AKEL on June EU Council decisions

 

Statement of Neoclis Sylikiotis, Member of the Political Bureau of AKEL and MEP

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 28th June 2014, Nicosia

The European Council has decided to continue on the path of the intensification of the policy of tough austerity..

This is a narrow-minded policy that perpetuates the negative effects on the peoples and society through the implementation of the neoliberal policies of austerity and the imposition of Memoranda. The Council is inventing an improvement in the situation at the same time when the poor exceed 121 million people, whilst unemployment, especially among young people, has risen to 25%. The figures of the Stability Pact prosper, but the peoples are suffering. Worst of all, the austerity policy that is adopted, has been further strengthened. The peoples are being called upon to accept the burden on the big companies being reduced, instead of workers and the vulnerable groups of the populations being protected from the effects of the crisis. It is a clear path that is unilaterally directed towards benefiting big capital at the expense of the majority of the peoples. The conmclusions of the European Council confirm that this policy will intensify.

It is obvious that the Cyprus Government, is fully in line with these policies, which it also blindly implements with the Memorandum, but also unilaterally. As AKEL predicted, the abstention registered by a large number of people in the recent European elections, was interpreted by the ruling circles as tolerance to their anti-social policies.