Cyta, Cyprus Airlines, Laiki Bank and irrationality

By Stavros I. Charalambous

CYTA, a telecommunications organization that until a few years ago was a monopoly in Cyprus, has in recent years acquired competitors after licenses were given to other companies…

Nevertheless, it has hardly been influenced by its competitors at all, with millions in profits. In fact, in the last few days, due to the robustness of the organization, the government approached him to lend it.

Cyprus Airways is also a semi-governmental organization which, however, is in debt and also has strong competitors. Recently the parliament, supposedly to save the company, voted some millions, but putting some conditions (open skies) helping with mathematical precision its competitors.

LAIKI BANK is a private company that until a few years ago presented millions of profits and was among the first two banks in the country. Recently this bank has been nationalized for reasons of public interest after it went bankrupt for unexplained reasons.

Listen to what our good Members did for the above three cases:

They did everything to privatize CYTA because, as they claim, it does not perform as expected, regardless of whether they now want to take from its reserves to give to the state and consequently to the private company Laiki Bank.

They also want to privatize Cyprus Airways with the logic that it leaves huge losses every year. However, they did not proceed to privatize it and approved the money needed to save the company, but putting some new data to hurt it even more.

Laiki, paradoxically (based on their logic for privatizations) is nationalized for reasons of public interest, supposedly, voting the amount of 1,8 billion for its support.

And I come and wonder, I, the taxpayer, to give out of my own pocket to save a private company that never offered me anything and that got here because it consciously chased to become a colossus in Europe but in the end stepped on it.

While the Cypriot Airlines that are semi-state and offered me, among other things, cheap packages, safe flights (I remember HELIOS which was also private), that is, I, the taxpayer, also have a share, give about 30 million, if I am not mistaken, supposed to save the company on some different terms that will hit it with mathematical precision.

And I ask every expert in this place: If we had to choose ourselves to give a contribution from the backlog to save one of the two companies, we would not choose to give our money to our national air carrier which is also ours which did it get where it got due to the inability to manage those appointed by the parties themselves, rather than the private company?