoly,” the announcement concluded.

SYPRODAT: We finally have a central banker

Borrowers’ protection association SYPRODAT yesterday welcomed the recent circular sent by Central Bank Governor Constantinos Herodotou to the banks urging them to improve their employees’ behaviour towards customers. The association said Herodotou sent a clear message to the banks on how their customers should be treated and how they should train their staff on how to behave properly. “We finally have a Central Banker,” it said. SYPRODAT also welcomed the findings of an investigation by the Commission for the Protection of Competition that Hellenic Bank and BoC cahooted to fix bank charges, stressing that “it would not be in the best interests of the two biggest banks (Hellenic and Bank of Cyprus) to coordinate their behaviour in the market to achieve higher charges, due to the instability of the banking sector brought on by the high rate of NPLs”. The CPC’s findings send the right messages, it said, despite efforts by some to influence other individuals and situations.

Labour market conference: “Skills of the Future”

The European Commission Representation in Cyprus is organising a daylong conference entitled “Skills of the Future”, during which modern trends and challenges of the labour market will be discussed. The conference will take place on Friday, 29 November 2019, from 9am until 5pm at the Hellenic Bank headquarters in Nicosia.

Ε2Κ19: The biggest e-sports event ever, this weekend

Hellenic Bank in cooperation with ANT1 are presenting the biggest e-sports event ever to take place in Cyprus, E3K19, this Saturday, 30 November and Sunday 1 December. It is a two-day competition for gaming lovers.

AstroBank grants pay rises

Bank employees’ union ETYK yesterday expressed its satisfaction at AstroBank’s decision to grant annual increments and the Cost of Living Allowance to its staff. These will be given retroactively from 1 January 2019. At the same time, ETYK informed its members that it has started the dialogue for the renewal of the collective agreement for the period 2019-21, and expressed hope that there will be a conclusion soon that will satisfy both sides. As for the acquisition of National Bank of Greece (Cyprus) by AstroBank, ETYK said it was ready to discuss all the details relating to the transfer of the former’s employees to the new bank.

European victory for the IDEA centre

The IDEA Innovation Centre ranked first in the European competition European Commission: European Enterprise Promotion Awards, placing Cyprus on the European and international map of innovation, Bank of Cyprus said in an announcement.

The circular has clearly not changed anything

Phileleftheros comments that ever since the CBC governor’s circular to the banks calling for improved behaviour and an interview he gave to the paper, it has received a number of calls by readers reiterating their own unpleasant experiences with bank staff. Even when calling the banks’ helplines to inquire about simple transactions, customers, regardless of age, are met with unacceptable behaviours, and are spoken to as if they are a child or as if they should be aware of all the details of the new digital changes. People could do without the bankers’ arrogance and condescension, the paper says, adding that there may be exceptions, but these are the minority.

Focus court case postponed one again for January 9

The Focus criminal case has been postponed anew, pending the Supreme Court’s judgment against the appeal filed by the Attorney General against the decision of the Permanent Nicosia Assizes Court to suspend prosecution of the accused Michael Zolotas and Michael Foley. The case is set for January 9, 2020 at 9.00 am. The remaining defendants in the case are former Central Bank governor Christodoulos Christodoulou, his daughter Athena Christodoulou and the companies A.C.Christodoulou Consultants Ltd, Marfin Investment Group and Focus Maritime Corp. They are facing 24 charges, including corruption, bribery and abuse of power.

Salaries are not enough to buy a home

The Social Alliance “Home for All” and main opposition AKEL yesterday called for comprehensive housing programmes by the government, following a meeting, during which they exchanged views on the housing problems faced by a vast number of Cypriots in recent years. AKEL general secretary Andros Kyprianou said that it is a common conclusion that this is one of the island’s biggest social problems, and that among other, with such low salaries, people are unable to acquire a home, while the banks are no longer granting mortgages.

