Cyprus, the EU and Brexit

As my family and friends know, I am not a night-owl. Far from it. I like to be in bed by around 10pm (earlier if possible) and asleep soon afterwards.

I am also not a fan of big crowds, or loud noises, or cheering, or fireworks. I keep away from most of the major festivals and other celebrations in Cyprus which are exuberant, full of colour and cheering.

But twelve years ago, I went with my family to the sea-front at midnight. There were more crowds than I had ever seen before; there was scarcely room to move. People were excited, and in Cyprus that means LOUD.

There was patriotic music too.

Our older son was playing in the municipal band at the time (though we couldn't get a photo that included him), so he had to be there.

But I didn't. I was tired, but this was one celebration that I could not miss. It was the entry of Cyprus into the European Union.

At midnight, the fireworks started:

We went home elated. Not just because life would become so much easier for us: now we had the right of abode in Cyprus, whereas previously we had to spend many hours applying for visas, supplying different paperwork every year. Not just because it meant the start of better relations with other European countries; not just because it would help Cyprus economically, and improve the standard of living (or so everyone had been told...).

No, there was a sense of rightness about it. At last we could feel that Cyprus was truly 'home', part of what we - in our forties at the time - saw as our cultural and ethnic heritage.

A little history for those who read this from across the Pond:

The UK went into the European Economic Community in 1973. I was a young teenager then. I didn't understand most of the implications. I was aware that there might be some new - possibly over-the-top - regulations, but I very much liked the metric/decimal system (adopted in 1971, prior to this). It's great deal easier to use than the old style imperial one with its variety of complex units.

The 1975 referendum saw a two-thirds majority of people in the UK wanting to stay within Europe, and thus when the EU was formed, the UK became part of it. Brits did not want to take up the common currency, which was an important part of the EU formation, so they insisted on an opt-out clause. That's why the UK still uses pounds sterling (I fail to understand why it matters, but that's another issue entirely).

The Single European Act of 1987 created "an area without frontiers in which the free movement of goods and persons, services and capital is ensured." 

I'm only just old enough to recall anything about life before the EEC. But for our children - indeed, for anyone under the age of about 40 - European membership is all they've ever known. They have European passports. They have had the freedom of travelling and working anywhere in Europe, without the need for visas. We have been able to choose to live anywhere in Europe; we can transport and buy goods from other European countries without paying extra taxes.

Then on Thursday last week, the UK voted - by a narrow margin - to leave the EU.

The exit (dubbed 'Brexit') hasn't happened yet, and is likely to take many months, perhaps two years or more, to take effect. But still, it left us in a state of shock.

We had been following the campaign, at least on the news websites and social media, and it appeared that there would be a majority (albeit small) voting to remain, at least for now.

But the polls were wrong. The results became clear first thing Friday morning: almost 52% of those who voted wanted to leave the EU.

On Friday and Saturday we tried to understand what had persuaded so many people to vote that way.

Unfortunately, as is the way with the media (both the normal and social forms) extremists came to the fore. We saw articles about hate crimes from a tiny minority in the UK who are xenophobic, who somehow thought that leaving the EU would mean that all immigrants could be sent away. An interview clip went viral, showing a man insisting that he had no problem with Europeans in the UK, but had voted 'leave' so that all the Middle Easterners and non-whites would have to leave.

Assuming it was not satire, he had missed the point entirely. I hope someone explained to him that it's only Europeans who will find it harder to come to the UK as they'll no longer have right of abode. It won't make any difference to the refugee intake; indeed, it may lead to MORE refugees from the Middle East and other parts of Asia, as the EU border controls will no longer be relevant to the UK.

There was also an outbreak of 'ageism', which was unpleasant; charts showed that younger people mostly voted to remain in the UK, older people (including my generation) were more likely to vote to leave. Statuses and articles were being shared in the initial anger and deep hurt that so many, particularly those in their teens and twenties, were (and are still) feeling.  No longer will they have the freedom of travel, study and work that we have enjoyed for the past thirty or so years.

