DISY ruling Party aims to interpret the results of the European Elections as a vote of confidence for the continuation of neoliberal policies

 

Statement by Georgos Loucaides, AKEL C.C. Spokesperson

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 20th May 2014, Nicosia

The Government and the governing Democratic Rally DISY party refrained from replying to AKEL statements it issued yesterday on the interpretation of the election result of the European elections they will attempt to give.

The President of the Republic however was quite clear. They will attempt to interpret it as a vote of confidence in the government’s policies and actions. Even worse, if this is accompanied by a possible weakening of AKEL, as the main counter-force to the government’s policy, they will try to interpret it as a “green light” from citizens for pursuing even harsher anti-social austerity measures at the expense of society, workers, the vulnerable groups of the population and SME’s, always in favour of big private interests, both domestic and foreign, which they serve with consistency.

Citizens, especially the people of the Left, should be aware that an attempt will be made to interpret it and in practice this would mean either their potential abstention from the elections, either their potential wasted vote to other formations, whether new or not.

The people of the Left should reflect and choose whether if by their abstaining or a wasted vote, they wish to give the opportunity to DISY and the Anastasiades government to exploit their own electoral behaviour by turning it into a vote of confidence and approval of:

– The “haircut” in the life of the Cypriot people with the decisions of March 2013;

– The impoverishment of Cypriot society;

– The policy of severe austerity pursued against the vulnerable groups of the population, while the government and ruling forces  are handing out millions of Euros to cronies at the Presidential Palace, Ministries, the Central Bank and elsewhere;

– The selling off of the profitable Semi-state organizations and our national wealth for the benefit of local and foreign private capital;

– The imposition of the socially unjust taxation on immovable property for the benefit of the big property and estate owners;

– The protection of a handful of large-debtors who owe € 6,5 billion, in contrast to the tens of thousands of small-borrowers who are in danger of losing their homes because of the bank robbery of € 19 billion;

– The support of a handful of large companies in the retail trade at the expense of workers and thousands of small businesses that are closing down one after the other, as a result of the extension and liberalisation of shopping hours;

– The refusal of the government to protect SMEs and households from unacceptable high price of rents they have been trapped;

– The arrogance and authoritarianism of the government and ruling forces and the complete absence of political assumption of responsibilities on their behalf;

– The blind obedience and subordination to the Troika and the replacement of the government’s and DISY’s electoral position in favour of the renegotiation of the Memorandum with the position that it was necessary to implement the catastrophic Memoranda measures as our own political and ideological manifesto, regardless of the presence here of the Troika;

– The abandonment of all the key pledges undertaken by the Anastasiades government and DISY.