CYPRIOTS are not fools and should not be treated as such or as idiots. The people are fully aware of the government’s spin trickery attempting to convince politicians to vote in support of a bad law. If approved it will reduce many families into utter poverty and the loss of their homes. The unemployed and the most vulnerable sectors in society will become the first victims of the proposed law if approved by parliament.
The present government is actually using political blackmailing tactics once again – just like it did previously. It is now attempting to introduce – indirectly – another “kouremma” (cropping) by allowing banks to sell problem loans of hundreds of homes “en-mass” to third-party investors on the international market.
Meanwhile the banks keep promising in public attempting to reassure the citizens that they don’t intend to make people homeless. The collusion between the banks and government to convince the public “that all is well” is becoming desperate and is quite obvious. Yet it has been leaked in the press that: “the Authorities will allow and facilitate lenders to transfer existing individual loans together with all collateral and securities to third parties at minimum transaction costs without having to obtain the consent of the borrower”.
Reading between the lines, it is of no wonder people don’t believe in official statements that reek with spin and trickery.
The betrayal of citizen’s trust has left deep scars in peoples’ minds and will not be so easily forgotten. Two year in power the Anastasiades government is still at a loss without direction as to where the country is going and how to get out of the mess. Things are worse off today than ever before; citizens are furiously angry with the government and its policies of what is happening to the nation and they demand radical changes, not wishy-washy rhetoric full of promises without results!
In fact, Cyprus has been raped socially and economically and while the rape continues, banks refuse to reduce the interest rates of their poison-loans to help kick-start the economy. Aside from promises, they continue to offer the highest interest rates across Europe killing incentives and any hope for recovery. The present government through deception plans to bail out failed banks for the second time round at people’s expense. It’s cheap and easy!
Ethically, banks should bail themselves out and not the citizens. It is not people’s problem or people’s responsibility or even obligation to do so. Iceland did right by not supporting them and did Argentina. That takes daring political decisions that are so badly missing in Cyprus.
Where banks were cornered, when they recognized no financial bailout was forthcoming from taxpayers, they soon found money to bail them-selves out. In Iceland, they did so because the leadership used the law of the land to protect its citizens and not the banking institutions. No such initiative was ever contemplated by the present or even past government. Today, the result of those policies is quite obvious; they were wrong from the very beginning!
Before the release of the next loan tranche of cash payment to Cyprus, Troika demands – a pre-condition – that people with payment difficulties have their homes repossessed. Yet, they conveniently ignore the fact that it was Troika’s EU policies that ruined the country in the first place. Today more than 130,000 people are out of work and forced to live on hand-outs and below poverty standards. The unemployed and small businesses will certainly encounter payment problems and not necessarily due to their own doing but due to government bad policies.
Home repossession formulas suggested are complicated but in short, banks will have the right to foreclose and forcibly sell people’s homes at 50% (and even less) of their current evaluation – keeping in mind that house prices have already dropped by 75%. At the same time homeowners will be held responsible for the outstanding balance of the same loan.
As for an example: if a loan outstanding is 150,000 Euros and the market valued of the property is valued 200,000 Euros and then sold at 50% reduction at 100,000 Euros, the homeowner will still owe the bank 50,000 Euros and be legally held responsible for the balance.
Under those conditions, not only people will have their homes repossessed but also under Cyprus law – unless it is revised – the fear of imprisonment for failing to pay a debt cannot be ignored or be excluded. Ironically, a person in distress may find a new home in prison!
Banks and the finance minister are resisting calls by the political parties to consider wiping out the balance owing once people are forced out of their homes. If the proposal is approved it would actually also enslave and commit the borrower’s children and all the other nine co-signers involved with the case until the outstanding balance is paid in full. An economic tragedy will then rise out of the ashes of despair to become the worse nightmare the country has ever encountered.
That is stuff that revolutions are made of and if the government fails to recognize that possibility, it may have a rebellion on its hands unless it listens to its citizens demanding fairness and not be so inclined to support EU-Troika and banks at the expense of the people.
