Speech by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL, S.Stefanou at the Plenary of the Central Committee of AKEL on the 2024 European Elections

 

27 January 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Comrades,

Today the plenary of the Central Committee is focused on the upcoming European elections – a major and key political battle for the Left – and the drawing up of our ballot paper. It is often said, and it is true to some extent, that European issues are rarely discussed in the European elections. They are usually dominated by domestic issues.

We want and seek to conduct a serious and meaningful debate on the small and big issues that concern Europe and are discussed in the European Parliament.

We want and seek to conduct this debate because that’s where decisions are taken that directly and indirectly affect our lives.

We want and seek to do so because we as AKEL have a vision, positions and opinions on the character of the EU, on the policies that are being implemented, on where the EU is going and where we want it to go.

AKEL has amassed a vast experience spanning over 20 years of daily scientific study, knowledge and monitoring of EU issues and, above all, we elaborate positions on all the areas we want to put before Cypriot society.

The elections for the election of Members of the European Parliament will take place in an international and European socio-political landscape defined mainly by three elements:

• Firstly, the two major wars raging in Ukraine and Palestine, where the blood of innocent people is flowing endlessly, while at the same time, there are enormous dangers for the world and especially for the European continent.
• Secondly, the huge socio-economic problems that are pressing on the peoples and workers in all the member states of the European Union, from poverty and inflation to wages and the housing problem.
• And thirdly, the dangerous rise of the far right which has taken on chilling proportions in all European countries threatening to take Europe back to dark ages.

These facts raise the big questions and stakes that EU citizens, including Cypriot citizens, will face before them.

The European elections can therefore send – not only from Cyprus, but from every corner of Europe – a strong message in favour of peace and against the continuation of the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Palestine. A message that must first and foremost go to the leaders of the EU and to the ruling powers in the European Parliament. Because how is it possible that the EU itself refuses to take any peace initiative on Ukraine, choosing the dead-end policy of constantly arming the Zelensky government by adding fuel to the fire, which serves first and foremost the US and NATO and certainly not its own people?

It is no coincidence that the recent Eurobarometer shows that the Cypriot people condemn the Russian invasion, and rightly so; but by a large majority they oppose the sending of arms to Ukraine and the continuation of the economic war.

At the same time, is it or is it not a shameful and outrageous hypocrisy when the leadership of the European Union, with the Right and the far right at the forefront, provocatively disregard even the United Nations and side with the Israeli Netanyahu government which is committing unprecedented war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza?

Can any Cypriot – we, who lived through the Turkish invasion and who are still living through the Turkish occupation and colonisation [of the occupied territories] – be on the side of the perpetrators and the warmongers who are threatening to drag the neighbourhood of the Eastern Mediterranean into a total conflict? Our answer is no.

Our voice – the voice of AKEL and the Left – is the clear and consistent voice in favour of a ceasefire, in favour of the respect for international law and solidarity.

It is the voice for the peaceful solution of problems on the basis of international law.

It is the voice for the reversal of the militarisation and NATOisation of Europe.

It is – in short – the voice of peace, cooperation and solidarity.

The member states and peoples of the European Union are suffering the economic consequences of the wars that are being added to all that the pandemic and the global capitalist crisis over the past decade have left behind. Price increases, the high cost of living, expensive electricity, the housing crisis, high interest rates and rents, low wages and underemployment are the bill that others have caused and others are paying.

The long-standing enduring economic policies of the European Union and the ruling political forces in the EU institutions – the Right, the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Conservatives – have led to greater inequalities both within and between EU states.

The real needs of the peoples and workers in Cyprus, but also in Europe, demand a strengthening of the strength and struggles of the Left. AKEL and the other forces of the Left are standing in the European elections, projecting the demands for which we are fighting for every day, both inside and outside the European Parliament:

• Drastic policies to tackle low wages and the deregulation of work and labour relations,
• The promotion of collective labour agreements,
• measures to address price and interest rate increases,
• Modern and bold social measures to support working parents,
• policies to confront the housing problem and electricity costs that are affecting households, working people, pensioners and small businesses across Europe.

Measures such as the taxation of the super-profits of the banks and energy companies are just some of what we are asserting in Cyprus and in Europe in order to finance the provision of support towards households and working people. To be able to promote all these, we need to strengthen the assertive voices inside the European Parliament, to increase the number of MEP’s of the Left who are fighting for the dignity and rights of the people of labour. For the dignity and rights of European societies.

Today, as you will know, is the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz by the Soviet Red army which has been established by the UN as International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, however, instead of remembrance, the poison of hatred is once again spreading throughout modern European societies, just as it did decades ago when Nazism became a rage. The forces of the far-right are lying in wait for the coming June to be their second historic opportunity: after having captured the European Parliament, they will subsequently seek to climb into more governments.

The recent images from Italy, with hundreds of ultra-right extremists making Nazi salutes, have reaffirmed for the umpteenth time what we are facing, no matter how much the far-right and its collaborators try to hide it.

Another worrying sign of our times is the fact that that in more and more countries the official mainstream Right doesn’t hesitate to co-govern, collaborate or establish channels of communication with the ultra-right, which is of course what we see happening in Cyprus between DISY and far-right ELAM party, but also the Christodoulides government, as we have seen recently with the appointments it has made in the semi-governmental organisations.

