Statements by A. Kyprianou, General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 19th November 2017, Nicosia
The General Secretary of the C.C. of Andros Kyprianou, visited today the rural communities of Akaki and Paliometohos. During his visit, the General Secretary of AKEL made the following statements on topical issues.
On the economy
Replying to a journalist’s question, whether as a result of his contacts with citizens he shares the government’s optimism on the economy, the General Secretary of AKEL replied:
ΑΚ: The situation in the real economy is very different to the one the government is trying to portray. Some figures may look better – not the important ones – but the situation in the real economy is still very difficult, especially as regards pensioners and those groups of the population in need of state assistance.
A fairer distribution of the wealth produced is needed. I will reiterate once again that as AKEL we are not against entrepreneurship which is needed for an economy to operate in a country. What matters is how the wealth produced is distributed. Is it distributed fairly or is it given to a privileged few?
Furthermore, I want to remind you that we are the country with the biggest percentage increase in the gap between the 10% of the rich and all the rest across the EU. We are the country that has 30% – that is one third of the population – living on or below the poverty line.
This therefore says a lot about what policy the next government must follow; a policy that must be very different to the policy being pursued by the DISY Government regarding the distribution of the wealth produced.
The Cyprus problem
Replying to a question about AKEL’s position on the fact that we are in a phase where there are no negotiations taking place, where Mr. Akinci says that the Cyprus problem might possibly need to be put on a new basis, and where in the free areas positions are being expressed by parties and candidates questioning a bicommunal, bizonal federal solution, the General Secretary of AKEL stated:
AK: The first thing I want to say is that we are not surprised by these positions. We expected that after the negative result in Crans Montana, extremist groups in both communities would grow stronger, making the next effort to solve the Cyprus problem very difficult.
In relation to the developments within the Turkish Cypriot community, the statements made by the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community, but also by Turkey in particular, are indeed negative. I think they are creating fait accompli that will make the procedure of the solution harder to solve.
As far as AKEL is concerned, in the run-up to the presidential elections, I must say that each candidate has an obligation to clearly set out his views to the Cypriot people and of course the Cypriot people must not be fooled by any pre-election transformations. We have seen Mr. Anastasiades time and time again during pre-election campaigns transforming his positions before the election and attempting to win – I say steal – the votes of the extremist section of the governing DISY party. In this pre-election campaign too, in some cases you cannot distinguish between the positions expressed by Nikos Anastasiades and Nicolas Papadopoulos. Mr. Anastasiades has been transforming his positions yet again.
As far as Nicolas Papadopoulos is concerned, I must say that he has an obligation to clarify his position. He can’t hide behind misleading arguments and rhetoric. Tasos Papadopoulos may have said he wanted a bicommunal, bizonal federal solution with the correct content, but he stressed the solution of a bicommunal bizonal federation. With regards the 8th July 2006 agreement, which was a flagship for many of the political parties of the so-called “intermediate” political spectrum, I would like to recall that the only thing that it contained was the reference to a Bicommunal, Bizonal Federal solution. I understand Mr. Papadopoulos’ difficulty, which stems from the fact that those forces who support him are against the solution of Federation, but he must state to the people of Cyprus what he really wants.