In fact, “the right to rebel is the right or duty of people to overthrow a government who acts against their common interests or abuses constitutional powers as authorized by the electorate” – American Constitution.
That is precisely what the government is attempting to do: “act against the common interest of the people”. The right to rebel extends back to ancient China and is enshrined as an effective measure to protect the nation from bad government.
Fortunately people have finally wised up. They will no longer tolerate being dismissed or ignored by an elitist government that fails to understand the needs of the people and the country. There is a grassroots movement growing to resist this criminality because the family home of a Cypriot, is sacrosanct and he will defend it with his life if necessary!
In view of this, a rebellious move against the government’s attempt to rob people again has grown and mass rallies will become a regular sight across the nation. The entire country is in uproar. This indicates that the general public, labour unions and other organizations can no longer tolerate injustice. They are ready to defend their rights by rebelling against a system that has not been in support of citizens and the country.
Most importantly, it will demonstrate that in full respect of democratic principles, Cypriots as a civilized nation did not rebel the last time their bank accounts were robbed. This time it’s very different.
The government’s attempt to enforce a bad law may turn out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Cypriots are not fools and certainly can no longer be fooled by politicians again.
That is a good sign for the future and for democracy.
Andreas C Chrysafis
Author – Writer – Artist
https://www.facebook.com/A.C.ChrysafisAuthor
Foreclosures: what’s going to happen?
With the government trying to pass a law on foreclosure of mortgaged properties, the Cyprus Mail asked various people in the Old Town of Nicosia what they think is likely to happen.
@Steve, it all boils down to point 3 really no matter how you dress it up, I lend you money you need to pay back, all the other side issues like was this loan secured rightly or wrongly with out without security is neither here nor there
It seems to me that the real reasons for this mess are being lost in the debate.
1. AKEL made a terrible mess, reduced a surplus to around 15 billions of government debt and refused some reasonable offers of an EU bale out (Christofias agreed to one offer and then reneged on it when he got home to Cyprus) because AKEL thought the Russians or Chinese would come to rescue of their Cypriot comrades, so Cyprus ended up with a bad deal and the Troika’s demands.
2. The Troika instructed the banks to revise their loan books on the basis of the definition of non-performing loans being no repayments over a number of months rather than the debt’s being smaller than the value of the asset, which they were using at the time to define NPLs. Every government in Cyprus, through the Central Bank, had allowed this definition to continue and when the Troika insisted on the change, the nonperforming debt ballooned to unmanageable numbers. Also the banks were allowed to lend to businesses and “friends” with no security to back up the loans, which is abominable.
3. The Troika also insisted that the remedy that is applied world-wide to loan/mortgage defaulters be applied in Cyprus – that is forced possession and sale of the underlying asset.
If the Central Bank of Cyprus had insisted years ago that NPLs be properly defined and loans must be backed up with assets as security, we would never have been in this mess.
When someone says I’m not a fool, experience has taught me they generally are.
The man with the knowledge sits quietly and says nothing, not needing to be defensive. Confident that his past and experience of life speaks volumes.
So much has been written about this article already that I thought it would be a dereliction of my duty to not stick my oar in. Especially when the answers to so much of it are so screamingly blatantly clear! He says…
Q: “Cypriots are not fools?â€Â
A: All of them, no, some of them, well yes (like most other nations). See, I told you this was easy…
Q: “This objection to the foreclosure bill, who do the deputies REALLY want to protect?â€Â
A: If the safeguards in the Foreclosure Bill are true (as mentioned by Nigel above), then objecting to the bill doesn’t help anyone really, does it?
Well, it kinda does…
As mentioned above, it protects the big deliberate defaulters (BDDs). Or smaller, band-wagon guys who had no intention of paying off their debts anyway. Why the Deputies would want to protect the BDDs is anyone’s guess…
Q: So, if the bill doesn’t go through, does that mean no more bail-out funds?