There is no room for any illusions and complacency. Democrats across Europe are not just worried, but are taking a stand, like the hundreds of thousands of Germans who flooded the streets of their country last week in demonstrations against the far right.

It is for that reason more urgent and timelier than ever before for the progressive and democratic forces of Cyprus to come together, to rally and to stand together in a big social alliance against conservatism, hatred and obscurantism. An alliance to defend without any compromises and without fear the values of solidarity and democracy in our country, human rights, the unity of the working people, ecology, gender equality and women’s rights, diversity and multiculturalism, rationality and science as compasses for progress.

This is the message, this is the call we are making today on this occasion. A call to rally and unite our forces.

Comrades,

Our own perception of the EU and the Europe we want has been and remains clear. AKEL’s and the Left’s criticism of the character of the EU, its anti-social policies, its bureaucracy and its closed structures which, cut off from society and without accountability and any scrutiny, impose policies that primarily serve the ruling elites. This situation is not only not outdated, but is verified daily by the growing socio-economic deadlocks that have been accumulated.

Our criticism has nothing to do with the Euroscepticism of the far-right, which is a reactionary and retrograde ideological concept.

As for the other side of the coin, the slogan being promoted for “more Europe” means, in the present context, a deepening of the existing EU structures and policies which lead to a further deterioration of the living standards of the peoples of Europe, but also to greater inequalities between states.

This is precisely where the idea of abolishing the veto in decision-making on foreign policy and beyond also comes in. This would mean greater contempt for the well-intentioned interests and aspirations of smaller member states, such as Cyprus. This is something that AKEL will never accept and something on which the Christodoulides government must take a clear and strong position, because – as on other issues – it speaks with ambiguity and minced words.

As will unfold in the coming months through our election campaign, together with our criticism of the EU’s policies, we shall at the same time be proposing creative positions and proposals, assertions and ideas with a social, ecological and progressive content on all issues, major and small.

Our campaign will project a vision for a different united Europe.

A fundamentally different Europe.

A Europe that is socially just, democratic and peaceful.

A Europe that truly belongs to and serves its peoples.

A Europe of peace, social equality, democracy, cooperation and open multicultural societies.

For all these reasons, therefore, not only should not even a small part of the people of the Left be led to any indifference as regards the European elections and abstention, but on the contrary, the progressive people of Cyprus have more reasons to go to the ballot box. To strengthen AKEL, which is the force of assertion in Europe and in the European Parliament, which is, after all, the only EU body directly elected by the people.

Comrades,

Last July, the Central Committee of the Party set out our political framework, priorities and objectives for the European elections. Our main electoral objective is to increase AKEL’s strength in relation to the percentage we received in the last parliamentary elections. Only in this way will we secure the two seats we have held since 2004, when the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. Only in this way will we be able, with the same strength, to continue the multifaceted work that we have been doing for 20 years inside the European Parliament and in the Left Group. We will continue the work we are doing which is appreciated far beyond the borders of Cyprus and the Left.

Our activity has the Cyprus problem, the struggle for the liberation and reunification of our country with a solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation at the forefront.

Activity for the salvation of Famagusta from its colonization.

Action with regards EU-Turkey relations.

For the halting of Turkish aggression.

For the imposition of an arms embargo on Turkey.

On the issue of our missing persons.

For the promotion of cooperation between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

For the protection of the Turkish Cypriot community from Erdogan’s policy for the assimilation of the occupied territories.

So for AKEL, our presence in the European Parliament is, among other things, an arena of struggle for our homeland and its struggle to throw off the occupation and together, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, to co-manage the common, bicommunal Cypriot state.

A constituent element in achieving a good election result and for AKEL’s political presence in the European Parliament is our electoral list, which we will subsequently discuss. I express the certainty that at the end of today’s plenary we shall present to Cypriot society a list worthy of its expectations.

An electoral list composed of people who are capable and serious, honest and ready to work and fight for visions, values and policies that the people of Cyprus and the peoples of our continent need.

People with knowledge and experience, with a track record in public affairs and with their own imprint on the social and political life of Cyprus.

A list consisting of three men and three women, because gender equality is a priority for us and this must start to become more visible.

A list that combines political cadres of AKEL with personalities from the progressive spectrum of Cyprus, people who we have waged battles with and we want to continue our common path.

An electoral list that will continue the historic step we took in 2019 with the inclusion of a Turkish Cypriot on it, because AKEL is the Party of all Cypriots, it is the Party with the most principled position on the reunification of our country and people and on the rapprochement of the two communities.

With a strong electoral list, we begin the battle for the European elections. Looking the Cypriot people in the eye, with a clear and honest perception.  With optimism, determination and confidence.

• Because the strength of AKEL – the only genuine opposition in the country – will also send messages domestically too against the Christodoulides government, which is faltering on issues places and on others continuing the policies of the Anastasiades-DISY government.
• Because the strength that every Cypriot will give to AKEL will at the same time strengthen the Left Group inside the European Parliament, which is the most consistent ally of the Republic of Cyprus and the Cypriot people in the struggle for liberation and reunification.
• Because AKEL’s strength in the European elections will be the force of the voice of the working people and young generation of Cyprus in the European Parliament, the voice of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, the voice of peace, solidarity and democracy. The voice and the force of assertion in Europe, for Europe and our country.

27.01.2024