The Justice Minister must end all actions to privatize part of policing airports

 

Statement of Aristos Damianou, AKEL Political Bureau member

AKEL C.C Press Office, 14th January 2016, Nicosia

For us it’s not surprising that in the government’s enthusiasm to sell off public wealth and assets, it appears ready to privatize part of the policing our airports. Indeed, when the need to protect national and public interests is greater than before.

The Anastasiades- DISY government must answer whether it agrees with the Minister of Communication’s position that with the surrender of the policing services over to the private sector will supposedly improve the level of security at airports. At the same time, the government and ruling forces must reply to the citizens as to who will foot the bill. Who will pay the cost, which according to the information presented before the Ministerial Council, is almost € 18 million Euros? Life itself provides the answer, since after the messy closing down of Cyprus Airways air fares have sky rocketed.

A possible shifting of the cost on people’s backs, at the same time as the charges at our airports are the highest in Europe, will make the possibility of using the airports by the poor and middle strata of our society even more a luxury; strata already suffering from the policies of the Memoranda, the austerity of the Anastasiades-DISY government and the Troika.

The Minister of Justice, apart from expressing dissatisfaction with the leaking of their intentions, must immediately put an end to any actions to privatize part of the policing of the airports. He must realize that security cannot be victimized as a result of the obsessions of the government and ruling forces who are glorifying everything private and cursing whatever is public and state.