Nicos Anastasiades


Nicos Anastasiades is a Cypriot politician who has been President of Cyprus since 2013. He was re-elected in 2018. Previously, he was the leader of Democratic Rally between 1997 and 2013 and served as Member of Parliament from Limassol between 1981 and 2013.

Education

Anastasiades is a lawyer by profession, and the founder of law firm "Nicos Chr. Anastasiades & Partners". He graduated in law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and completed postgraduate studies in shipping law at University College London. During his university studies, he was a member of the Centre Coalition based in Athens formed by Georgios Papandreou.

Political career

Anastasiades was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1981 and was leader of his party from 1997 until 2013.

President of Cyprus

In March 2012, Nicos Anastasiades was nominated as a candidate for the 2013 presidential election, against his rival MEP Eleni Theocharous in a vote among the 1,008 strong executive of the Democratic Rally. Nicos Anastasiades received 673 votes and Theocharous received 103. In the first round of the presidential election on 17 February 2013, Anastasiades won 45% of votes, while Stavros Malas and George Lillikas earned 26.9% and 24.9%, respectively. He won in the second round against Malas with 57.48% of the vote and was sworn in as President on 28 February 2013.

Bank bail-out

Anastasiades had to break campaign promises by agreeing to let the banks confiscate 47.5 percent of bank accounts over 100,000 euros in 2013, in order to acquire a 10-billion euro bailout from international lenders.
Speaking before a committee of inquiry into the island's economic collapse, Anastasiades conceded he reneged on his pledges not to accept a "haircut" on deposits, stressing that the alternative would have been catastrophic for Cyprus.
He later came to comment that Cyprus was treated as a guinea pig with extreme measures never applied before, but despite his counter-proposals they were all blatantly rejected during the Eurogroup meeting. However, such claims were heavily criticized on the press for being misleading, citing references from Eurogroup's members who stated that the bailout plan was actually Anastasiades's proposal. Additional criticism was due to claims that the president himself warned his associates and friends to move money abroad before financial crisis hit.
Despite the heavy criticism, the government's effective management of capital controls, however, revived the country's banking system, and Cyprus was able to exit the bailout in 2016.

Military conscription

During his electoral campaign for the post of Cyprus President in 2013, he announced his commitment to reduce military conscription in Cyprus to 14 months during the first hundred days of his term. During the early months of the Anastasiades administration there was important planning for the reduction of military conscription to 14 months in order to increase the incentive for 18 year olds to serve their conscription and to reduce the financial burden to the Cypriot state. Minister of Defence Fotis Fotiou announced that there would be a final decision on the reduction of military conscription towards late 2013. There was increasing pressure for ending military conscription due to the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis.
In early August 2013, Minister of Defence Fotis Fotiou announced the reduction of military service, which was in the electoral manifesto of Anastasiades. He supported that national service will be reduced to 18 months in the first phase and decrease further to 14 months before the end of 2014. On 25 February 2016, it was decided by the cabinet to reduce the military service to 18 months for all conscripts who joined in the summer of 2015, and to reduce the service to 14 months for all those who joined thereafter.

Cyprus dispute

Anastasiades supported the Annan Plan for Cyprus, even though a majority of his party voted it down. Some of his intra-party opposition even called for Anastasiades to step down. Many party cadres were up in arms over Anastasiades' letter to the European Parliament alleging that the government trampled on free speech and human rights during the referendum's "Yes" campaign. The government cited the National Television Council's data that showed that the six parties supporting the "No" vote got as much air time as the two that supported the UN plan. The start of peace negotiations between Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart began in October 2013, attracting the interest of international media and world leaders including Barack Obama.

Golden visas and links to Money-Laundering

On 3 November 2019, newspapers reported that under Nicos Anastasiades' government, the Malaysian conman and fugitive, Jho Low, had been granted Cypriot citizenship. It was reported that Jho Low obtained the passport under the just two days after investing in some property in Cyprus. At the time, there was no warrant against Jho Low for the 1MDB scandal, however he was already under investigation and investigators were closing in on him for his alleged money-laundering activities. He was granted a passport despite the fact that a background check on him raised several red flags because of his status as a politically exposed person as well as his alleged fraud and regulatory breaches. It was also revealed that while the golden passport scheme normally requires applicants to live in the country for at least seven years, as well as buy property, the decision to override this requirement was taken by the country’s cabinet. The revelation concerning Jho Low's Cypriot citizenship came after the Cypriot citizenship investment scheme came under scrutiny, after it was revealed that the Cyprus government, under the presidency of Nicos Anastasiades, had granted citizenship to Cambodian elites. As Reuters reported, eight relatives or associates of Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen, had been granted Cypriot passports.
On 21 October 2019, investigative journalists reported that under Nicos Anastasiades' government, an account at the Bank of Cyprus was involved in several suspicious transactions to Hugo Chávez' daughter, María Gabriela Chávez.
In August 2019, an OCCRP report linked President Anastasiades' Law firm, which he co-owned and from which he stepped away just as he was ascending to the presidency in 2013, with "business deals linked to a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the infamous Magnitsky scandal, and a network of companies used in various financial crimes." Both of President Anastasiades' daughters are still partners in the firm, and he still has a private office in the building. The report revealed that Anastasiades' Law firm "executed complex deals that moved Russian money to and from shell companies created by and associated with the firm", two of which appear to be deeply entwined with the .

Personal and family life

He married Andri Moustakoudi in 1971 and they have two daughters. He has a twin brother and a sister. Anastasiades' family has been twice linked with visa schemes. In 2001, his twin brother, Pambos Anastasiades, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in a work permit scandal, which was about forging "pink visas", i.e. work permits for foreign women employed in illegal brothels. In 2019, Anastasiades' family was linked to a "golden visa" programme. Anastasiades' family was accused of benefiting from Russian businessmen granted Cypriot citizenship by the cabinet.

Distinctions