A: Not necessarily. The Troika are well advanced in the confectionery business (i.e. making a big fudge!) so we’ve seen moved goalposts and change of stadia re: many MoU conditions and still a glowing “Everything is on track in Cyprus†report. So this is just a hard-ball government negotiation for better conditions (to protect their elitist tribal group i.e. the BDDs). Even if banks are forced to bail-in again, it won’t affect the BDDs who’ve already got their money out of the country. I know this as I was one whose job was to blah blah blah…
Q: Lot’s of people here have faith in the Troika, partly to punish the BDDs or those profligate and irresponsible with their borrowing, partly to restore some order and governance to what’s appearing to be an increasingly lawless island. But will the Troika’s austerity and tight fiscal control plan work anyway? Take your pick of the articles you wish to believe: (https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=2lT_U4ajOY7Y8gf_8YHIBg&gws_rd=ssl#q=has+austerity+worked+in+europe)
A: Evidence to date of ALL the countries currently being crucified would suggest not (as was re-iterated by many, MANY Economists back in the day (pre 2007) when austerity was just a dirty word). If your country has BAD debts of 170% GDP (€29bn/€17bn), when AN accepted recoverable rate of debt (from http://www.socialismtoday.org/63/world_econ.html) is 8%, what hope your economy? Well, none really.
Q: So, let me get this straight. If the proposed bill would make it more possible to chuck people out on the street (with safeguards for the poorest, but still bringing with it a whole world of pain, misery, anger etc), but it’s got virtually no chance of getting Cyprus out of the present predicament, then, are the Deputies RIGHT for rejecting it?
A: This one’s more tricky, but, I think YES! Despite their obvious vested interests, what’s the point of making people suffer for NO BENEFIT WHATSOEVER? The Troika could wipe out all bank debt completely as the European Financial Stability Facility has approx €250 bn left over (after the Irish and Portuguese bailouts) restructuring loans until it’s heart’s content, take over the running of a central bank, sit down with each and every mortgagor and make sure they pay what they can until they can pay more. But it doesn’t want to. Why? Well, we can go into that another time (but I think mostly cos it knows that no-one can be in as terrifying a predicament as Cyprus finds itself BY ACCIDENT or through stupidity alone). What it’s clear it doesn’t want to do is allow Cyprus to default and set an (Icelandic: a friend of a friend went there recently and boy, being an international pariah shut out of credit markets is not pretty…) precedent.
So, the leaders of Cyprus are playing hardball – claiming it’s for the benefit of the ordinary man – a game they are historically REALLY BAD AT. In any event, I can see absolutely NO WAY very many of any Troika-imposed conditions will ever be met (what will the punishment be? NO more EU money?)
Q: So what will the government actually DO then?
A: I believe that banging the “concern over our citizens’ well-being†drum while extorting every penny out of homeowners (including and possibly specifically expats) desperate to cling onto their property and at the same time flirting with Russia to gain a better deal from the Troika (using strategic location, mineral resources etc as bait, which alone makes Cyprus SOOOO different to other countries) is a stalling strategy. Flogging the bad debts off to Distressed Property Hedge Funds is an idea that I believe was always on the cards. The rather evidence-less notion that Cyprus property will recover in 3 – 5 years will mean that international investors will be less likely to delve in (as no return), so the names of the fund owners will be all but too familiar to us all. As in the US (top spot there Scruffy!), we’ll be looking at toxic (and eye-wateringly risky) Rental Income Funds. The holders of property to be owned by these funds (either still clinging on as owners or evicted, repossessed and now renting them back) will really not be in for a good time (Here’s What Happens When Wall Street Builds A Rental Empire).
Q: What SHOULD the government do then?
A: There is only ONE possible “solution” (although not really a solution). It requires citizens in EVERY Eurozone country to say “Enough is enough” and do a collective, international Iceland, ejecting their leaders, prosecuting them, refusing to pay their loans and abandoning the single currency. Organisation, social-cohesion and a willingness to suffer a miserable, subsistence, barter-like existence for many years to come awaits that particular path. A bit like Argentina.