Europeans - particularly Eastern Europeans from former Soviet countries - in the UK often take low-paid jobs that Brits don't want. It's true in Cyprus, too.  Some euro-sceptics twelve years ago insisted that crime would rise when Cyprus joined the EU, and there was, for a while, a slight increase in burglaries. But violent crime in Cyprus has remained at the lowest percentage in Europe.  There's xenophobia here, but it's nowhere near as damaging as it was even twenty years ago.  We Brits and other Europeans have had to be treated the same as Cypriots legally speaking. It hasn't always happened in practice, but we've had the law on our side.

This will no longer be the case.

On Saturday evening, after spending far too much time on social media, feeling confused and upset by the result, and even more by the angst and negative feelings that were arising, I wrote this on Facebook:

"I honestly thought I would accept whatever the result was; indeed, though I was shocked and a bit numb at first, that's what I said when I heard the news first thing yesterday morning. But then, through the morning, the numbness gave way to an immensely deep sadness, which I compared to a bereavement. And no, that's not hyperbole. It honestly felt that way. 

When we lived in the US in the early 1990s, we realised how very European we were. We love being part of this big continent, both geographically and politically. We were thrilled when Cyprus joined the EU 12 years ago, as it made life so much easier for us as ex-pats, and there were a lot of benefits to this little island too. Around 10% of the population are ex-pats, many of them Brits. 

So the EU, despite its faults and bureaucracy, has felt like an extra guardian for decades. Now we're going to have to give it up, and it is deeply distressing. Not just to me: I've seen dozens of other people express exactly the same thing. There's a sense of grieving; those who wanted to leave may find it difficult to comprehend, but we're in a period of mourning. 

Normal expressions of grief, according to experts, involve feeling distant from others, feeling as if nobody understands, shock, numbness and anger. I've seen a lot of these things floating about and inevitably those who are not mourning are feeling attacked. I don't think it's intended."

I took a break yesterday. I didn't read any news articles, although inevitably we discussed the issue, yet again, at home. We hope the implications for us won't be too bad; Cyprus has issued a statement that Brits living here are still welcome, and if we have to start applying for visas again every year, it's an annoying inconvenience, but in the scheme of global tragedy and suffering, not much of an issue.

But what still concerns me is the huge divide amongst thinking, intelligent adults around the UK. If we exclude the extremists and those who voted in ignorance of what the EU is, people have taken the same facts, presumably seen TV news and read media articles, removed the inevitable bias one way or another, attempted to ignore the spin... and yet have been about evenly divided with two such different conclusions.

Nobody knows what the future holds now. Legally speaking the Referendum doesn't mean an inevitable exit. The government has to ratify it (as they have had to do with all EU regulations) and will have to make an official request to the EU for the exit, if they decide to go ahead. Many are calling for a further Referendum, since the margin was so narrow in the recent one; EU law itself suggests that, for such a big change, there should be a rather bigger majority wanting to leave than just under 52% of those who voted.

There are extra legal complications in that although the UK is a country, it is made up of three separate countries and a province (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Is it the UK that is part of the EU, or the individual countries? The Scots, in the recent Referendum, voted overall to remain in the EU. So did the Northern Irish. Does this potentially mean the end of the UK, or can Scotland force the Referendum results to be overturned?

The British Prime Minister has resigned, and there does not appear to be any clear plan for the way forward. At present, the UK is still part of the EU, although the pound sterling has dropped from 1.3 euros last Wednesday to 1.2 euros today. Share values have dropped, too. Perhaps this will change - perhaps not.

My impression is that the majority of 'Leave' voters have a stronger feeling for the UK than they do for the EU, while the 'Remain' voters are the other way around. Patriotism is a strange thing, something I have never really understood until the past few days, when I realise that yes, I did - and do - have a very strong allegiance to Europe as a whole. I visit the UK because family and friends are there, but if they all moved to Cyprus, I would have no reason ever to go to my country of birth.

I understand the dislike of 'big' government. I'm all for smaller city councils, with people who care about their local schools and hospitals and so on, rather than all decisions coming from bureaucrats who have never been to the places concerned. But those still exist. As do the individual country governments and parliaments.

So what puzzles me most of all is the claim that the EU makes 'most' of the UK laws. The EU does not make any UK laws. I checked an independent fact site and it said that EU regulations do affect about 13% of UK laws, and in addition there are a significant number of trade and travel details related to EU requirements.

