The counterattack of the Ministry of Finance and Labor to the announcement of the President of DIKO Nikolas Papadopoulos for the failures of the Government is in numbers.
Specifically, with their joint announcement, the two Ministries emphasize that DIKO, which for purposes of micropolitical expediency, by voting against the budgets, sought to leave unpaid our employees, companies, the unemployed, and our vulnerable fellow citizens, even in times of the worst economic crisis since 1974, accuses the Government of inadequacy and lack of a plan for the economy. While it is noted in the announcement that € 100 million have already been disbursed from € 200 million for the new one-time support to businesses, while the 11th employee support plan has already been announced, for which € 650 million have been spent so far.
The Government with its policies managed to support and continues to support for the 11th month the employees and the companies with extraordinary fiscal measures that to date exceed € 1.6 billion, they note. The two ministries point out that measures that have been proven to work after the reduction of national income in Cyprus in 2020 due to the pandemic, was reduced to 5.1%, much lower than the average in the rest of Europe and reduced unemployment below the European average. condition.
At the same time, he continues in the announcement, the Anastasiadis Government is the Government that has strengthened and is strengthening the welfare state more than any other in the past through a series of policies. Expenditures on health have more than doubled in the three years mentioned by DIKO, while a series of measures have been taken for the most vulnerable groups of the population. A recent example is the increase in the minimum pension for low-income retirees. It is no coincidence that the risk of poverty faced by people aged 65 and over in Cyprus has decreased from 46.3% in 2008 to 24.6% in 2019, while the rate for women has decreased from 18.1% to 15 , 9% and it is no coincidence that according to Eurostat data, the median household income has also increased significantly.
Finally, they state that, unfortunately, DIKO, not only has not submitted any substantial proposal for the economy so far, instead it is limited to repeating declarations and meaningless leveling criticism, while setting obstacles to substantial support policies for employees and companies promoted by the Government. Examples are his attitude towards budgets and state guarantees. The government responds to populism with actions.
This is the statement of Mr. Papadopoulos:
The three years 2018 – 2020, will forever be identified with,
• mistakes in the Cyprus issue,
• the collapse of the Cooperation,
• the collapse of the middle class and the media,
• loss of income and increase in poverty,
• entanglement, corruption
and
• the many, large and successive scandals that exposed our country internationally.
In the Cyprus issue, a few weeks before the Pentagon, which by its composition serves the Turkish goals, Turkey is promoting a change in the basis of the solution.
Thus, we are facing blackmail, either for accepting an agreed division or for closing the Cyprus issue to Turkish standards.
Simply put, the Republic of Cyprus is under more threat than ever.
At the same time, households and businesses are experiencing a difficult reality, with the DISY government not having any plan for the economy and the support measures constantly proving to be insufficient.
Restoring the middle class is not a priority for the DISY government,
The problems in the welfare state are serious and there is no long-term planning that gives hope and perspective.
And all this is evolving in the shadow of the most intertwined and corrupt government and the revelations about scandals, which hurt the dignity of our people and drag our country internationally.
What is worse is that President Anastasiadis and his government not only do not apologize for this situation, for which they are fully responsible, but,
• impede control,
• deny transparency,
• tremble at cleansing.
The Democratic Party, in parallel with the promotion of the proposals we submit for the economy, for the fight against corruption and for the support of the society, considers it necessary to remind some of the most serious mistakes and scandals of the Anastasiadis-DISY government.
We start today, on the one hand, with the radio broadcast of our proposals for the economy and, on the other hand, with the presentation on social media of the campaign, “3 years of mistakes and scandals”.
Our message is clear:
We do not deserve this government. Cyprus needs change. The clear change promoted by the DEMOCRATIC PARTY and which only the Democratic Party can achieve.
• To disengage from unacceptable concessions.
• To incur political, economic and diplomatic costs in Turkey.
• To claim the right solution.
• To implement our proposals for the economy, the restoration of the middle class, society, workers and small and medium-sized enterprises.
• To fight entanglement and corruption and achieve the control, transparency and cleansing that society demands.
After 3 years of mistakes and scandals of the Anastasiadis-DISY government, it is clear that only a strong DIKO will bring the pure change.