Black Friday from gold

The Cypriot retail sector – but also the banks – started investing heavily in Black Friday ever since the 2013 banking crisis, while it is also being embraced by consumers. The turnover from last year’s Black Friday has made the businesses’ promotional efforts even more aggressive. There are special offers in clothing and shoes, electrical appliances and even extra rewards on Bank of Cyprus’ rewards scheme. The discounts range from between 10% and 70%.

Stoiximan and PASP organise First Aid seminars for footballers

Stoiximan, Cyprus’ biggest betting company, supports the Pancyprian Football Association (PASP) and the First Aid educational seminar programme for both male and female footballers. Specifically, PASP gives footballers the opportunity to train, and acquire the recognised First Aid diploma entirely free of charge. The specific programme, aims to have footballers with knowledge on how to tackle emergency cases, in every training session and especially in younger leagues.

Hellinikon casino tender winner to be announced in December

The Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiades said in an interview at SKAI TV that “we want all pending issues to be finalised so that the company can proceed with the project in the start of 2020. We are on the home stretch”. Specifically, he said: “I can’t intervene in the tenders committee for the casino. In the end the competition will end up to a bidder. My wish was to announce the bidder within November. This was not possible and so it will be a little later. I hope that it will be in the beginning of December. We want all of our pending issues to be done within 2019, so that the company can proceed with the project in the beginning of 2020. We are on the home stretch”.

“Keep our Sand and Sea Plastic Free”

Tuesday marked the official beginning of an important initiative in Cyprus to encourage the reduction of single-use-plastics in tourist businesses and organised groups in the Famagusta area. The “Keep our Sand and Sea Plastic Free” is a project of TUI Care Foundation, supported by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Agriculture, PASYXE and other stakeholders. This initiative is implemented by the Cyprus Sustainable Tourism and Travel Foundation. The programme aims to encourage the whole island to abandon the use of single-use-plastics and contribute to the global effort in tackling plastic pollution.

 Zeta holds the key for hotels industry once again

Phileleftheros reports that there is an obvious risk of labour upheaval in the hotels industry. The climate is rather strained and the two sides, hoteliers and unions, are expecting solutions by the Ministry of Labour, Zeta Emilianidou. The hoteliers and unions are requesting clarifications on the written memorandum that the Minister had sent them. Even if both sides remain silent on their objections because this is vulnerable deal that was achieved after a difficult negotiation, this waiting period is especially notable and worrying. Similar to the first time that the Minister managed to strike the right balance between the two sides, now the hoteliers and unions are expecting that the Minister does the difficult job of finding solutions. The Minister is keeping her cards close to her chest up until now, while she says that the collective agreement text will go through legal vetting in order to entertain any concerns. At the same time, Emilianidou launched a new cycle of meetings and contacts with both sides. According to Phileleftheros’ sources, the Minister met with the employees’ union yesterday, while it will meet with hoteliers in the upcoming period in order to discuss their objections to the collective agreement face to face. It should be noted that the leaderships of both sides are in a belligerent mood, and don’t aim to overturn the agreement. However, they are conveying the message that they are worried about certain provisions. As such, they conclude that after receiving clarifications by the Minister, things will proceed smoothly and the agreement will be signed in the upcoming period.

Winning tenderers for buses to be announced today

Today is a crucial day for public transportation in Cyprus, as the Ministry of Transport expected to announce the results and its decisions in relation to the competition it announced for the six new contracts for buses for the period 2020-2030, at an estimated cost for the state that could amount to €1.2b. The tenders were submitted on 25 October and as it is well-known there are two bidders for Nicosia, two for Limassol, two for Famagusta, two for Paphos, three for intercity buses and four for Larnaca. The six current providers tried to reclaim the contracts.