There are, of course, some regulations which countries have to follow in order to trade within the EU (such as extensive labelling of food products, and various health/hygiene standards) but if the UK wants to continue to trade with European countries, they'll have to continue following those rules. And when I look at specifics of EU regulations, either they don't actually affect the UK directly (such as fishing rights in Scandinavian countries, or the processing of olives...) or they're helpful in maintaining standards of living, equality for minorities, treatment of animals, importing of products from elsewhere, and so on.

Since Cyprus entered the EU, quite apart from making it easier for other Europeans to live here, we've seen increased quality of restaurants and other food preparation places, the first few years of the major task of putting sewers everywhere in the island, full European style labelling of all food products (essential for those with allergies and intolerances), a much wider range of goods available from other European countries, laws requiring motor bike helmets, requirements of MOTs for cars, ramps and other facilities for the disabled, and introduction of no-smoking policies in many public places.

That's just off the top of my head.

And while smokers might disagree, I cannot think of anything negative about any of those laws.

Perhaps the Cyprus government might have passed some of these laws without being in Europe, but somehow I doubt it. They still had to ratify them although some were a requirement of receiving EU funding, some are necessary for trading. People still get around them if they can, as they do with any law, European or otherwise. But as far as I can tell, with my admittedly limited perspective, being in the EU has been overwhelmingly positive for Cyprus.

So I'm now wondering: what specific laws in the UK, originated in Europe, do people object to....?

Cyprus banking crisis: an update (of sorts)

It's almost a week since we woke up to the news that the Cyprus government was planning to take a 'levy' on all deposits in banks, up to almost 10% for those with more than €100,000.  

It was a topic of discussion wherever we went; some people shrugged and said that those with large amounts of money could afford to give some to the government. Some felt that foreign investors, who benefit from low tax rates, should certainly contribute. But it all seemed very unfair on the ordinary Cypriots and ex-pats, with much smaller amounts in our accounts, having to fund the almost collapsing banks from our own pockets. It's not as if we make any interest these days - nothing at all on current accounts in Cyprus. 

Moreover, one of the main reasons that Cyprus is in such financial trouble is that it helped to bail out Greece - and the Greek people did not have to forfeit any kind of levy.  

By the time the vote was taken in parliament on Tuesday, the plan had been adjusted slightly, so that those of us with less than €20,000 in our accounts would be exempt from a levy.  However, there were protests going on around the island, and clearly the government were listening to the people... so the proposed levy was rejected.  Not even by a close vote: 19 people abstained, 26 voted against. Nobody was in favour. 

Cue lots of rejoicing....

... Except that this potentially pushes Cyprus into a much bigger problem.  The banks were supposed to open again on Wednesday, but three further days of bank holiday were declared. E-banking is frozen, to stop people moving their money abroad, or to different accounts. We can't even pay utility bills online at the moment. 

By Wednesday, Richard was getting concerned. I don't keep much cash in the house - I take some out at the start of each month to cover petrol and local grocery shopping, but we were over half-way through March, and I had about €60 left. He was worried that the banks might close indefinitely, and I did realise that we might have to pay our phone bill at the end of the month in cash.  We were safe from a levy - or so it seemed - but if, as now is possible, the banking system collapses entirely, would we lose everything?

So we went to the ATM at our bank, half-expecting a lengthy queue. There was one person who left as we walked up to it, and it dispensed money as normal. I really don't like carrying more than the minimum cash around, but it's certainly preferable to having none at all. 

Then we drove to Metro, and bought some things with long shelf-life - such as cat litter, and toilet rolls, and instant coffee.  We used our debit card to pay, and it was accepted without problem.

Was the press over-reacting, we wondered? Were the Cypriots and ex-pats in general assuming everything would be all right in the end? Was this a rational decision, or head-in-the-sand?  The banks were closed to stop huge withdrawals of money which could lead to disaster, but it seemed a bit strange that the population were not queuing up to take at least a few hundred euros of their money out, to have safe.  Should the banks collapse, or indeed if Cyprus decides to leave the eurozone, all money might indeed be forfeit, despite the official EU guarantee of safety for all deposits up to €100,000. 

