AKEL ON PROCLAMATION OF AKEL PROGRAMMATIC CONGRESS

Press Conference of Andros Kyprianou, General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL, on the Programmatic Congress of AKEL

 

Cyprus is currently going through one of the most difficult and critical phases in its modern history.

 

AKEL, through its policy and struggles, was always in the forefront of the struggle for the freedom of Cyprus and a better future for our people. It has always played a decisive role in Cypriot affairs. We also seek to play the same role today for the benefit of Cyprus, our people and working people. To fulfil this role we must first make our party even more battle-ready. The experience of the almost 90 years of life and struggles of AKEL, as well as the experience of the last five years with the great contribution of the Christofias administration, but also the shortcomings and weaknesses we showed,  is a solid basis on which to move forward. We are assessing in a critical manner this experience and moving ahead.

 

Having all this in mind, the Plenum of the C.C. of AKEL, which convened on 1st November 2013, decided to hold a programmatic congress of the Party in mid-February. The Plenary approved the guidelines on the basis of which the “Theses” to the Congress are being prepared. The “Theses”, on their approval by the C.C. will be discussed in the Party Base Organisations. At the Congress itself, we shall collectively and responsibly arrive at the best possible decisions. The decisions of the Programmatic Congress will be the guiding beacon of our actions and struggles in the period ahead.

 

For almost four decades, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are living with the permanent threat of a nightmare: the partition of our country as a result of the twin foreign-instigated crime committed in 1974.

 

For AKEL, the just solution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of the agreed framework is a lifetime goal. Our priority is to tear down the barbed wire of division, liberate and reunify our island. Only then will we have put down solid foundations for growth, prosperity, security and peace in our homeland.

 

Currently, an increased international interest in solving the Cyprus problem is being observed. It was expected that the confirmation of the existence of hydrocarbons in our exclusive economic zone would generate the interest of the international community; an interest however aiming to serve the interests of powers such as the US in the region. However, other major countries in the wider region are also interested and have strategic interests. It is absolutely crucial in these conditions of competition and complex interests that we pursue a balanced policy that will safeguard the well-intentioned interests of Cyprus and of the Cypriot people as a whole.

 

We must convince for the implementation of the basic principles of the solution of the Cyprus problem and for the reversal of the Turkish side’s unacceptable positions and demands. To achieve the necessary result, collectivity and unity are required on the domestic front; a unity based on the long-standing positions of the National Council and on the mutual respect between all the political forces and the President of the Republic.

 

The grand declarations, resigning from pledges and the scheming to serve petty partisan considerations have no place in the difficult phase we are going through today. The situation is fragile, very serious and critical for the future of our country and people. We should all, especially the President of the Republic, focus our attention on the essence; to reaffirm our position to reach a solution that will reunify our country into a state on the basis of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship; to convince that with the solution of the Cyprus problem all the parties involved, namely, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece would benefit, but also all those who consider a just solution as a stabilizing factor in the region. To achieve this goal, it is important that the proposals submitted at the negotiating table should be based on the relevant UN resolutions, the High-Level Agreements and on International and European law.

 

Our Party expresses its earnest intention to work towards this end, given that it was, is and will remain the vanguard force in the efforts to reunite our country and people.

 

Cyprus in recent years, like many other countries, is in the midst of an unprecedented global capitalist crisis. Since the outbreak of the crisis, there have been many clashes internationally about the culprits and causes of this crisis. AKEL from the beginning stressed that it is the capitalist system itself which is principally responsible, a system that inevitably generates the crises because it serves one and only goal: profit.           In recent decades the attacks on workers around the world, and particularly in the US and the European Union, have intensified for the sake of profit. The crisis was in the main expected, since profits – although the result of the labour of the many – were being concentrated in the hands of a minority. The reactionary philosophy and practice of neoliberalism which unfortunately prevailed in the world, is responsible for the breadth and depth of this crisis.

 

AKEL for years had been warning that these specific policies were tightening the noose around the neck of the peoples of Europe. Instead of a dialogue and a reflection on our views, we were being accused of being “Eurosceptic”. They approached us with an aphoristic and nihilistic attitude. Today, we can see entire countries and peoples on their knees, literally, as a result of the Memoranda policies against the people’s interests.

 

The economic crisis, like every crisis, revealed also in the case of Cyprus, the underlying and deeper problems. It wasn’t the fiscal situation, around which so much discussion was exclusively focused on, that was responsible; nor the enhancement of the welfare state over the past five years of the Christofias administration, which aimed to support those in need. It was primarily the wrong decisions of the Boards of the banking sector and the inadequate supervision.

