AKEL meeting with the Pancyprian Refugee Union

 

10 November 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

An AKEL delegation headed by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, held a meeting today with a delegation of the Pancyprian Union of Refugees (PEP).

During the meeting, the priorities set by PEP and AKEL on the issues of our displaced persons were discussed and a broad consensus on the demands was observed.

On AKEL’s part, the need to modernise and upgrade the housing plans of the Care and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons Service by broadening both the income criteria and increasing financial allocations in the context of the given increase in the cost of acquiring housing was pointed out.

AKEL’s commitment to creating a loss of use compensation plan based on the state’s financial capacity, while utilizing the revenues from the 0.4% tax on real estate sales was reaffirmed.

A significant shortcoming in both refugee housing policy and the state’s housing policy more broadly is the absence of a financial institution that can offer loans on the basis of social criteria, giving a way out to the thousands of families who find closed doors when addressing banking institutions.

The PEP representatives acknowledged AKEL’s long-standing support to the demands of the displaced persons, noting their will to upgrade the action and intervention of PEP, setting as a necessary element the partial increase of state grants to the association. Towards this end, the General Secretary of AKEL will make representations to the Ministry of Finance so that the annual state grant to PEP increases to at least the levels to which the President of the Republic himself committed himself vis-à-vis the Executive Secretariat of the Organisation.

The meeting was attended on behalf of AKEL by AKEL MP and President of the Parliamentary Refugee Committee, Nikos Kettiros, and George Vassiliou, Head of AKEL’s Refugee Office. The delegation of the Pancyprian Union of Refugees consisted of its President Giorgos Lysandrides and members of the PEP Executive Secretariat.