Cyprus looking in ‘another direction from Troika’ but should not leave the euro – MP
As Cyprus teeters on bankruptcy, its lawmakers face pressure from both constituents and other governments on reaching a solution. Cypriot MP Christos Messis told RT that in any case, the Troika's "unfair and inhuman" suggestions are not the answer.
RT:You voted against the bank deposit tax and now
with fears of a bankruptcy, do you still think that was the right
thing to do?
Christos Messis: Yes, pretty sure about that. We voted no,
of course that makes the situation difficult, it’s still very
difficult because no was no solution, a no was not accepting the
deal made on Friday at the Eurozone with President Anastasiades. We
still think that if it is correct, and now exactly today our
secretary general announced that we prefer to change the direction
in which we are seeking a solution, meaning that the Troika program
cannot be acceptable because it’s a way that has no safety for
future prosperity.
RT:There are reports though that the EU knew Cyrpus
would reject the bank tax, why would they push for a tax that had
no chance of being accepted or passed?
CM: That is what I cannot answer. Of course I can assume
that it was the mentality of the troika again and again in every
country in which they try with these policies that are unfair and
inhuman. And the question is when are they going to stop and it
seems to us that they won’t. So we suggest that we go for another
direction. We have today suggested that a good thing to do is to
look at Moscow and may be accept the invitation, the invitation
from President Putin so that the President of the Republic of
Cyprus accompanied by the main party leaders visit Moscow in the
next hours to try and find a better program there. We are more
confident that it will be safer and a more reliable thing to do
than keep negotiating with the troika, who have showed us for 9
months now that every day the negotiations are coming and going
back and forth, which showed us that we cannot accept them to be
reliable and they showed us that they have no idea about what they
are actually asking. We saw that in Greece, for example, and we see
it in other countries.
RT:So if Russia does say yes, we’re going to help you, is Cyprus thinking of exiting the euro?
CM: No, this is not what we suggest. We believe that
staying in the euro is the correct thing to do. That what I have
said and my party is saying is that it thinks the direction of the
negotiations with the Troika are unacceptable from the side of the
Troika, and so we have to seek for a solution not with the Troika
but in another direction, and another direction, which now there
in-front of us is Moscow, as I said. But in no situation will
it be a situation we are seeking to exit from the Eurozone, that’s
not the case.
RT:But Europe has been accused of being very heavy
handed in its demands with Cyprus, why do you think that they are
being so tough on you?
CM: You can let me assume and say that the end is not just
the policies implemented to us through a number of laws that we did
accept from the troika and we have passed through our parliament
and it seems that the end may be somewhere near, taking under
control our gas and oil resources, which is something that worries
us a lot. They bring up a lot of things so that they can put
a nation under pressure and it was a way to put us under pressure.
Even if they have the council of Europe, which they did and the
IMF, which they did investigate, the money laundering and the
reports are very, very good, we are actually, I think we are in the
few countries in Europe, which has the less problem. But still they
brought it up, it played a role in the German elections, a very big
role in the German elections, and it was a way to push us around
and they did that. And every time they did something, and in the
end it will be clear that it doesn’t happen. It will be a factor
until the end of the day but until the end of the negotiations it
makes a claim on the big one who is pressing the small one around
and I think it was a way of psychologically making the atmosphere
they made.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.