Erratic House committee meeting deals with hospitals, banks and fuel prices
Members of the House ethics committee on Wednesday called on the competition commission to be harsher on companies and more vigilant in its efforts to ensure healthy competition in Cyprus’ business scene.
The comments were made as competition commission chairwoman Eva Pantzari appeared in front of the committee, with MPs engaging in a rapid fire and oftentimes chaotic, erratic line of questioning.
Committee chairman and Disy MP Demetris Demetriou set the ball rolling, saying the commission must be “vigilant” in four sectors of the economy: asphalt plants, hospitals, banks and fuel.
He pointed out that Cyprus’ two remaining asphalt plants have “increased their prices significantly”, while in the health sector, there has been an “accumulation of a large number of hospitals under one owner”.
He also called President Nikos Christodoulides’ decision to invite chief executives of Cyprus’ two leading banks, the Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank, to the presidential palace to discuss bank charges and interest rates last month as “provocative”.
Akel MP George Loucaides went further, saying that at present, “the commission functions as a committee for the protection of oligopolies”.
Fellow Akel MP Andreas Pasiourtides then called on the commission to investigate banks for their advertising of insurance services on their website, something he said is a violation of the law on insurance companies.
Diko MP Zacharias Koulias then said the commission’s “record so far has been in favour of monopolies”, while Alexandra Attalides, who belongs to Volt, asked whether commission members are “concerned about hospital mergers”.
She also asked for the commission’s position on Christodoulides’ meeting with the banks’ chief executives last month.
Independent MP Andreas Themistocleous, formerly of Elam, said the president of the day “has the right to invite whoever he wants, whenever he wants, as many times as he wants, for whatever reason he wants, to the presidential palace”.
Pantzari then responded to the MPs’ points, saying her commission had imposed a €5 million fine on the Vasiliko cement works, which was paid in 2023, and that at present, it has launched four ex-officio investigations.
On the matter of Athens-based Eurobank’s acquisition of Hellenic Bank, she said her commission “studied the agreement”, and found that it “strengthened competition against the Bank of Cyprus”.
Commission member Aristos Aristidou said the Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank currently account for around 80 per cent of Cyprus’ banking sector’s turnover, with Demetriou then saying it was “problematic” that only the chief executives of those two banks were invited to the presidential palace.
Pantzari then moved onto the matter of hospitals, saying that the company which has been buying private hospitals in Nicosia now only accounts for 18 per cent of hospital beds in the capital, and that 60 per cent of hospitals in the country belong to the state health services organisation (Okypy).
Themistocleous said that “if the free market is left alone, we will reach savagery”, before calling on the commission to examine the “fierce competition” for the acquisition of “more and more” private schools.
Diko MP Pavlos Mylonas brought the conversation back to the matter of banks, saying that “the two banks have agreed amongst themselves as a cartel” on the matter of bank charges, before asking, “did this not concern the commission?”
Pasiourtides asked for the range of bank charges to be examined, with Aristidou telling him that a complaint was filed on the matter two and a half years ago and is under examination.
Pantzari then began speaking about fuel, saying the commission “pressured its officers to start an investigation into fuel”.
Somehow, this led to a confrontation between her and Loucaides on the matter of hospitals, with Loucaides saying a buyer can “impose their own conditions” and that the commission “should have examined this risk”.
Pantzari insisted that there was “no risk”, before petrol station owners’ association representative Christodoulos Christodoulou said a complaint on the matter of fuel had been filed to the commission in April 2023.
He added that the commission requested “additional data” on the matter from petrol station owners and then refused to investigate it.
“Why did the commission refuse? This is unacceptable,” he said.
Consumers’ association chairman Marios Drousiotis then said there are “strong indications that there is no competition in fuel”, calling himself for an “in-depth investigation” into fuel companies.
A finance ministry spokesperson spoke on the issue of the banks, saying “the issue of interest rates concerns the central bank and the finance ministry”, and added that the competition commission cannot set interest rates.
Attalides asked why banks are offering zero deposit rates and high interest rates, adding, “there is no competition, it is obvious”.
Disy MP Nikos Georgiou asked whether the fines issued by the commission have been collected, before Loucaides told Pantzari, “you are not doing your job well”, and added that “we will continue to exert pressure so that you do it properly”.
Pasiourtides asked the commission members whether they feel Cyprus’ banking system is “as it should be”.
“Deep down, you know that it is not functioning as it should,” he added.
Demetriou then spoke once again, saying the commission “should be the bogeyman of businesses which abuse consumer trust”.
“You must prove your work with your actions, with ex officio investigations,” he added.
Click here to change your cookie preferences