A PROVISIONAL agreement for settling the issue of supplementing the provident funds of bank employees, whose deposits were reduced as a result of the 2013 haircut was reached at an agreement at the presidential palace on Thursday, reported Cyprus’ Tass news agency.

The meeting with the Prez was attended by the Bank of Cyprus’ chairman Takis Arapoglu, CEO Panikos Nicolaou and the honorary president of Etyk union, Costis Hadjicostis – the overlord of Kyproulla’s banking sector, as well as the ministers of finance and labour.

The Tass report gave no figures about the provisional agreement such as how much it would cost, how much would be paid to each bank employee and who will pick up the bill. Mini Me said after the meeting that this would correct the 2017 decision of the council of ministers which created beneficiaries of two categories.

By this decision the Preznikone government decided to supplement the provident funds of all workers that were bailed in, leaving each with just €100,000. The state would give them an additional €150,000 taking the total to 250 grand.

Some 700 bank employees were excluded from the plan, because as the then Finance Minister Harris Georgiades argued, they were the fat cats that had caused the collapse of the banking sector.

IT WAS a case of discrimination, although nobody was going to come to the defence of the universally hated bank workers, just four years after the haircut which led so many families and businesses to ruin. This is what the palace meeting wanted to correct.

The cost of ending this discrimination, however, is in the region of €100 million (150,000 X 700) so it would be interesting to know what the provisional agreement at the palace actually was. Who will pick up the bill? According to Mini Me, the government B of C and Etyk agreed to “a framework of financial contribution of all parties” so as to end the discriminatory situation.

For the sake of transparency, it would be good to know how much money would be needed and how much each party would contribute but nobody is saying. Mini Me identified another footprint (not of the diplomatic type that his boss has been leaving all over the world). “This development has a clear political and social footprint,” he said.

Hopefully, Etyk, which currently holds a 4.8 per cent stake in the B of C, worth in the region of €167m, will make a contribution, despite Hadjicostis ideologically being a taker, never a giver.

OUR PREZ appears to have experienced multiple political orgasms after signing the EEZ agreement with Lebanon, on Wednesday, an “important and historic occasion.” The agreement was “a milestone of strategic importance” for reasons only he knew.

The ecstasy may have been justified as this was his first EEZ agreement, the other two being agreed before his time. I will betray my ignorance of strategic issues by failing to see its importance. We have far too many unexplored blocks in our existing EEZs as things are so why are we celebrating the possible addition of more? Oil companies are not exactly in a big rush to drill in the old EEZ blocks, so what would be the point of offering more?

A bigger milestone was the start of talks for the Cyprus-Lebanon electricity interconnection. How will this work, considering Lebanon cannot cover its own electricity needs, with many homes having their own power generators, while Kyproulla’s electricity production, has difficulty covering its own needs.

And it is weird that the Prez is keen to set up an interconnector with Lebanon, while taking Greece for a ride about the Great Sea Interconnector.

PHIL’S in-house presidential spokesman, Andreas Bimbishis, presumably with some help from the palace saw another aspect of the milestone of strategic importance.

“From the day Joseph Aoun took over the presidency of the neighbouring country, Cyprus was by his side and so far, it is generally accepted that it has significantly helped the effort of Lebanon for a better tomorrow, so it can also become a normal country,” wrote Bimbishis in his column.

He added that “Lebanon is a characteristic example of the role that even this small Cyprus can play.” So, will the new role of the pillar of stability and security be to help countries that are not normal to become normal? I suspect this help will only be extended to neighbouring countries, seeking normality, which is a shame considering countries like North Korea and Afghanistan could have done with our normalisation assistance.

THE MOST compelling argument about the importance of the agreement was offered by Bimbishis. “The question of whether this agreement signed on Wednesday is important is answered by the reaction of Turkey. Even at the last minute, Turkey was trying to overturn the actions of the two countries…it moved intensely through familiar avenues to block the signing of the agreement.”

Phil also subscribed to the view that if an agreement pisses off the Turks it must be important. “Ankara frothing about EEZ with Lebanon,” it proudly declared on its front page on Friday. The froth caused traffic jams in the Turkish capital.

PREZNIKONE’S ongoing campaign to prove that he is not a liar was revived by the publication of a book by former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, who was in power during the Crans Montana talks. The day after the book, titled Ithaki, appeared, Nik I issued a statement.

“The references of the book by Alexis Tsipras about everything that happened in Crans Montana speak for themselves…yet another refutation of all those that for so long adopted the Turkish narrative.”

In the book, Tsipras said he had offered to go to Crans Montana but was told not to go by Nik, who also told the PM that Turkey’s offer, made via the UNSG, about scrapping the guarantees and withdrawing the troops was a bluff. A bluff Nik was afraid to call and instead offered Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu the two-state solution, which obviously changed the latter’s stance, at the last dinner on July 6.

The narrative of the offer of the two-state solution has been publicly confirmed by Nik’s negotiator and right-hand man Andreas Mavroyiannis, who is neither Turkish nor a liar. His source was Nik himself who is not Turkish either.

THE UKRAINE embassy in Nicosia held a reception last Monday at the Hilton Hotel on the occasion of the Day of Dignity and Freedom of Ukraine. The reception was followed by concert featuring “Cultural Landing Force, an informal association of Ukrainian servicemen of creative professions.”

What was rather embarrassing was the very small number of Greek Cypriots that bothered to show up. Apart from the interior minister, who represented the government, there were just two deputies and not a single party leader.

The love of Mother Russia has not died in Kyproulla. It is hidden, for now, because we cannot publicly express our admiration and affection for a brutal expansionist power, barbaric invader, occupier, child-snatcher, even if it has a principled stance on the Cyprob.

This type of Cypriots who are the overwhelming majority would never dream of offending Mother Russia by attending a reception given by Ukraine.

AT THE FIRST meeting with our Prez, the newly-elected leader of the Turkish Cypriots, Tufan Erhurman, submitted proposal for 10 confidence building measures, which our man has not had a chance to look at.

But all these CBMs, regardless of who is proposing them, never materialize, because they are usually boring and unimaginative. In an attempt to help restart the stalled peace process and create a settlement-friendly atmosphere, our establishment announces the holding of a competition for exciting, ground-breaking CBM.

There is no limit to the number of proposals a participant can submit (not more than 500 please) and the 10 best proposals, which will be decided by a jury of coffee drinkers, will be forwarded to the UNSG’s personal envoy Maria Angel Holguin for implementation.

The authors of the winning proposals will win a prize, which will be announced once we find a sponsor.