Yesterday - Thursday - Richard was at some meetings in Limassol. He said that in the afternoon he noticed long queues at ATMs, particularly those of Laiki Bank, the one reputed to be nearest to collapsing. We heard from friends that they were unable to take money from an ATM, and that while their debit card was accepted in two shops, it was refused at a third. We read stories of petrol stations only accepting cash.  It seemed that there was, after all, some widespread panic.  

Meanwhile the government tried to come up with further plans to raise the five billion euros needed if the country is to receive EU support for a further ten billion. The amounts seem  phenomenal, although it did occur to me that with 750 million people in Europe altogether, just €10 per person would raise 7.5 billion.  And would be a lot fairer than heavy levies on the people of this tiny island (whose population is less than one million). 

This morning we drove down to the Post Office so I could mail some cards, and also check for an expected large parcel (which had, indeed, arrived).  As I came out, I saw that there was a small queue at the Laiki Bank ATM.  I've fuzzed out the faces, but this is a general idea of what we saw... and those prominent 'stop' signs look quite dramatic! 

Evidently people were getting cash. If Cyprus switches to the Cyprus Pound, it will probably be devalued against the euro, meaning that hard currency euros are worth more, relatively speaking. Not that I'm a banker or any kind of economist.

What will happen?  I wouldn't want to hazard a guess.  One BBC correspondent has explained some of the difficult choices that must be made.  I don't think anyone wants Cyprus to leave the eurozone, or for the banking system to collapse entirely.  I remain cautiously optimistic that some solution will be found - that, at tonight's meeting, a compromise of some sort will be found. I'm a great believer in negotiation and finding mutually acceptable solutions to problems. In this case it's impossible to please everyone; money is such a divisive subject. 

In the meantime, I'm keeping half an eye on the live update feeds from both The Telegraph and The Guardian (two UK newspapers).  The final decision should be made at a meeting this evening.....

Maybe. 

Family newsletter 2008

According to the BBC news site, round robin letters are annoying. Personally, I enjoy getting them and I hope our friends and relatives don't find them too irritating, since we continue to send one out each year by post and/or email. Here, for the record, is this year's missive with a few minor omissions such as addresses, and a few link additions:

Dear Family and Friends,

The latest installment in the lives of our family, beginning with the boys:

... the rest of this newsletter can now be found on our family website. See 2008 Christmas newsletter

Exchanging Cyprus pounds to euros in Larnaka

Quick answer: you can do this at the Bank of Cyprus opposite the main post office, at least until the end of 2008.

Long and rambling answer:

Euros have been the currency in Cyprus since 1st January 2008.

Prior to that, the currency was Cyprus pounds.

There were detailed instructions about the changeover, and free currency calculators distributed by banks and supermarkets.

It all seems to have gone fairly smoothly, although prices have undoubtedly increased. Moreover, the euro has become strong while both sterling and US dollars have grown weaker, thus those of us whose income is from the UK and/or USA have seen it reduced somewhat.

Still, going into the euro was a positive move for Cyprus overall, and we're just about getting used to it. We used up our Cyprus pounds in January, then as we discovered odd notes and coins around the house, we were able to exchange them at the local bank. We did keep a few small coins for posterity (I wonder if posterity will be interested in them?) but the rest have gone.

Then, in the summer, we had a meal with some friends who still had some Cyprus pounds left from their visit to us a year before. It was a little over £50 (CYP). They gave it to us, since it was no longer any use to them.

A couple of weeks after we returned in August, I was in our bank for something else, and asked if they would exchange Cyprus pounds.

No, alas, the man on the till told me. Only until the end of June. However, I could do it in the big bank in Nicosia, or the bank by the main post office.

His English wasn't too clear, and I was in a hurry, so I didn't write it down or push for details. Surely, I thought, I could find out online.

Could I?

No. I found several sites telling me that I could exchange my Cyprus pounds at the central bank of Cyprus in Nicosia. But nowhere could I find reference to exchanging them in Larnaka.

However, today I had to go to the main post office to collect a parcel. So I picked up the Cyprus pounds which were sitting in my desk, just in case.

