Opinion
Christos Zavos
The joint statement by APOEL, Anorthosis, Apollon, and Ethnikos regarding their debts to the state starts off, right from the first paragraph, accusing unnamed parties of populism, without ever clarifying what they mean. Then, in the same breath, they invoke their “centuries of history and contributions to society” as justification! Never mind that they’re stretching it a bit with the word centuries. They also somehow manage to lump that history in with Petrou Petrou’s mismanagement, Santi and Poullaides’s disastrous policies, Kirzis’s serial planning failures, and Kikis Philippou, who is a category all his own. And yet, within this same statement, they also express frustration with how the government has handled things, completely ignoring the fact that it was the current government’s 2023 legislation that gave them the kiss of life!
Meanwhile, although they oppose the Finance Ministry’s handling of the issue, they ultimately agree with it that it’s the Tax Commissioner who has the authority to approve their reentry into the debt repayment scheme. But here’s the twist: they claim to have reached an agreement with the Commissioner, who, in turn, denied it’s even within his jurisdiction and pointed them to the Cabinet instead! As for this chaos among state officials, one has to wonder how it’s possible that the President of the Republic and the Finance Minister are both on the same page about the Commissioner’s authority… and yet the Commissioner himself flat-out denies it.
Then there’s the delay by the authorities in replying to the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) about whether the clubs do or don’t still owe money to the state. The government spokesman explained this as a “decades-old problem” (!), blissfully ignoring the fact that the issue stems directly from this very miscommunication among officials!
And of course, the CFA couldn’t miss out on the party surrounding the clubs’ debts. The same CFA that, using various little tricks, once again paved the way for the clubs to pass the licensing criteria, this time blaming the Finance Ministry’s stalling.
But when asked why the CFA went ahead and approved the criteria anyway, despite the lack of a green light from the state, the head of the relevant committee said the clubs had submitted certain documents… and that he also received “verbal confirmations” (!) about the agreement with the Tax Commissioner.
The same Commissioner, mind you, who claimed he had no jurisdiction, while the clubs, who were pushing back against the Minister and indirectly the President, insisted he was the responsible authority! In the end, the clubs passed the criteria and rejoined the repayment scheme without a Cabinet decision, the very thing the Commissioner said was needed!
So… what don’t you understand?
*This opinion was translated from its Greek original.
