In what was probably the most short-lived victory
celebration in Cyprus history, president-elect Nicos Anastassiades
wrapped up a six month long campaign with two speeches and a short press
briefing on Sunday night, ready to start work on a multi-billion euro
bailout from Eurozone partners and the IMF.
Expected to announce a cabinet of proven politicians and technocrats who
will deal with a bankrupt economy and record unemployment,
Anastassiades also has to face angry criticism within Germany about
transparency surrounding billions of euros in Russian bank deposits.
How he deals with skepticism in Berlin and other leading Eurozone
capitals will determine how soon Cyprus will secure a 17.5 bln euro
bailout from its international lenders, in exchange for a drastic
reduction in public sector spending, privatisations and a
recapitalisation of its banks that were hit by the haircut of Greek
government bonds.
At the same time, the 66-year-old lawyer will have to argue for a
political settlement with Turkey over the island’s occupied territories
in the north, at a time when some European Union leaders are desperate
to lure Ankara to its fold, both as a nation of 90 mln consumers and
also as a supposed peacemaker in the Middle East.
The only good news is the recent discovery of natural gas deposits off
the southern coast and adjacent to Israeli gasfields, an area that
Turkey wants to put a claim to in order to have a say in eastern
Mediterranean affairs.
In an attempt to regain support within the EU, Anastassiades is widely
expected to appoint Euro MP and European Popular Party vice chairman
Ioannis Kasoulides as his next Foreign Minister, a post the 65 year old
former presidential candidate held a decade ago.
Furthermore, he is expected to reinstate former World Bank executive and
Finance Minister Michael Sarris to the cabinet post he held five years
ago, a gesture that is expected to please European politicians who want
to see extensive reforms in the island state, combined with sound
policies on sustainability.
The new president, who officially takes office on Friday, March 1, will
tap into his own Democratic Rally party as a source for Cabinet
ministers, as well as to fill the new post of Deputy Ministers, while
his main coalition partner, the smaller Democratic Party that was split
over its support of rival candidates, will also contribute with
government officials.
Already, Christopher Pissarides, a Cypriot who won the Nobel Prize in
economics in 2010, is tipped to head a new department, the Council for
Fiscal Policy, similar to the U.K.’s Office for Budget Responsibility,
that will oversee the government’s growth plans and implementation of
reforms and austerity.
(by Financial Mirror)