Cypriot parliament passes crucial privatizations legislation

Cyprus' parliament passed crucial legislation on privatizing publicly owned port assets on Thursday, in line with conditions set down by international lenders.

The 56-seat parliament voted 31 to 19, with one abstention, (5 lawmakers were absent) to approve a law providing for privatizing the commercial operations of the Limassol port.

Left wing AKEL party strongly opposed the law, claiming that the right-wing government aims at selling off all state-owned corporations.

But center-right and socialist deputies carried the vote pointing out to the success of the Piraeus port in Greece which is partly operated by the Chinese COSCO Group.

Under the legislation approved by the Cypriot parliament, the government will retain the ownership of the Limassol port infrastructure and its security but will cede its commercial operation to private business.

The privatization of state-owned corporations, which also include electricity and telecommunication, is a strong demand by Cyprus's international lenders, the Eurogroup and the International Monetary Fund, which pulled the eastern Mediterranean island back from the brink of bankruptcy.

They offered it a 10-billion-euro (11.3 billion U.S. dollars) financial aid package on condition of streamlining the operations of the government and reforming its economy, including selling off several state-run corporations.

The government is expected to face stronger opposition when time comes for the privatization of the Cyprus Telecommunication's Authority, the largest provider of fixed and mobile telephony and internet services.

In line with the provisions of its bailout memorandum, Cyprus has to privatize telecommunications by 2018. Endit