 

However, what drove the Cyprus economy to disaster, as we experience it today, were the decisions taken by the Eurogroup and which President Anastasiades consented to; decisions that are daily deepening the recession, demanding the continuous assumption of new, even more painful measures.

 

This is already taking place. No matter how nice the word “updating” may sound used by the Government and the Troika, in reality it translates into more painful measures. The recent “updating” of the Memorandum, among other things, prohibited the protection of the primary residence and the reduction of lending rates. It demands the promotion of the process for the privatisation of all the Semi-state organisations. In addition, the possibility of the state’s economic involvement in the utilisation of the hydrocarbons is also prohibited.

 

Using the Memorandum as an excuse, long-standing policies of the Right are being promoted, such as privatizations, which will cause severe and permanent damage to the Cyprus economy. What is absolutely imperative is our disengagement from the Memorandum, as well as the resistance to the Troika’s anti-people’s policies and their reversal. What is required is the adoption of policies on the one hand to address the Cypriot economy’s problems and on the other policies that will create the prospect for a speedy recovery, without driving the people into impoverishment.

 

This is our own position. The government insists that the Memorandum is a one-way street and therefore bears the full responsibility for what is taking place and for what will follow. Those in power should at least in every phase of the so-called updating of the Memorandum assert certain issues to the benefit of Cyprus. Instead of assertions, all we observe is the complete subordination to the Troika’s dictates. The rulers, serving powerful interests, act as more faithful advocates and servants of the Troika than the Troika itself.

 

We have to admit that for some decades now durable phenomena such as corruption and vested interests have developed in Cypriot society; phenomena that dishearten the people, causing a general depreciation and apathy, harming and wounding political life.

 

AKEL always prided itself that no one could ever seriously accuse it of any involvement in such phenomena. Any attempt to link our Party with such phenomena always failed. Unfortunately today, some circles and forces in an unsubstantiated manner have managed to raise doubts about AKEL and its honest standing. This disappoints the people of the Left, not unreasonably. The need to disprove our critics, but also the need to emphasise and strengthen principles and values ​​in political life, imposes on AKEL to lead the way too in stamping out and combating such phenomena.

 

All these developments on the domestic front make it imperative that AKEL be strong as ever before, be able to be in the forefront of the struggle for the solution of the Cyprus problem and resist the Troika and the anti-people’s government policies by projecting alternatives.

 

For AKE to be able to effectively play this role, it needs to proceed decisively towards the elaboration of a clear and distinct political platform and its further renewal and modernization.

 

At the same time, AKEL will take steps to strengthen its organizational capacity and power; render internal party democracy stronger, but also reinforce the unity and effectiveness in its daily political work; deepen the work of the Party among the workers and among the broader popular masses, in the midst of the anxieties of the unemployed, the young people, small and middle strata, and the problems working people and pensioners face.

 

Aiming at the formulation of even clearer positions on important and contemporary issues, AKEL is proceeding, as I have already mentioned at the beginning of my statement, to the organisation of a Programmatic Congress on 15-16th February.

 

We aspire that this Congress will be a landmark in the life and struggle of the Party. It will deal with the Cyprus problem, the economy, promoting transparency and combating the phenomena of corruption and vested interests. It will also deal with our ideological – political character and identity, the issue of alliances and the question of contesting power. Finally, we will discuss the role and responsibilities of Party members, as well as the Party’s relations with organized groups, movements and agencies in Cypriot society.

 

Regarding the changes to the Secretariat and the Political Bureau, these will decided by the Central Committee according to the provisions of the Party statutes, before Christmas. Our goal is that there is a renewal of the leading cadre force and improvement in the effectiveness of the leading bodies. I want to clarify that the changes set in motion have nothing whatsoever to do with issues reported in public recently. Respect and recognition towards all comrades is given. Apart from the continuous effort for renewal and the qualative strengthening of our political and daily work, which should govern parties of the type of AKEL, we also take into account the long presence of cadres in posts which inevitably causes some fatigue.

 

The need for renewal and the organisational strengthening of the Party also rendered the changes already made at leadership level in some District Organizations of AKEL necessary. The need for political reinforcement makes increasing demands at all levels imperative, especially from all those who hold party and public offices. From the leadership to the party base grass roots and from the party base to the leadership we all have a responsibility, collective and individual, to strengthen the trust of the working people and society in general in our Party.