Crucial couple of days for GHS

The next few days will be crucial for the calm that has been settling today and concerns that implementation of the second phase of the General Health Scheme. The negotiation between the HIO and private hospitals that had already started last October, is now at a crucial point since the two sides are currently trying to overcome the problems that emerged in the effort to conclude an MoU. Behind the stage, negotiations over the past couple of days have been intense and intensified, while it has come to the paper’s attention that an informal negotiation has been ongoing since yesterday evening, without any known outcome so far. According to Phileleftheros’ sources, the disagreements that have to do with about five points of the memorandum of understanding are not many. However, they have to do with the substance of the negotiation as they will determine the basis of the financial negotiation between the HIO and each individual hospital. Another issue that makes the negotiation all the more difficult is that all sides must agree on the financial side of the matter and specifically, the way that the HIO will guarantee the viability of each hospital. The HIO has found itself in a difficult position since in order to sign the MoU and for the dialogue to proceed, they need to find a solution which satisfies all sides. As of last night, this was not possible. The private hospitals association (PASIN) is making an effort to tone down the situation so that any disagreements between its members are not leaked. It’s not random that a few days ago the Association had issued an announcement stressing the collectiveness of its members.

6^th Mediterranean Cardiovascular Intervention Meeting

The 6^th Mediterranean Cardiovascular Intervention Meeting that was held in Limassol between 22-24 November 2019, put Cyprus on the world map of interventional cardiology and confirmed the high level of cardiology in our country. This is what the organisers of the conference report in a Press Release, in which a large number of cardiologists from Europe and the Middle East participated as did internationally renowned speakers from Cyprus and abroad. Among other things, the lectures and seminar that followed concerned the latest developments in Investigative Cardiology and Electrophysiology with an exchange of opinions and experiences between speakers and attendees.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s risk higher in those who eat more trans fats

People who have more trans fats in their blood may be more likely to develop dementia years later, according to a study published in the October 23, 2019, online issue of Neurology^®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Trans fats, also known as trans fatty acids, are industrially produced and found in food with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. They also occur naturally in small amounts in certain meat and dairy foods. The new study included over 1,600 people in Japan without dementia. Their average age was 70, and they were followed for an average of 10 years. During that time, 377 of them developed dementia. The team found that participants in the highest blood trans-fat group had a 52% higher chance of developing dementia during the follow-up compared with the lowest blood trans-fat group. For the second highest group, this chance was 74%.

T/C pensioner sues the Republic for GHS contributions

The Turkish-Cypriot pensioner of the Republic, Asim Ebeoglu is suing the state because he is contributing to the GHS, but he will not be able to benefit from it because he’s staying in the occupied areas. The first hearing of the legal proceedings will take place on 3 December. The case is very important and will concern thousands of other Turkish-Cypriots who are also RoC pensioners but cannot benefit from the GHS. As a pensioner, Asim Ebeoglu used to be able to receive healthcare services from state doctors and was getting his medicines from state pharmacies. With the change of the healthcare system and the implementation of the GHS, even though he is contributing 1.7% from his pension to the Scheme, he cannot benefit and register in the GHS. What he’s asking is for either to stop contributing or benefit from the services of the GHS.

T/C businesspersons protest at the crossing point in Agios Dometios

Yesterday at the crossing point in Agios Dometios, 7 T/C financial and business organisations held a protest over delays and problems they are faced with when passing through the crossing points. According to the Chairman of T/C Businessmen Association (İŞAD) Enver Mamülcü, commerce is the way to unite the two communities and get them to collaborate; “Commerce strengthens mutual trust and respect”. He noted that despite the negative pressure and propaganda, many people prefer the “South” for shopping. Mr. Mamülcü said that in the past they’ve held similar protests but their “Government” hasn’t done anything. The organisations ask for sufficient staff at the crossing points to facilitate smoother operation, as well as the completion of infrastructure projects and construction of a two-lane transit. They also ask for the opening of two more crossing points in Nicosia; in Kaimakli or Agios Kassianos and Pafos Gate.

A hotel in Cyprus uses pasta instead of straws

An eco-friendly hotel in Limassol replaced straws with spaghetti. Sir Paul Hotel is using spaghetti in their coffees, juices and cocktails instead of straws. This is a more fun but practical version, as spaghetti are made from water and flour, leave no trace of taste and are 100% vegan.