The General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou outlines AKEL’s presentation of its activity in the European Parliament
20 years of action and assertions in Europe
29 April 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
AKEL’s multi-dimensional and multi-faceted action throughout its 20 years long participation in the European Parliament was presented today by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, at a working breakfast with journalists. Stefanos Stefanou referred to the role and activity of both AKEL MEP’s and the Left Group, at the heart of which is the vision for a different, social, democratic and peaceful Europe.
As St. Stefanou stressed, the EU and the European Parliament is for AKEL an arena of action and assertion first and foremost for Cyprus. The struggle for the liberation and reunification of Cyprus is the first priority in our activity in the European Parliament, but also in AKEL’s broader presence in the EU, while he underlined that the AKEL MEP’s over the years have been highlighting the issues of cooperation between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, as well as the protection of the Turkish Cypriot community from the policies of assimilation and the occupying power’s policies of assimilation and domination.
S.Stefanou also underlined that the Left Group has been Cyprus’ most consistent ally within the European Parliament, citing a number of small and important successes reflected in the strong references included in the Progress Reports on Turkey.
The General Secretary of AKEL gave as an example the issue of missing persons which was included in Turkey’s Progress Reports for the first time in 2009 with an amendment submitted by the Left Group which was adopted after hard work. He also pointed out that on the initiative of the Left, debates were held in 2014 and 2020 in the Plenary of the European Parliament on the issue of Turkey’s violations in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus, as well as on the opening of the enclosed city of Famagusta, which resulted in two very strong resolutions being approved by the European Parliament.
St. Stefanou also recalled that in Turkey’s last Progress Report (September 2023), AKEL, on behalf of the Left Group, tabled an amendment on the imposition of an arms embargo on Turkey, which was rejected by the right-wing European People’s Party EPP, the Social Democrats, the Liberals, the Conservatives and the far-right, underlining that this also demonstrates who the real friends of Cyprus are in practice.
The General Secretary of AKEL continued his presentation on AKEL’s activity on issues relating to labour, housing and social policy, noting that it is precisely the economic policies imposed by the right-wing and extreme neoliberal forces of the EU that are gnawing away at the EU, putting pressure on the peoples and exacerbating inequalities between and within states themselves.
S.Stefanou pointed out that today in the EU 95 million Europeans live on the poverty line and at the same time the 500 billionaires in the EU have increased their wealth by 33% in recent years. Summarising the actions and demands of the Left on labour and social rights, he recalled that AKEL raised at an EU level, with questions to the European Commission, the burning issue of foreclosures and the protection of borrowers from the arbitrariness of the banks and unfair clauses, in an effort to bring our country into compliance with the relevant European directive and to truly protect the right to housing.
As far as environmental issues are concerned, the General Secretary of AKEL noted that the Left Group is a militant and consistent voice in the European Parliament on environmental policy, stressing that the Left unites ecology with social justice, that is to say far from the logic of the market, trade in pollutants and the interests of multinationals.
AKEL also took the lead in the struggle – 15 years ago – to secure the right of Cyprus to be declared a GMO-free zone. He also referred to initiatives by AKEL MEPs on environmental protection issues in Cyprus, such as the issue of the large nuclear power plant Akkuyu in Turkey, the fight to save the Akamas Peninsula and occupied Karpasia, as well as the demand for the creation of a European air firefighting base to deal with fires on our island, within the framework of rescEU, for the benefit of both the Republic of Cyprus and the countries of the region.
As regards the health sector, S.Stefanou stressed that proposals submitted by AKEL MEP’s to the Community budget funded new programmes to combat paediatric cancer and a socio-economic mapping programme on the unequal access of children in the EU to quality cancer treatments. He also spoke about the initiative launched by AKEL in the European Parliament to secure the ‘right to be forgotten ‘to cancer survivors and rare disease patients in order to guarantee their right to loans and insurance, recalling that this initiative was completed with the unanimous vote of the Cypriot Parliament on a relevant AKEL bill proposal.
Stefanos Stefanou went on to present the actions and initiatives AKEL and the Left Group took in areas such as EU foreign policy, human rights and the fight against racism, the rule of law and the democratic functioning of the EU, spy networks, etc.
Finally, underlining AKEL’s permanent aspiration to make Cypriot society itself a part of its European action, he said that during these 20 years AKEL has held more than 150 events in Cyprus and Brussels.
Stefanos Stefanou was accompanied by the two AKEL MEP’s Giorgos Georgiou and Niyazi Kiziyurek, who gave their own brief presentations of their work during the five-year period 2019-2024, as well as MEP candidates Anna Theologou, Stavri Kalopsidiotou and Andros Karagiannis.
Also present at the presentation were the AKEL C.C. Spokesperson and MP Giorgos Koukoumas and the Head of the Party’s International Relations and European Affairs Policy, Vera Polycarpou.
29.04.2024