I noticed several large banks on the corner opposite the post office. But I decided to go into the Bank of Cyprus first, since that's the bank we use (albeit not our branch) and I didn't know if an account was needed.

It was much bigger than I had expected. And there didn't seem to be anywhere obvious to queue. So I hung about until a cashier was available, and then went to ask him if it was possible to exchange Cyprus pounds.

'Yes, of course!' he said, and pulled open a drawer full of Cyprus pounds. 'What do you want?' he continued. 'Dollars are good! But maybe you want euros?'

I agreed that I wanted euros. So he calculated the exchange on the computer: it came to €95.68.

Then - since this IS Cyprus - he gave me €95.70.

Cyprus has switched to the euro

So, after three days (more-or-less) of public holiday this week, shops got back to normal yesterday. We had managed to run down our supply of Cyprus pounds cash, other than about £5 in cash, which Tim decided to take charge of. On Wednesday he bought a roll at Zorpas (a bakery, which is open almost every day of the year) and said that their tills now work only in euros. They had a large pot of Cyprus money and told him an approximate amount, then just threw the cash in.

That's one way of dealing with it!

This morning we made our usual weekly trip to Metro supermarket to buy groceries. We wondered what changes would have been made... would they have switched around all the price tags on the shelves? Would there be a whole new set of special offers on the windows, all in euros...?

No.

It looked exactly as it did a week ago. The Cyprus pound labels were still bigger than the euro labels, and the notices on the doors advertising special offers were still in Cyprus pounds.

Labelling at the meat and fruit/veg places (where produce is weighed and priced) gave the price in euros, but bizarrely prefixed by a £ (pound) symbol. And the date stamp was way off - as it had been a few weeks previously - telling us that the food was packaged in the year 2049.

At the till, one of the girls was putting Cyprus pounds in a bag, and shouting at one of the other girls - complaining, I think, about having to deal with two currencies. All in Greek so I could only catch a few words, but she didn't seem very happy about it. Probably because even though people can pay in Cyprus pounds, they are now obliged to give change in euros.

I always pay with my debit card so that was simple enough - I just handed it over, signed for the amount in euros, and all was OK. Somehow I had expected the change to be more obvious.

Tonight, as there was no youth group and no house group, we decided to treat ourselves to our favourite take-away, Souvlaki Express. Richard and Tim went out to buy it. They were told how much to pay in euros, and handed over some euro cash... then received a till receipt in Cyprus pounds.

There are supposed to be inspectors ensuring that all shops are dealing with euros and the conversion correctly. I think that will be a more than full-time job (and probably a losing battle) for the next month.

We're quite used to using different currencies when we travel - Richard visits Middle Eastern countries, and we've lived in the UK and USA, and travelled around mainland Europe before they switched to the euro. In 2006 we visited Singapore, and last year were in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

And yet, it feels rather strange to be using a different currency, which we aren't yet familiar with. Or, at least, we don't have a 'feel' for how much euros will buy. I think it's because we usually have to travel to change currency. It's not often that one changes within one's own country.

Tim pointed out that Richard and I both lived through the change from pounds, shillings and pence in the UK to the decimal system of pounds and pence in 1971, but somehow that wasn't so disturbing. Partly because we were children, but partly because a pound was still a pound, even though the pence altered in value.

LOUD music in Larnaka!

We heard from some friends that Anna Vissi a fairly well-known singer (although we had never heard of her before) who was born in Cyprus, was due to give a concert at the Larnaka sea-front last night.

We weren't interested in going - it was cold, and I'm not keen on pop-concerts anyway, so we forgot all about it.

Until about 9pm, when we heard the sound of fireworks. We weren't entirely sure why - there were plenty on New Year's Eve at midnight. But they didn't last long, so we shrugged and assumed it was a party somewhere.

By around 9.30, we had become aware of music playing. With a beat. We thought at first that it was a neighbour listening to television, or perhaps playing the radio loudly. By 10.00 it was getting louder. And that was in our house with double-glazed windows. When we opened a door, it was really very loud. Much louder than any of our neighbours would play music.

Then we remembered the concert. It was evidently that. We could make out a female voice singing, and - at times - talking in between songs.

