President Nikos Christodoulides said the era of politically divided appointments to semi-government organisations has come to an end, responding to criticism over the government's latest appointments.
Speaking to reporters after an event marking the 30th anniversary of the deaths of Tassos Isaac and Solomos Solomou in Paralimni, Christodoulides described the reactions to the appointments as "expected", arguing that previous administrations had operated a system of party-based allocation of positions.
"The party is over," he said.
According to the president, political parties had previously divided appointments among themselves.
"It was a party they were used to having in the past, where one got four positions, another three, another two and so on. The Advisory Council came to stop that party."
Responding to accusations of a government "plunder", Christodoulides said some people appeared to believe that "the public has a short memory".
Referring to the CYTA scandal, he said:
"Do you want me to remind you about the CYTA plunder, who ended up in prison and which party benefited from that plunder?"
Criticism of DISY and AKEL
Christodoulides specifically referred to what he called "DISAKEL", combining the names of DISY and AKEL, saying he follows a large number of statements issued by both parties on a daily basis.
"It is very interesting that these statements are identical."
He added that the two parties might as well issue joint announcements, arguing that they have already entered election campaign mode.
"We are not going to follow."
Eighty per cent based on recommendations
The president also defended the work of the Advisory Council, saying its members were doing an "excellent job".
He said 80% of appointments to semi-government organisations had been made on the basis of the council's recommendations.
Christodoulides noted that several appointees had no political affiliation and would never have imagined being appointed because they lacked a party identity or political label.
"They have no party identity, they have no party colour."
He added that some had even been appointed as heads of semi-government organisations.
Role of semi-government organisations
The president stressed that semi-government organisations serve as an extension of the executive branch and are expected to implement government policy.
Using the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) as an example, he said:
"When we are working on the issue of energy, the EAC cannot operate differently from what the government assigns it to do."
Government focused on challenges
Concluding, Christodoulides said his message to the leaderships of DISY and AKEL was that elections remain a long way off and that the government would not engage in continuous exchanges of political statements.
"This alignment that I see on every issue, this desire to issue so many announcements, in some cases even twice as many announcements in a day, is not something we are going to follow."
He said the government would remain focused on addressing the country's challenges.
"We are focused on the problems and challenges we have to deal with, and we are accountable only to the Cypriot people."
Source: CNA