Bravo to Andreas for standing up and saying that Cypriots should refuse this really rubbish medicine (as it’s designed to keep you ill), but the only alternative is one that I do not believe the people of Cyprus (or I doubt, of any of the other Euro-slave nations), unlike the people of Iceland, will ever take.
I usually like Andreas Chrysafis’ writings e.g. his Disappearing Cyprus series as they tend to be quite revealing. Sadly, on this occasion, he has rather let his emotions and indignation get the better of him. True, as many have said before and most of us continue to repeat, no category of actor in Cyprus in the long drawn out drama of the ‘Cyprus financial and economic crisis’ comes out smelling of roses – they have all been up to their necks in the creation and perpetuation of the mess.
Nevertheless, when it comes to responsibility for NPLs and paying debts in general, these always have been down to the borrower whichever country you are in. The big difference in Cyprus is the fact that for years borrowers were never pursued by lenders to meet their repayment obligations. It went on for so long that it is hardly surprising that borrowers created a fantasy that they didn’t ‘really, have to pay.
It is rather like a bunch of school kids who have been let loose in the school sweetshop for years believing (falsely) that they would never have to pay for anything. Suddenly, the headmaster announces that sweets will no longer be available ‘on tick’ and, worse, the kids will have to pay now for all the sweets they have already had. Shock, horror! The end of civilization as they know it!
The Troika-led resolution of Cyprus’s bankruptcy may have come as an awful and unpleasant shock to many Cypriots but in reality the NPL recovery formula is necessary in order to replace the ‘free sweets’ immaturity. Without a more grown-up approach to borrowing, using and controlling money, at all levels within society, the Cyprus economy is doomed. In the immediate short-term, either the deputies grow up sharpish and vote through the necessary legislation or Cyprus will be back to verge of bankruptcy again in a matter of weeks.
For all those that believe the Troika and their foreclosure bill to be the saviours of Cyprus, please take the trouble to google and read the latest update re foreclosures in USA at Independent Foreclosure Review.
It is very interesting and though not a lot to read outlines why the USA Finance Institutions have been ordered to pay billions of dollars in compensation to those who were mis sold, misrepresented to and eventually foreclosed on by these financial institutions. The similarities to what they are trying to push through in Cyprus and probably other parts of Europe are striking. The result will be the same. Huge compensation claims will be made and won. Meantime thousands will have lost their home and suffered unnecessarily.
No matter, it will give the good old EU another few years to avoid collapsing.
Everything that is happening in Europe has already happened in the USA. Including their confession of guilt in how they handled things. Compensation is now being paid. Why do we have to make the same mistakes when the results of these mistakes are already available. Look across the pond for guidance.
@all – There’s an interesting article in Gold News today by George Mouskides, President, Association for the Promotion of Property Development, Director FOX Smart Estate Agency and George Mavreas, Registered Surveyor, Sponsor Association for the Promotion of Property Development:
Foreclosures Bill: Who Are Political Parties Really Trying to Protect?
Following careful study of the proposed new legislation, both the Association of Bank Borrowers, and the Association for the Protection of First Residences have formally proclaimed their support for the bill, calling on political figures to approve it.
The Council of Economic Advisers of Cyprus as well as the Council of Finance have likewise voiced support for the approval of the foreclosures bill.
It seems that a simple reading of the bill proves that all primary residences – regardless of value – will be exempt from the stipulations of the law.
Seeing how this is clear, how the divestment of primary residences belonging to borrowers in default will not be targeted via this proposed bill, one can’t help but wonder just who, precisely, certain politicians of various political parties are trying to protect.
Directions given by the Central Bank of Cyprus to financial institutions regarding restructuring loans are very clear: those in debt who are cooperative and display a genuine will to repay what they owe – but who are, temporarily, due to unemployment or reduction in salary engendered by the crisis, unable to do so – may be extended special courtesies in the restructuring process.
In this way, divestment of primary residences is firmly and unequivocally avoided.