It continued to get louder. I did manage to get to sleep by about 10.30 but Tim couldn't sleep. The really scary thing is that we are at least 2km away from the place where the concert was staged. We have never before heard any sea-front concerts from our house, but this wasn't just a faint noise if we listened hard, it was quite intrusive.

I dread to think what it must have been like for those crowding down to hear it. They were probably unable to hear anything at all today.

Which probably doesn't matter, since today was apparently yet another public holiday. Monday was a day off in Cyprus, so that shops could organise their stock in preparation for the introduction of euros. Yesterday was a public holiday for New Year's Day. And today was another holiday, to mark the introduction of the euro to Cyprus. I gather it was a public holiday in Malta, too.

Happy New Year, from sunny (but chilly) Cyprus

We don't usually do anything for New Year's Eve - I don't think I've stayed up till midnight at New Year since the beginning of 2000. A new century and millennium, after all, is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Even if the new millennium did 'really' start a year later. But we were all hyped up for the number changeover, and I managed to keep awake, if only to be reassured that our electricity and water kept working without problem.

But, since then, not being a night owl, I tend to go to bed around 10.30 whatever day it is. Last night was no exception. Tim had invited some of his youth group friends over - they were going to play games in the guest flat. He had no idea who might come; several of them had said that they had nothing to do, but only two had actually responded. In the event, only one of them came - a friend we know quite well. So he and Tim sat downstairs and chatted awhile, then came upstairs and we had some Christmas cake and talked some more. Then I went to bed, and they all stayed up till past midnight.

There were fireworks at the sea-front at midnight, ensuring the old year goes out with a bang. Tim and his friend had considered going downtown to buy something at one of the fast-food places, just to see if they would be given change in euros past midnight - but decided that it was too cold, and they were too tired. So they didn't.

Today has been distinctly chilly, though mostly sunny. For the first time this season we put the central heating on at lunch-time, as we were all sitting there in sweatshirts and fleeces, and still feeling cold.

So, 2008. Euros are now the currency of Cyprus. Happy New Year to anyone who passes by...

Strange date labelling in Larnaka

On Wednesdays, I usually spend the morning in the kitchen. I bake bread, strip the chicken (or whatever we had for Sunday lunch) and put the meat in the freezer, and make stock out of the bones and any leftover veggies in the fridge. I also make lemonade, if we have some lemons [we did], and some soup (in the winter), and usually something else as well. Today, for instance, I made the first thirty mince pies of the season.

I also try and sort out the fridge a bit. Today I noticed that we had three bags of courgettes (aka zucchini in the USA). We don't eat that many, but evidently I had been buying a few each week and we hadn't been getting through them.

So I found a recipe for courgette and tomato soup. I decided to double it, as we usually have a colleague of Richard's to lunch on Wednesdays, and Tim likes to have leftover soup in the freezer to thaw for his Sunday evening supper. Also because we had so many courgettes and I wanted to use at least four of them!

In our supermarkets in Cyprus, fruit and veg are loose; we choose what we want and put them in bags, then take them to a counter to be weighed and priced before going to the checkout. So, trying to be intelligent and logical, I decided I'd check the labels on the three bags of courgettes, and use the oldest ones.

I looked at the first bag that came to hand. The label said 21/11/2007.


21st November - OK, I thought, that's probably the oldest bag. There were only two courgettes in it, and they looked fine. I would definitely use those.

I looked at another bag. It said 04/12/2007. 4th December was last Friday. So those must be the most recent. I put them back in the fridge.

I didn't need to check the label on the third bag - either it was even older than the first, or (most likely) it was the one I bought on 28th November. But I looked anyway, and this is what I saw:


Yes, the unit price has gone up, by 4c per kilo.

AND they're only showing the price in Cyprus pounds. That's probably OK, since the prices displayed above the fruit and veg displays show both Cyprus pounds and euros.

But do you see that date? Click the picture to see it enlarged, if this image is too small. It says: 06/24/2049

1) The date bears no relation to reality
2) There is no 24th month. Perhaps it switched to American formatting, and means 24th June. But courgettes certainly wouldn't last that long in the fridge.
3) As Tim pointed out, if these are priced for forty-two years in the future, then the price increase is really very reasonable.

