Cyprus seeks to avoid tough terms of European aid

Menelaos Hadjicostis - Associated Press

AP Photo/Philippos Christou
Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias, left, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso seen at the Presidential Palace, in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, July 6, 2012. Cyprus took over the six-month, rotating EU Presidency from Denmark on July 1st, 2012.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus won't accept conditions it deems unfair in exchange for a European bailout, the country's left-wing president said on Friday, stressing that workers shouldn't have to bear the brunt of any austerity measures.

Cyprus last week became the fifth country to ask for a bailout from its eurozone partners, just days before taking over the European Union's six-month rotating presidency.

The country expects to wrap up negotiations on the size and terms of the bailout with the so-called troika — the body made up of officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — by the end of the month. But it doesn't want to be forced to take new, harsh austerity measures in exchange for the money.

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July 06, 2012

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1. Aristide Caratzas wrote on July 08, 2012 4:15 AM	Greek-Americans should be cautious with matters pertaining to Christophias (or "Katastrophias," as many in Cypriot and Helladic Greeks call him). He refers to himself as a "communist internationalist" and belittles or otherwise attacks Greece at every chance. It is a question what he thinks when dealing with us who are Greek-American; many of us (this writer included) have spent decades to help restore some of the damage caused by political mismanagement by Athens and Leukosia in the 1960s-1970s, the result of which was the Turkish invasion. Indeed, were it not for Greek-Americans and the fact that we were able to persuade the majority of the US Congress and voted to embargo weapons to Turkey, the latter would have legitimated its predatory policy, supported as it was by some in the US Administration and the eternally perfidious British. My point is that it is our common Hellenism that motivates us, while Christophias' anti-Greek poses frankly offend us; why should we be of any help to him, were it not for the fact that we need to support or brother and sister Greeks of Cyprus. He certainly has done his best to damage, not only the Cypriot economy (it is not only Greece that brought the crisis to Cyprus, as he is misrepresenting, but the poor handling of his administration), but also, he is to be held ultimately responsible for the apocalyptic explosion in Mari, which resulted in death and suffering as well as a 30% loss of electrical power to the island (and the concomittant financial losses).* *Refer to Wiki-Leaked documents dated February 2009, in which the US Embassy communicated with Christophias' diplomatic director, informing him that the materials in the Mari containers include the most powerful conventional explosives, and offered to bring experts to neutralize them. Why Christophias refused the offer is subject to speculation...

2. Philip Vorgias wrote on July 08, 2012 9:00 AM	Christofias is a joke. This EU Presidency is an excellent opportunity for Cyprus to advance it's interests and all this idiot can do is offend the EU powers with every statement. As for him being a 'communist' it ends with his own self interest, he's the second highest paid chief executive in the EU. And this at a time when Cyprus is experiencing fiscal problems! This guy is as phoney as Tsipras, even more so.
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