Tales from the Coffeeshop: Is president unaware of Cyprob fatigue?

THERE was a time, some years ago, when a visit by a UN envoy to Kyproulla, with the aim of kicking some life into the Cyprob, would be big news, the main story in every newspaper and the lead on all the television news shows. We would be bombarded with alarmist stories about Anglo-American plots to trap the Greek Cypriots in UN processes that were designed to satisfy Turkey’s unreasonable demands and impose an unfair solution. The UN envoy, nine times out of 10, would be christened a Turkophile and puppet of the evil State Department. Those happy and exciting days in which the Cyprob was king (the front-page lead story in Phil every day for weeks on end) are long gone. Now that all news media can count the number of clicks per story, news bosses have realised that very few care about the Cyprob. This would explain the indifference to the visit of the UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy Maria Angela Holguin in the last week. Her meetings with Prezniktwo and Tufan Erhurman received some press coverage but it was not presented as earth-shattering news as it would have been 15 years ago. IT REMINDS me of a story told by a correspondent of The Times back in the nineties. At the time, some 20 years after the invasion and after countless failed initiatives, there would have been a visit by a top US diplomat who would try to rekindle the peace process. Seeing this as an opportunity to earn some dough, the correspondent called the foreign news desk of The Times to sell the idea of the story. He gave some background to the foreign news editor, who had obviously heard about Cyprob breakthroughs that never happened many times. “Will the problem be solved?” he asked the correspondent, who responded negatively. “You can file a story when they solve the problem,” said the foreign news editor and hung up. The majority of Greek Cypriots probably feels exactly like The Times man. If there is a solution they will read the story, but there is no interest in deadlocks, breakthroughs, talks, negotiations, envoys, enlarged meetings, initiatives, confidence-building measures etc. Everyone is suffering from Cyprob fatigue, including the politicians who, mercifully, can no longer use the prob for career advancement, as so many others had done before them. The prez is still banging on about an enlarged meeting THE PREZ might be banging on about the enlarged meeting under the UNSG at which the resumption of talks would be agreed, but it is all part of the theatre he has been staging for the last three years that relies on the Turkish side’s unwavering negativity. In the unlikely event the Turks change tune one day, our prez’s burning desire for talks will be extinguished faster than you can say Turkish intransigence. I bet he has already prepared his exit strategy if he is forced to agree to a resumption of talks. His minions are already preparing for this. Speaking on CyBC radio on Saturday morning, negotiator Menelaos Menelaou said the government was “seeking the active involvement of the European Union by directly linking the open issues Ankara has with Brussels with the substantive role the EU has to play in this new effort.” He was referring to the customs union, the relaxation of visas for Turkish citizens and the participation of Turkey in the SAFE defence programme, but did not explain how this plan would work. I can just see the EU telling Turkey, ‘give back Varosha to the Greek Cypriots and we will update customs union’, ‘withdraw the occupation army from Cyprus and all Turks can enjoy visa-free travel in the EU.’ WE MIGHT not even need talks with active EU participation. Speaking to a gathering of the organisation of Cypriot expats, Pseka, in the US on Wednesday, government spokesman Mini Me said “linking the economy, defensive readiness, energy planning, the alliances, the European role and the regional presence all serve the same top aim – the end of occupation and the liberation and reunification of our country.” Kyproulla today “is a country that gets results, which boosts its defensive readiness, expands its alliances, connects Europe to the region and transforms geography to strategy.” This guy is even better than his boss in the production of hot air. The transformation of geography to strategy could be the subject of a new political theory. Telling it like it is: Mini Me at the Pseka event MINI ME was not the only member of the government visiting the US of A last week. Deputy minister of social welfare Clea Hadjistefanou Papaellina, the fabulously wealthy lady that was appointed by the Prez to look after the interests of the poor and deprived, was in the Big Apple to address a conference at the UN. She spoke at the 19th Conference of members of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Could there be a bigger waste of the taxpayers’ money than sending a deputy minister all the way to the US to regale the conference with platitudes about the disabled? It is not as if she could not afford to visit New York before becoming deputy minister and needed to exploit her government position to see the Big Apple. Nevertheless, I hear the taxpayers’ money was put to good use as Hadjistefanou Papaellina made a fantastic speech. Among other things, she told the Convention, according to Tass news agency, that “securing the rights of people with disabilities does not only constitute a legal obligation but a fundamental responsibility in the field of human rights.” SPEAKING about wasting the taxpayers’ money on unnecessary trips abroad by government politicians, we have to mention the presence of the Prez and Mrs Prez on Wednesday at the blessing of the recently completed central tower of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona by Pope Leo XIV. Our presidential couple rubbed shoulders with members of the Spanish royal family, the Spanish prime minister and hundreds of bishops. Aware there would be questions as to why on earth our Prez attended this event, Tass news agency explained he was at the ceremony “in his capacity as President of a member-state that is exercising the presidency of the Council of the European Union, after an invitation from the government of Spain.” And the couple could not possibly decline such an invitation, that offered an opportunity to be in the presence of the Pope, at zero expense to them. OMEGALIVE reported that attorney-general Giorgos Savvides could opt for early retirement and be replaced by Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, who has an abundance of law qualifications. This would allow the Prez to appoint the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Marilena Raouna, who has been running the Cyprus presidency of the council of the EU, foreign minister. Raouna is under the protection of the Prez and there has been much speculation about her next posting as she would be jobless when the presidency is over at the end of the month. The prez apparently always finds a good government job for Raouna. There might be a problem in that Kombos has been a successful minister and enjoys the protection of Mrs Prez as he supervised her PhD thesis. To further complicate the issue of Raouna’s next job, Savvides has said that he has no plan to take early retirement. .