IF HE WAS not such a union-pandering communist, we could have felt a bit of sympathy for Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou, after he was hung out to dry by Prezniktwo, in order to appease the howling Apoel mob that wanted to drink his blood.

Even in his Prez-assigned role as government fall-guy Panayiotou was still the proud Lefty, who went out of his way to satisfy all union demands while vilifying the nasty capitalists for their greed. He never said anything about the greediest doctors in the world threatening to close down hospitals to extort even more money from the taxpayer.

Last week he publicly shamed cement producers for increasing the sale price by 5 per cent, a move he described as “unprecedented, unjustified and profit motivated.” And this is a guy who did not study economics at some Marxist ideological university in Eastern Europe, because by the time he studied for a degree communism had collapsed.

So where did he learn the economic theory that a business’ pricing policy must not be profit-motivated? Manufacturers in the Soviet Union did not pursue profit, the state fixed prices and the result was universal poverty.

WHAT IRONY that Prezniktwo did not publicly reprimand his minister for his idiotic anti-business comments but instead had a go at him for doing something right. Panayiotou’s sin was that last Tuesday he revealed on Rik’s, Dromologio radio show that the football club scheduled to appear in court the following day for non-payment of social insurance dues was Apoel.

He said that the club was going to court for debts of €2.3m for the period 2020-22. It was no big deal, considering there would have been a court hearing the next day and this would have been made public anyway. But Apoel fans took such offence that they posted the following message, soon after, directed at the Prez.

“Mr President of the Republic…. we the supporters of Apoel, guarantee you that this is your first and YOUR LAST TERM(sic).” This caused the people-pleaser prez to panic and in an embarrassing show of spinelessness sided with the Apoel rabble against his minister, to limit the threat to a second term.

 At an event in Larnaca on Tuesday evening, answering journalists’ question on public issues, he demanded that they asked him about Apoel, to which he responded: “The minister’s reference was a mistake.”

THE PUBLIC censure led Panayiotou to pathetically state on TV the next day that he had made a mistake in naming Apoel. The prez’s distancing from his minister allowed Apoel to focus its attention on Panayiotou, who was accused of ‘delusions’, ‘confusion,’ ‘scapegoating’ and ‘an inability to comprehend the situation.’ It also denigrated his ‘miniscule contribution’ to the country, in comparison to Apoel’s ‘massive contribution’.

The Apoel board also had the nerve to take moral high ground, saying it was “unheard of for a minister to publicly to refer to court cases that have not even begun.” It was a bit rich for a football club that has built up debts of €11m in taxes and social insurance contributions to the state to give moral lessons on correct behaviour.

Even funnier, was the assertion in court by the club’s defence lawyer that state official ought to refrain from making public statements during ongoing legal proceedings – the presumption of innocence was legally sacrosanct, he said. And there is a real possibility Apoel does not owe the social insurance fund any money and will be acquitted.

THE GOOD news for the indebted, law-breaking football clubs was that the threat of ‘no second term’ really shook the Prez, who appears to have abandoned his tough stance of 10 days ago when he reportedly told the tax commissioner to enforce the tax law to the letter.

With the second term in jeopardy the government has began back-pedalling, while the club bosses are demanding another meeting with finance minister Makis Keravnos to negotiate a new arrangement. They cannot pay the €4.1m they had to pay by the end of the year, for the taxpayer bailout for the €31.4m debts to be put into force.

Keravnos indicated on Wednesday that he was willing to ignore the clubs’ failure to meet the payment deadline, if there was a change of attitude, “even if late in the day.” Meanwhile, Apoel claimed it was taking all actions necessary to resolve the situation and pay what it owed the state. With a payment trustworthiness rating of zero this might be slightly difficult to believe.

THE GOVERNMENT was collectively in seventh heaven on Wednesday, some members experiencing multiple orgasms, after officially being authorised to buy military hardware directly from the US government. It invited hacks to the palace to inform them of the news before it was officially announced so they could give the story the prominence it merited.

The Republic “is being recognised both internationally and regionally as a pillar of security and stability,” and “it has established itself as reliable, beneficial and strategic partner,” for the US, said a gloating Mini Me.

Will the pillar of security and stability (PSS) now become a mini regional power as well with all the American arms it can buy? Probably not, as we do not have the kind of money needed, but as an ecstatic Mini Me said, the PSS’ joining of three arms programmes run by the US defence department will “undoubtedly contribute to the strengthening of the country’s defence armoury.”

He also reassured us that the change of US president will change nothing. The PSS, he reminded, “is one of the few countries whose president had a telephone conversation with the US president-elect, before he even took office,” and “we already had avenues of communication with the new administration.”

PREZNIKONE was deeply hurt by the fact that his successor took all the credit for the strengthening of our relations with the US of A, and got his errand boy, the deputy leader of Disy Efthymios Diplaros, to issue a statement about the failure to give him any credit.

Diplaros agreed with Mini Me’s comment, that “the first step for the strategic dialogue between the two countries was achieved during the Trump presidency, when the foreign minister of Cyprus was Nikos Christodoulides,” but added that certain questions were raised.

“Was there no president of the republic at the time? Was there no comprehensive government direction? Was it a personal affair of Mr Christodoulides? Mentions and/or actions that transmit disregard and disrespect do not serve the high level of political culture we require.”

Disregard and disrespect are the least Nik I deserves, given the slavish way he cozied up to Vladimir Putin during his presidency. Nik II also showed deference to Sergei Lavrov, as foreign minister, but now he is the man of the Yanks and nobody could dispute it.

THE AUDITOR-GENERAL Andreas Papaconstantinou gave an example of the untouchability of public parasites, at a House committee meeting discussing the Audit Office report about the state health service, Okypy. He said:

“Two nurses of a public hospital, were covering for each other, hardly ever went to the hospital to work but carried on being paid. When this came to the attention of Okypy, the only thing that happened was to deprive them to two pay increments. These nurses were cheating the organisation, pretending they were working, but had other jobs and this was the only punishment imposed on them.”

You just can’t sack public parasites because job security is a worker’s conquest that is sacrosanct.

PAPACONSTANTINOU also spoke about another case which illustrated the how the greediest doctors in the world will take every last cent they can from the taxpayer.

After an agreement between Okypy and a private university, hospital doctors gave lessons to medical students. The doctors who gave the training were paid extra, even though the training sessions took place during working hours, when the doctors were already being paid by Okypy.