I wonder if they were experimenting with their Cyprus pound/euro converters on the labels, and fed the date in rather than the price...

Cyprus distributing euro-calculators

We heard rumours it would happen...

On Saturday, we even saw one.

But we didn't quite believe it would happen to us.

Then today, amongst the Christmas cards, bills and junk mail in our PO Box, there was a medium-sized yellow envelope:


At first, I thought it was just more junk mail. But I opened it anyway. Inside, there were lengthy descriptions (in Greek) showing the pertinent parts of euro notes:


There were two cards showing 20 euros on one side, and 50 on the other. They were that strange kind of material where bits appear and disappear as you hold it in different ways towards the light.

I've no idea why there were two of these.

In fact, I'm not even sure why there was one of them. I have no idea what it's for. But this is what it looked like, as close as the scanner can get it:


Most exciting of all, was this blue box:


Yes! Finally we had one in our house. A special Cyprus pound/euro calculator:


There were some instructions to use it, too, just in case anyone couldn't figure it out. Basically, you select either euros (€) or Cyprus pounds (£), then key in an amount which appears in the lower window, while the conversion (in the other currency) appears in the top screen.

Clever, huh?

Well... kind of. I'm not actually sure why we need these, since we can always use regular calculators. You can't do anything useful (like add Cyprus pounds to euros), or what shopkeepers will need in January (such as calculating change in euros when paid in Cyprus pounds). And although I suppose it's quite fun to see instantly whether or not the dual labelling is correct, it seems a bit sad that they didn't produce these before all the shops went around working out the euro price and putting the stickers on.

I'm also not sure who paid for these gadgets, and ensuring that every household on the island receives one...

If you'd like to read all there is to know about Cyprus changing to the euro, and much that there isn't to know, I can do no better than to direct you to this excellent post about euros, on the Letter to Larnaka blog. I must say I hadn't thought about the scenario in clubs and pubs around the island, celebrating on New Year's Eve... suddenly, on the stroke of midnight, they will all have to start accepting euros as well as Cyprus pounds, and change will have to be given in euros.

It's almost worth staying up late and going out to see if it happens.

Banking is both simple and complicated in Cyprus...

As I have mentioned previously, Euros will become the currency for Cyprus on January 1st. That's four weeks from today.

In preparation for this, our bank statements have, rather confusingly, showed both Cyprus pounds and euros for some time now. At least six months.

At the end of July, our bank - the Bank of Cyprus - sent us, free of charge, two new euro cheque books. One was for our current account, and the other for a 'B' account which we used to use for Richard's work, until he managed (after many complications) to set up a proper business account. So the 'B' account was closed by the time the cheque book arrived. But possibly only a week or two earlier.

There were letters with these cheque books, telling us we needed to validate them. There was a form to fill in our passport numbers, bank account number, first cheque number in the book, and a signature. I have no idea why they needed this information, since they have it already - but it wasn't a big deal. It also seemed rather unnecessary in July since we can't use the cheque books until January. So I put them aside for a few months, along with the letters.

Last week, Richard was in the bank (drawing out a large sum of money so he could pay cash for our car tax) and the very efficient girl at the desk said that we would need euro cheque books. Well, she's usually efficient.... She told him that we needed one for his new work account, and one for our personal account. She assured him that we didn't have any yet, and we would need them by the beginning of January. So he ordered one of each, and they charged us £6 for each of them.

We only get through about half a cheque book in a year, so having two new ones seems a bit excessive, but I just shrugged when he told me. Too late to cancel the order, and it means we won't have to order another one for three or four years, probably. Perhaps the girl didn't know we already had a euro cheque book because I hadn't validated it.

So I got out the paperwork, filled in the information, and took it into the bank today. Along with the 'B' account cheque book which is useless, as the account is closed. As I stood in the queue, the usually-efficient girl glanced up and saw me. 'Ah, Mrs Susan!' she called (while serving another customer). 'I have a cheque book for you!' - and she held out to me a new euro-cheque book, past the customer she was dealing with. I didn't have to sign for it, or authorise it, or validate it at all.

That's the friendly, personal side of Cyprus banking.