Moreover, for those in debt who have placed their primary residence as collateral, it is compulsory for the bank to participate with the Ombudsman in appointing a financial committee to address the issue collectively. This extends yet another step in generating a common, acceptable solution.
So, considering the protection afforded to primary residences of borrowers in default, perhaps certain political stances taken are to, rather, protect those borrowers who never had the intention of repaying their debts in the first place, and the big-time borrowers who, indeed, owe billions.
It is beyond blatant that it is in nobody’s best interest – in particular the financial institutions themselves – for banks to pursue a policy of mass foreclosures, because this would merely serve to dissipate the value of the collateral the hold, meaning other measures would have to be pursued to attain the required capital, engendering recollections of the events of March 2013.
Is this what we want? Do we want to negate a year and a half’s worth of work, stagnating the labours that had finally started to, albeit slowly, produce fruits?
Are we perhaps putting the interest of political parties above the wider interest of the economy and society?
And so it is that our politicians are in desperate need of getting serious, because long has the time irrevocably passed when they could fool people in the hope of getting votes.
Rather than trading cruise missiles at each other in these columns (which have been facilitated for our benefit by Cyprus Property News) it is safe to say that whether or not the article by Andreas Chrysafis is regarded as ‘extreme’ or ‘exaggerated’ it does, nevertheless, chime with clause 1.30 of the fifth and latest revision of the Troika’s Cyprus MoU.
If we believe that any ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ is not simply an expensive work of fiction, then we have to take clause 1.30 in section ‘C’ at its face value as follows:-
Quote: “All legal, administrative or other hurdles currently constraining the seizure and sale of loan collateral shall be removed so that the assets pledged as collateral can be recovered within a reasonable period deemed to be a maximum time-span of 1.5 years from the initiation of the relevant proceedings. In the case of primary residences, this time-span could be extended to 2.5 years. The authorities commit not to introduce any further impediments to the seizure of assets pledged as collateral.” Unquote.
Tough if what the Troika clearly says, actually goes.
Mr. Chrysafis very well said we all stand behind you, I would suggest to start and electronic petition.
Correct Nigel – and there is even more besides – but I left most of it out to avoid scribing ‘war & peace’.
I guess as this crisis reaches boiling point – we will see a load of nay-sayers & opinion holders (quite a few of whom haven’t even property on the island) telling us what idiots we were and how we only have ourselves to blame.
As long as we keep the facts and truth in the spotlight – then there is a slim chance of resolving things fairly. This is not a PR war. To repeat – this is a CRISIS – and a very real one for thousands of people conned out of their life savings and struggling to maintain their sanity in the face of corruption and deception!
@Justin – your comments would be accurate and fair if the selling process on these loans had been fair – but they simply 100% were NOT fair.
The risks were NOT explained
The lawyers did NOT act in their clients interests – but in the interests of the banks and developers
The banks did NOT produce terms of the loan until they were dragged out of them kicking and screaming years later
In 2008 – all the banks in the western world trimmed interest rates and laid off staff. Cyprus banks laid off nobody and put theirs UP
How can you possibly write what you did with a straight face?????
@Richard on 2014/08/28 at 11:01 am – Just to add to what yo have said. Lawyers acting under a Power of Attorney arranged Swiss Franc home loans on behalf of their clients without notifying them of the details – and some people found their lawyers had arranged loans even though they didn’t want or need them.
@ Andreas
Andreas, please do not be concerned by the adverse comments re your article. This reaction is the overwhelming response to anyone who questions the intentions of Troika, the impotent and clueless government and the media spinners.
To Nigel, The short film you have provided comes from the Cyprus Mail and no doubt edited by them. They have as a newspaper made it clear that they believe the foreclosure bill should be passed and so perhaps were slightly selective in their editing.
It is amazing that those that post regularly continue to blame Cypriots for getting in a mess while conveniently failing to mention that half the countries in the western world were in exactly the same mess for exactly the same reasons. The greed and corruption of the financial institutes. It was they that lost the plot, Not the people. et, almost every poster hails the Troika as their saviour. It is extraordinary.
Much of your article is a true reflection of what has happened. It is indeed rape of a country. We should not stay silent because we appear to be in the minority in our views.
While the author of the article has given vent to an understandable frustration at the state of things, the content amounts to little more than a confused rant.
If the banking sector were able to securitise some of the outstanding loans and sell them off to international investors as mortgage backed securities then the risk would fall on the investors in the form of default. The position of the borrowers would not be any better or worse than it is today; they would still be in debt.
The banks depositors would, however have lost their security, so perhaps one should be more concerned for them, in view of the recent haircut many of them have suffered already.
There is not really very much else in the article worthy of comment, but it is surprising that such a confused person should be *nominated to run for a seat in the UK”.
Nominated by whom, one might wonder?
Cyprus Property News is enhanced by the broadening of it’s scope to include articles which lie somewhat outside the forum’s specific area. Although I do not agree with much of Andreas’ article, the debate is welcome- just look at the reaction from certain quarters prompted by Makarios Drousiotis’ publication yesterday of his well researched book. Just as well he didn’t do it a couple of years ago or he’d have ended up in the Gulag!
Andreas quotes the American constitution, which also has as one of its main tenets that there is to be no taxation without representation. Some of those here who have been most unfairly and often illegally “taxed” are the long-suffering ex-pats who have been heavy net contributors to a system in which they have no say.
Looking further afield for a fair hearing led those of us who took our UCPD cases to the European Court of Human Rights to suspect that in relation to their cases, the corruption here had infected that institution and severely compromised it.
I will stop there before the European Super-State has me rubbed out!!
Of course they’re not fools, that’s why they base the IPT to catch the expats and not the village houses.
They still think they can use the expat to keep the country afloat. But the word is out and those here won’t be enough to pay the countries debts, the free limos, the free medical care and the free multiple pensions of the Government.
Clearly indirect or direct discrimination. But they’re not bright enough to understand that.
And I thought Cyprus Property News was circumspect as to articles printed. Obviously not, with the whole load of hogwash written by Andreas Chrysafis.
‘Troika demands – a pre-condition – that people with payment difficulties have their homes repossessed’
Absolute nonsense; the Troika have insisted on safeguards for borrowers and these are included in the draft Foreclosures Bill. Even Costas Melas, Head of the Association for the Protection of Borrowers has stated that the Bill should be passed as he believes it includes enough safeguards to protect borrowers against any undue and unfair bank pressures (and this happens to include any loans that the Cypriot banks have sold to third parties).
And Mr. Chrysafis, you shouldn’t let your ignorance of the law be seen by so many Cyprus Property News readers. A borrower who fails to pay a debt cannot be imprisoned unless it can be proven that he has committed a fraudulent act to obtain the loan or to stop paying the loan.
Come on Cyprus Property News, you have a good and fair reputation; any more of this rubbish and we will lose confidence in you.
What a weird Article, several glaring inaccuracies, as Foreclosures points out below.
And Justin is quite right – if people borrow money, secured on property, they should pay the agreed interest and fees and understand from the start that non-payment, or default, can lead to repossession and ultimately sale of the security property. Yes the banks in this country, like many other countries have been weak in a) lending and b) managing ‘delinquent’ accounts, basic ‘credit control’. Yes there are many ‘less well off’ people in Cyprus, no different to most other countries. There should be ‘safety nets’ for people who, often through no fault of their own, become unemployed, sick etc and temporarily or longer-term cannot meet their liabilities.
Governments should have ‘safety nets’ to protect these people.But there are many others in this country who quite deliberately it seems simply refuse to pay interest, meet capital repayments, and choose not to pay their taxes. These are the ones the banks should be ‘going after’, demanding they meet their liabilities or understand they lose the properties that much of their borrowing is secured upon.
At least the Author of the article has been given further space below to amplify some of his comments, background and beliefs, even if many of us might still fail to fully understand them!
