25/02/2013 07:00
New President, Nicos Anastasiades is called to give clear messages in and outside Cyprus, few hours after his clear victory against Stavros Malas.
Mr. Anastasiades yesterday won the election with 57% - the highest percentage since 1978 - in an election that had relatively high abstention, invalid and blank rate.
As stated by his close associates on television last night, the new President will have no grace period as the problems are many and urgent.
The first test for the 66-year old President is to appoint his cabinet. The expectations created in the past few weeks from the close environment of the new President is that he will choose competent persons with technocratic training and knowledge, rather than party members.
The intra-party pressures, however, will bring major dilemmas to the President.
Already, certain objections have been raised for some ministerial candidates, while in the other parties rearrangements have been planned.
Mr. Anastasiades’ Finance Minister will only have few days to be informed by Vassos Shiarly, before going to the Eurogroup on Monday, where he will face his colleagues from the eurozone.
Until then, both Mr. Anastasiades and the new minister should clarify their intentions on important issues, sending the right signals to Europe.
The momentum and intensity of the campaign created problems that the new president will be called to clarify in the next few days.
His pre-election call for the appointment of a second firm to carry out due diligence for the banks might raise questions to Europe about the intentions of the new president, as the Steering Committee considers the matter closed with the appointment and the report of Pimco.
The results of the due diligence may be subject to a negotiation among the members of the steering committee, which includes Cypriot officials. Any attempt, however, to deviate from the agreed procedure hides risks for the credibility of the new Cypriot government. Besides, within the Steering Committee, there seems to be suggested that the baseline report, on which Cyprus bet, has been surpassed by the depth of the recession.
Questions will also be raised by the attempt to get a “bridge” loan to cover short-term needs of the state.
The loan may be seen as a way to strengthen the negotiating position of Cyprus and to extend timeframes, so, again, to give credibility blow to the government.
Moreover, it is uncertain whether some European countries (eg the UK) would be willing to be involved in the issue before ending up with a memorandum.
On money laundering, the European partners of Cyprus will persist in the coming days in appointing a firm to assess the current legislative framework. The partners of Cyprus may not insist on appointing private house, giving the new government a solution to this thorny pre-election issue.
The European partners will be waiting for a clear placement on privatizations too. The statements published by the Financial Times today for "probable postponement of privatizations for three years", are expected to lead discussions.
Given the difficulties and challenges in the economy and the banks, each movement for 16-year President of the Democratic Rally will be carefully monitored by European makers.
Unlike the Germans, who do not seem to hurry, other actors in the European system consider it necessary to finalize the memorandum in March in order to preserve banking stability in Cyprus.
Mr. Anastasiades yesterday won the election with 57% - the highest percentage since 1978 - in an election that had relatively high abstention, invalid and blank rate.
As stated by his close associates on television last night, the new President will have no grace period as the problems are many and urgent.
The first test for the 66-year old President is to appoint his cabinet. The expectations created in the past few weeks from the close environment of the new President is that he will choose competent persons with technocratic training and knowledge, rather than party members.
The intra-party pressures, however, will bring major dilemmas to the President.
Already, certain objections have been raised for some ministerial candidates, while in the other parties rearrangements have been planned.
Mr. Anastasiades’ Finance Minister will only have few days to be informed by Vassos Shiarly, before going to the Eurogroup on Monday, where he will face his colleagues from the eurozone.
Until then, both Mr. Anastasiades and the new minister should clarify their intentions on important issues, sending the right signals to Europe.
The momentum and intensity of the campaign created problems that the new president will be called to clarify in the next few days.
His pre-election call for the appointment of a second firm to carry out due diligence for the banks might raise questions to Europe about the intentions of the new president, as the Steering Committee considers the matter closed with the appointment and the report of Pimco.
The results of the due diligence may be subject to a negotiation among the members of the steering committee, which includes Cypriot officials. Any attempt, however, to deviate from the agreed procedure hides risks for the credibility of the new Cypriot government. Besides, within the Steering Committee, there seems to be suggested that the baseline report, on which Cyprus bet, has been surpassed by the depth of the recession.
Questions will also be raised by the attempt to get a “bridge” loan to cover short-term needs of the state.
The loan may be seen as a way to strengthen the negotiating position of Cyprus and to extend timeframes, so, again, to give credibility blow to the government.
Moreover, it is uncertain whether some European countries (eg the UK) would be willing to be involved in the issue before ending up with a memorandum.
On money laundering, the European partners of Cyprus will persist in the coming days in appointing a firm to assess the current legislative framework. The partners of Cyprus may not insist on appointing private house, giving the new government a solution to this thorny pre-election issue.
The European partners will be waiting for a clear placement on privatizations too. The statements published by the Financial Times today for "probable postponement of privatizations for three years", are expected to lead discussions.
Given the difficulties and challenges in the economy and the banks, each movement for 16-year President of the Democratic Rally will be carefully monitored by European makers.
Unlike the Germans, who do not seem to hurry, other actors in the European system consider it necessary to finalize the memorandum in March in order to preserve banking stability in Cyprus.
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