President Christodoulides was much more upbeat this morning on the prospects of reaching a CoLA deal, dampened by the employers' rejection of a draft plan and his subsequent remarks on having drawn up plans B and C, if things don't seem to be working out.
He appeared optimistic that an arrangement can be found, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Ayia Napa conference on the Cyprus-Greece Cultural Dogma.
'It wasn't a positive outcome, but there are no deadlocks in such issues, under any circumstances', he added, hoping that on-going efforts will yield results, without offering up timelines.
The President's Thursday's comments, also stood out in regard to a reference by SEK General Secretary Andreas Matsas that an invisible hand was scuppering all CoLA compromise efforts.
'To whom does this hand belong I wonder', Christodoulides responded, as next week is expected to bring a new round of a government sounding out process, notwistanding the employers firm position that the proposal needs to be amended and an analysis presented by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on why the plan was rejected.