AKEL ON MINISTERIAL COUNCIL DECISION ON PRIVATISATIONS
Statement by George Loucaides, AKEL C.C. Press Office Spokesperson
6th December 2013, Nicosia
The government with its decision taken yesterday to approve the roadmap for the privatization of the profitable Semi-governmental organisations, proceeded to another important step for the sell-out of public wealth and property to the detriment of the people and society in favour of large private interests.
All of the government’s actions, from the very first moment it took power, demonstrate that the policy of privatizations is a conscious political and ideological choice of the government and ruling powers, especially the Democratic Rally party DISY.
Since this conclusion was challenged by the government spokesman, the government would do well to reply to the following questions put by Cypriot citizens:
– Why did President Anastasiades propose privatizations, given that he had already accepted the “bail-in”, as an alternative to the Troika’s demand for a haircut in the Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank to percentages from 40 to 60%?
– Why did President Anastasiades promise during the elections to the Democratic Party, to the working people in the Semi-governmental organisations and society in general that he would not accept privatization if he considered as we are now told that there was no room to negotiate the Memorandum?
– Why did the government not assert an exemption from the Memorandum provision for privatizations when, agreeing to the robbery of the haircut on deposits, the situation changed dramatically as to the sustainability of public debt, whereby the negotiation for possible privatizations was linked to the amount of the debt?
– Why in the nine months that has passed since then, did the government not seek at any time its involvement in a social and political dialogue to find other alternative solutions for finding the €1 billion Euros that was agreed in the Memorandum?
– How must people understand the contradictory statements of government officials and leading officials of the Democratic Rally party who consider privatizations as useful and necessary, insisting on the long-standing positions of DISY with its well-known dogmatic policy that considers everything private as good and everything public as bad?
Citizens, working people and political forces knowing that they will never receive any answers to these questions have a choice; the choice and path of assertion and struggle to prevent the sell-out of our national wealth, through mobilisations and protests, but also in the House of Representatives, since government decisions need a parliamentary majority.
