Cyprus still on track to implement austeriy plan

Cyprus’s fiscal consolidation package that the government agreed on with political parties on July 22 remains on track to be implemented, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said.

“The government is ready to implement it,” Stavrakis told reporters in Nicosia today. “Part of what has been agreed is the consultation of the president with the public-sector trade unions on measures concerning them.”

Talks to finalize the package broke down today when representatives of political parties at a meeting at the finance ministry walked out in protest, lawmaker Nicholas Papadopoulos said earlier.

“The minister of finance retracted from measures we agreed at the meeting on Friday,” Papadopoulos, who is also vice- president of center-right DIKO, the junior partner in Cyprus’s government, said in an interview. Stavrakis “withdrew every measure that angered trade unions.”

The revised version of the fiscal consolidation package the finance minister presented today reduced budget cuts for this year from 118.8 million euros ($172.3 million) to 97.5 million euros and from 545.7 million euros to 268.5 million euros in 2012, opposition DISY party lawmaker Averof Neofytou said.