He reiterated that the government treats the issue of sanctions “as an opportunity to clear the name of the Republic of Cyprus once and for all”
There is a path towards normalization in the services sector after the turmoil caused by the imposition of sanctions by the US and the UK, Finance Minister Makis Keraynos said, reiterating that the government is treating the issue of sanctions “as an opportunity to clean up a always the name of the Republic of Cyprus”.
Mr. Keravnos met on Monday with a delegation of AKEL, led by the party's General Secretary Stefanos Stefanou, with whom he discussed the issue of sanctions and the impact on the services sector .
In his statements, Mr. Keravnos, after acknowledging that the issue “created various problems”, added that “the government reacted directly, promptly and decisively to deal with any consequences and effects and has taken various steps, as a result of which we see some normalization course”.
In particular, he referred to the actions taken for the release of the entities affected by the imposition of sanctions, the diplomatic manipulations that enabled the sanctioned entities, through the process determined by the bodies themselves, their counterparts in the US and the Great Britain, to be able to get exceptions to the sanctions for issues related to the payment of salaries, taxes and so on, which is what happens with the European sanctions.
He also mentioned the creation of the National Sanctions Control Unit, which will consolidate the two existing ones that already exist in the Ministry of Finance, “so that we can monitor more closely and apply the European sanctions”.
“This is the effort and for this we are using foreign experts, who will transfer their own know-how to us. The effort is to act proactively and to protect both the name of Cyprus and the service sector, which is very basic for the Cypriot economy”, he added.
The Ministry of Finance reiterated the reports of the President of the Republic that “the Government is facing this development as an opportunity to clear the name of the Republic of Cyprus once and for all, to restore confidence that it is a place suitable for new companies for investment companies, we have good infrastructure, we have very well trained staff and we must continue to try to further develop the service sector”.
Finally, he emphasized that with great sensitivity the government has dealt with the issue of paying the executives of the entities that have been sanctioned “and I think that the diplomatic actions that the government has taken and continues to take, will soon bring some result”.
In his own statements, the General Secretary of AKEL said that they requested the meeting to be informed about the issue of sanctions “given the fact that this issue has caused a lot of disturbance and is still causing, a climate has been created that is not not at all helpful both for the Cypriot economy and for Cyprus in general”.
“We came here with concern both for the Cypriot economy because the whole issue of sanctions has a negative impact on a very important sector of the Cypriot economy, which is services, and secondly we have a great concern for the workers in this sector which are many thousands. If this sector does not go well then we have an impact on the workers and the labor market”, he added.
Mr. Stefanou connected the issue of the country's name “with the bad name that Cyprus got in recent years, mainly because of what happened with the golden passports, what was written and is still being written in the international press about Cyprus”, as he said .
Describing the investment program as “scandalous and looting”, Mr. Stefanou said that “serving justice will help us restore our name internationally, because we will send the message that the Republic of Cyprus has decided to put an end to such procedures and to open a new era”.
AKEL's General Secretary also raised the issue of the country's sovereignty, saying that the sanctions come from two non-EU member states “and it does not mean that whatever is required of them, we, without checking them, without being consistent with the European rules, if you want, with the sanctions imposed by the EU, that we will have to implement them”.
“So here we need to filter them where there is a need to move, but where we consider it to be either an exaggeration or outside of what we are obliged to do, to safeguard the vital interests of the Republic of Cyprus and the country”, he concluded .
