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22 Mar, 2013 04:46

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.

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