When it was finally my turn (at a different checker), clutching one new euro-cheque book, I handed in the paperwork to validate the other one. Then I also passed over the euro-cheque book for the 'B' account, and said that it was no good because the account was closed. The guy behind the desk typed in the number on his computer, agreed that the account was closed, and shrugged. I asked what we could do with the cheque book, and he mimed tearing it up, then said they would throw it away.

Ah well. I could have done that. At least they didn't charge us for it.

Soon to be in the euro-zone... yes, this is Cyprus!

On January 1st 2008, Cyprus will switch currencies from the Cyprus pound to the euro. A good thing too; the cyprus pound isn't used anywhere else in the world, and has been artificially high for years. It's been fixed to the euro since July: 1 euro is approximately 0.58 Cyprus pound.

In preparation for this change, banks and shops have been required to show both euro and Cyprus pounds prices for several months now. The bigger shops have been showing both on till receipts as well as in the store, and probably won't find the change-over too hard. When people use debit or credit cards for paying, the process will be exactly the same. If they write cheques, they'll simply do so in their new euro-cheque books.

If they choose to pay cash, it will be a bit more complicated in January. Shops have to accept Cyprus pounds, but must give change in euros. If the tills are able to calculate the correct change, then there's no problem. But in the smaller shops, with single-currency tills (and, sometimes, assistants who struggle to do even simple arithmetic) the whole thing is going to be something of a nightmare.

In February, Cyprus pounds will cease to be legal currency (although I believe banks will continue to change them for a few months longer) and we'll just have euros.

Fine.

Today we learned of a bizarre rule, which doesn't even make sense. At least, not to this non-Cypriot.

As I mentioned, both Cyprus pounds and euro prices have to be shown on goods for sale at present. Like this scraper which Richard bought this morning:



See that? £1 CY or €1.71

One of the shop assistants explained to Richard that, at present, the Cyprus pounds sticker has to be higher up on the product than the euro sticker. As in the photo.

However, from January, the law says that the euro price must be above the Cyprus pound one.

Fair enough, for new products arriving in the store after the New Year. But this applies to everything, apparently.

So shop assistants will have to spend New Year's Day peeling off one set of stickers from every item in the shop, and putting on another set, so that the euro price will be higher up than the Cyprus pound price.

Then, at the end of January, they'll have to remove the Cyprus pounds stickers altogether.

What a remarkable waste of effort, for something that most people won't even be aware of. Until it was pointed out, it hadn't even occurred to me that Cyprus pounds prices always show above euro ones.

I wonder if this happens in every country that changes currency, or only in Cyprus...

New euro stamps for Cyprus

The currency in Cyprus will change from Cyprus pounds to euros on January 1st 2008.

Seems like a good move as we have so many European tourists here. Cyprus pounds have been over-valued for many years, and no other country uses them. Banks and supermarkets have been displaying both euros and Cyprus pounds for the past several months on all statements, bills, and so on; for them, the process should go relatively smoothly.

It's harder for small businesses that can't easily work in multiple currencies, as someone was explaining to us. In January, the change-over month, Cyprus pounds will still be valid, but all change has to be given in euros. Some shop workers have a hard time dealing even with change in one currency when it's shown on the cash register machine. ... they're going to find it very difficult with two, when the machine may not show the amount.

Postage stamps have also had to be issued with both currencies, although I assume that after January these will be phased out to allow for euros only. But December, of course, is probably the month when the most cards and letters are sent in the mail so they've had to produce some special dual-currency stamps just for these few months. Here's the standard 30c stamp, which apparently will be €0.51 in the new year. (I realised as I typed that last sentence that I have no idea what the abbreviation for euro-cent is. Will it still be c or is there a new symbol? Anyone know?)


There's one stamp that hasn't been reissued, however. This is a Cyprus speciality, something I haven't seen anywhere else in the world. Every letter, postcard and parcel has to have an additional 1c postage stamp, the proceeds of which go to the refugee fund. That's not refugees seeking asylum in Cyprus (of which there are an ever-increasing number) but Greek Cypriots who became refugees from the North of the country after the invasion in 1974.

I don't know what will happen to this stamp in January, but so far it still looks like this: