AKEL ON YESTERDAY’S DECISION BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE RESOLUTION OF THE BANKING SECTOR

 

 

Press Office C.C. of AKEL, 23rd March 2013, Nicosia

 

First and foremost, we consider it appropriate that we explain what the law approved yesterday by the House of Representatives is. This is a legislative bill of the European Union which applies to all the member-states who are required to gradually integrate it in their national legislative system and implement it. This legislation could have been enacted earlier or even afterwards. The fact that it coincided with it being discussed and adopted by the majority of the House at the same time when the rest of the bills of the Anastasiades- Eurogroup Agreement are being discussed, is the result of the bad handling by the Government and is causing confusion:

 

A. that the House discussed the haircut yesterday, and,

 

B. that this bill was part of the Mr. Anastasiades´ Agreement on the 15th March with the Eurogroup.

 

Consequently, yesterday’s statement by the Government Spokesman that the legislation was prepared by the previous and not by the current Government is not true. The preparation of the legislation was the responsibility of the Central Bank.

 

In reality, the bill provides for the manner in which the competent authority regulates the resolution of the banking institutions, given that a number of preconditions are met.

 

However, the situation created by the agreement of Mr. Anastasiades with the Eurogroup led the House to be obliged to decide and vote within a suffocating timetable of three days and in fact the same time as the agreements of 15th March in Brussels are also discussed.

 

The events of last week are the result of the blatant blackmail of the Troika, the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank against Cyprus. What were they basically saying? If all that we have set before you is not approved then any liquidity towards the Cypriot banks stops, the Popular Bank and the Bank of Cyprus will go bankrupt, that is to say in reality the whole of the banking system, the economy and the country. The refusal of the Parliamentary Group of AKEL to vote for the bill in question and abstain was a statement of disagreement with the Government’s handling and with the neo-colonial approaches the Troika and Germany are trying to impose in Europe.

 

However in addition we are also talking about the huge responsibilities off the boards of the banks and more specifically of the boards of the Popular Bank all these years. Both the previous government, but also Parliament has also tabled and approved bills to support the Popular Bank by funding it so that it can be saved. Unfortunately, just the fact alone that on 15th March the haircut was agreed automatically created problems to the Popular Bank. In addition, statements made by state officials, including the Governor of the Central Bank and Ministers of the Anastasiades Government exacerbated the difficulties and pressure.

 

The reckless handling by the banks boards, the former Governor of the Central Bank, as well as the current Governor have resulted in us facing critical and predetermined deadlocks concerning the Popular Bank. That is to say, that a serious deadlock had been created with regards the running of the Bank even before the specific bill had been submitted to the House. The dilemma was put before the House: on the one hand to refuse the taking of any measures that would bail out the banking system of Cyprus and on the other to save to the greatest possible extent people’s deposits and working people’s rights.

 

Wanting to express on the one hand our disagreement with the Government’s handling and the proposals that were put forth before us extortionately, but also on the other hand not to lead the country into bankruptcy and weaken the negotiating position of the President we abstained on the specific bill. We believe that there were bad handlings made both during the negotiation with the Troika last Friday, as well as on all the alternative solutions that were open to Cyprus.

 

We reiterate that in our opinion this battle will continue. Regretfully the pressures by our European partners will not stop and therefore it was vital that the negotiation effort of our side at that particular moment was not weakened. At the same time we state that we expect from the President subsequently to negotiate and wage the battle from correct positions and in such a case we will support him.

 

In conclusion, we are obliged to clarify that we shall continue to disagree with the package agreed by Mr. Anastasiades with the Eurogroup. We insist that our position that a solution must be found beyond and outside the framework of the Troika will be vindicated. We state once more categorically our intention to defend with all our forces the interests of our country, people and workers. It is precisely within these frameworks that we waged the battle for the Providence Funds yesterday during the discussion in the plenary session with our written amendment tabled which unfortunately the majority of the House rejected. Within the same framework, yesterday we voted against the specific bill.