Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL A.Kyprianou after his visit to the People’s Social Solidarity Network
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 22nd April 2021, Nicosia
“On behalf of the Central Committee of AKEL, we congratulate the People’s Social Solidarity Network for its initiatives to provide support to our fellow citizens who need to spend this festive period of Easter as well as possible.
We convey our special congratulations to the many young volunteers who help prepare solidarity packages. We support the efforts of the People’s Network. As AKEL we have made a symbolic contribution to the Solidarity Network expressing our gratitude and congratulations again.
Let me just say that the help will be very significant, approaching 20,000 euros so that these packages are delivered to these families who need support, which is extremely important.
The state must see to it that a social policy is elaborated to support all those facing enormous difficulties due to the pandemic. The economic crisis of 2013 had accumulated many problems. The pandemic has exacerbated these problems and initiatives such as the Network’s aren’t sufficient to address the problems. The state needs to show much more sensitivity with regards the problems our compatriots face.
Finally, I would like to appeal to everyone, to strictly implement the health protocols. It is one of the ways to tackle the consequences of the pandemic and of course the most important thing is for the government to at long last move much more decisively towards vaccinations.
We are lagging behind. Other European countries are far ahead of us and since all scientists say that vaccinations are the method of dealing with problems, the state must finally move decisively in this direction. So congratulations once again. I hope your help contributes so that all families can spend these holidays in the best possible way.”
Asked about the handling of the pandemic by the government:
“It is obvious that things are out of the control of the Health Ministry and I’m not going to hide from you that we are extremely concerned. Strict implementation of the health measure protocols is imperative, as I have already said, and the most important thing is to move much faster on the issue of vaccinations. The EU itself has made it clear that it has no objection to procuring vaccines from other sources.
I therefore wonder why the government is moving so slowly on the issue. We don’t accept the argument that we are among the most successful in addressing the pandemic. On the contrary, the figures show that we lag far behind others, further behind Turkey, and even other European countries, such as Malta and Denmark, have jabbed a big percentage of their own population.
So we need to proceed in a much more decisive way on the issues of vaccinations and I repeat the second measure is the strict application of the health protocols provided of course that they are correct. We should all observe them and especially during this Ester period, yes to meet our family and socialize, but by taking at the same time all the necessary measures that are demanded to protect each other.”