I am pleased than many of you found the time to read my thought-provoking article; it certainly stirred your grey cells and that is good. Its just too bad to fail to see truth in the eye but you prefer to winch.
I have been accused as a communist, a UK welfare sponger, an Akelist and much more well, we live in a society that respects freedom of speech but dear Expats…let me put your minds to rest: I am NOT a communist and never have been one, never joined a political party in my life, I support no political party. But I will not go one: by the way I was also nominated to run for a seat in the UK. I am a free man ex-architect now live in Cyprus. So please do not make idle accusations on others without knowing the facts.
In my case is very simple: “I think therefore I speak out; I write because I care; I care for justice because it’s right and therefore because it’s right, I refuse to be silenced in the face of adversity, injustice and calamity suffered by those less fortunate living at the fringes of society…for truth and justice, it’s indestructible and must be told and made available to all equallyâ€Â.
If you borrow money, and cant pay it back, then there are consequences, period. This concept is basic and anyone who does not understand it should not borrow money, let alone secure it on their main residence.
I am a qualified financial advisor and have arranged thousands of home loans, and all through the advice, it is to understand the risk. No one is forced to take a mortgage, it is a choice, or in most cases a balance between a need (expanding family etc) and what level of risk you can afford to take.
But why should anyone think they can borrow money and not have to pay it back, when everyone else does. That means that those that do pay, are also paying for those that don’t through increased rates. I grew up in a family where my father was nearly always out of work and I never knew if I was going to return from school to our house. I understand hardship, but then I also understand the risk, and would never expect anyone to underwrite my expense.
Andreas if you are a typical Cypriot then you are wrong and they are fools.
Very surprised at your poor editorial Nigel. I am all for freedom of speech but this article is full of glaring mistakes.
The current Government has not been in power for 2 years and the last Government was so bad there is little surprise it is taking time to fix the problems.
House prices have not fallen by 75%. €1m to €250K or 100K to 25K. How foolish of you.
It was not EU policies that destroyed the island.
Very poor article Nigel.
Again plenty of talk about people who have over stretched themselves and now can’t afford their mortgage repayments.
Again no one seems to mention the home buyers who have used the services of a Cypriot Lawyer and paid in full for their homes. Thousands of these innocent people could lose their homes because of hidden developer mortgages.
Andreas Chrysafis is a died in the wool communist who is quite happy to live off the welfare state of the capitalist UK. He would much rather have Christophias back in power so that he could continue spending the money the country doesn’t have.
We all know what happens when our populist politicians produce one of their heroic ‘noes’, only to say yes to something much worse a week later!
Don’t mean any disrespect but apart from the employees of ex LAIKI and then the employees of Bank of Cyprus did you see anyone demonstrating in mass after the wise decisions of the govt. and even then did the govt. do anything at all to help?
We won’t see anyone demonstrating either re the IPT being forced on buyers-paying tax on something you may never own or the coming foreclosure laws, because people know that now matter how hard you try your pleas will fall on deaf ears.
Not sure how many times we need to repeat this here lawyers, banks, govt are colluding,those in high positions where decisions are involved watch each others back and that won’t change…Whilst each of them has some ‘dirty’ info on the other this acts a deterrent to the dirt and truth about the cons and deals coming to the surface…you tell the truth about me then I’ll tell the truth about you effect. So it all gets hidden.
If I am not mistaken but this author is anti DISY anyway. In fact he is probably an AKEL supporter.
Why don’t you write about who put us in the mess in the first place, the incompetence and poor management of the previous AKEL Government for the sake of gaining votes for its Rep in the elections.
I may not agree with everything DISY is doing, but when you are in the **** someone has to make those hard decisions to get out.
@Pantheman on 2014/08/27 at 12:13 pm – I have updated the article to include a video from the Cyprus Mail. It seems that many people are in favour of the Bill.
The Greek newspapers this morning report that the Executive Office of the Democratic Party has unanimously agreed to vote against the bill.