Consistent in its positions, AKEL will vote against the budget, said AKEL Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou in his speech to Parliament on the revised 2021 budget, adding that the Government has adopted a revised budget which is essentially the same. voted against and while it should have pondered how to create the conditions for the greatest possible consensus, it simply dogmatically insisted on its policies.
He said the opposition was willing to cooperate, which has recently been demonstrated in practice, but noted that “the fact that the government is failing to convince them of these special conditions, which it is using to persuade the opposition to vote on the budget, the magnitude of its failure “.
“The desperate effort to embellish its socio-economic policy – with the generous support of major channels and publishers with whom it is involved (everyone realizes this in the case of the recent windowing of journalist Andreas Paraschos) – does not change the situation “Every day, which is reflected in various indicators, such as the EU Quality of Life Index, which ranks Cyprus at the bottom of the whole of Europe and not just the Union,” he said.
Mr. Stefanou added that “of course this can not be realized by the rulers who spend their lavish holidays in the Seychelles for free and plus expenses, at a time when thousands of our fellow citizens find it difficult to meet their basic needs.”
The political isolation of the Government, he said, “is a result of the enormous responsibility of the rulers to launch the entanglement and corruption. And how not to take off when the Government starred in the” golden “passport scandal by putting into practice the well-known” I ” Papa, I'm tata “for the benefit of millions of euros”.
After noting that AKEL never stays and is not limited to “no” and “rejection” but submits proposals and tries where there is a possibility to reach consensus, he said that for this very reason he went ahead and submitted specific proposals to the Government to find the their place in the budget.
In addition to proposals for the protection of borrowers, he said, they submitted proposals for the protection of workers' and labor rights, for the establishment of minimum rights for all employees not covered by agreed contracts, for the protection of collective labor agreements, for the suppression of of false self-employment and a number of other issues.
They also submitted proposals for the critical sector of Health, the support of public hospitals, for the shielding of GESS, proposals for the economy serving the need to change the development model based on sustainable investment, quality jobs, green economy , in the balance between key productive sectors and not in bubbles and temporary profit.
“We did not have any illusions that the government would adopt all the proposals. But in all the substantive proposals which are the cornerstone of social and economic policies, the government did not take any steps to meet us,” he said.
Mr. Stefanou said that AKEL, however, is not going to move from its timeless positions, “it is not going to give any cover to the continuation of policies that transfer wealth into the hands of a few, it is not going to give any cover to the sale of public wealth, AKEL is not going to to provide no cover for the maintenance and feedback of entanglement and corruption “.
He stated that AKEL will never tire of voting for the borrowers, the employees, the small and medium-sized, vulnerable groups and every person, professional and group that needs the help and support of the state.
He added that AKEL is submitting a bill on the sale that concerns the issue of the sale with the aim of effectively restoring the right of borrowers to go to court and to secure housing even when the sale proceeds. In the next few days, he said, AKEL is proceeding with the submission of additional proposals for a law to improve and strengthen the network of protection of borrowers from the arbitrariness of banks, he said.
“I note that these proposals are not new. They were tabled in 2014 in the discussion of the legislative framework for sales and several of them were adopted by the parliamentary majority. Unfortunately, the President did not accept them and sent them to the Supreme Court, as he usually does. with laws that protect the rights of citizens.
AKEL resubmitted these proposals in 2018 when the Government brought the express sales. The government and, unfortunately, the majority of the parliament did not accept them “.
He added that the above proposals were included by AKEL in those that it submitted to the Government in view of the discussion of the revised budget and even now it did not accept them.
“We are confident that once again the Government and the ruling party will mobilize the market, the EU and the European Banking Authority so that the debate on setting up a protection network for borrowers does not proceed. Not for system abusers and defaulters, nor “for the eagles, not for the millionaires, but for all those afflicted who have been exposed to the crisis and their income situation has seriously deteriorated. For the main residence and the professional housing” he concluded.
