The President remembered the “I pledge to…” – Article by Eleni Mavrou, AKEL Political Bureau member

 

Sunday 23 May 2021, ‘Haravgi’ newspaper

Anastasiades and his Ministers have had a lot of work to do in recent weeks – and its not even Christmas yet! You see, we have parliamentary elections in a week and the ruling party is piling on the pressure.

For that reason they have devoted all their energies to the DISY election campaign announcing projects (which were promised in previous elections), announcing benefits, cutting ribbons in inauguration ceremonies…To such an extent that I am sure that citizens will want elections to be held more often!

What the government and DISY, obviously, do not comprehend, is that citizens have now accumulated a very bitter experience from all the broken promises and cancellation of many pledges that the government ruling forces repeat in the run-up to the elections – regardless of whether many of the announcements lack any substantive content.

For example, we have heard pompous statements these days about the Recovery Plan. Money will flow from Europe! Not 1, not 2, but 4.4 billion euros! In reality, the € 1.25 billion will come first and foremost from national resources (that is, our money). Around € 300 million is expected to be granted in the form of a loan, while € 1.8 billion euros will come from the EU’s Cohesion Policy and so on. This money would have been granted in any case, and the 1.4 billion euros is an estimate for money that… might possibly come from a private initiative!

There’s something else we should note. The Council of Ministers set, about a month ago, as a maximum allowed rent increase for the two years April 2021 and April 2023, 0%. As if this this will save the small businesses which for more than a year now were closed or operated partially, but their rents were running. However, when AKEL proposed, at the beginning of the pandemic, a rent subsidy for all affected small and medium-sized enterprises, with the implementation of a cost-sharing scheme between tenants, the state and landlords, Anastasiades and ruling DISY refused even to discuss our proposal.

At the same time they are accusing everyone else of engaging in destructive opposition. Naturally, AKEL is being targeted these days, which, let’s not hide the fact, is the main political force that is resisting the government’s austerity policies and its policies which are guided by the principle “Take from the many to give to the privileged few”. They accuse AKEL of “denying prosperity”, “rampant nihilism and negativism” – even if the President and DISY somehow did not come to an understanding in the communication between them, with the result that N. Anastasiades stated at the same time: “I listen to AKEL, it submits proposals…”

The truth is that the last thing they can accuse AKEL of is destructive opposition. AKEL has in fact submitted dozens of proposals – not just now with the pandemic. What should we remember first? The proposal:

– To abolish the 12% penalty for those who want to retire early?

– To create a mechanism for the legislative safeguarding of minimum wages and rights where there are no contracts and the mandatory implementation of agreed collective agreements in all sectors?

– To create a fund to provide support for the reactivation of SME’s?

– The compulsory confiscation of the property of those public persons convicted of embezzlement and misuse of public funds/money?

– For affordable housing by the state and Local self-government and it’s granting with social criteria, favorable terms and leasing plans?

– For people’s protection from evictions and foreclosures?

– On Health, Education, the Environment and dozens more?