“If only it were so…” by Stefanos Stefanou – Member of AKEL Central Secretariat, Nicosia-Kyrenia District Secretary  

 

1/1/2016 “HARAVGI” newspaper

 

If only the economy was doing well and registered the results for which the Government is celebrating.

If the economic results were indeed good, we would not have followed the example of the current government and ruling forces when they were in opposition. Back then, all they did was to kill all hope and any prospect just to serve their petty party considerations. Unfortunately however the results are different and any celebrations are, to say the least, unrealistic. Cyprus is not prospering as far as statistical figures, is concerned, nor with regards the living standards of the vast majority of society.

The Government and DISY party claim to have stopped the downhill course and stabilized the situation. They themselves have caused this downhill course by accepting the haircut on bank deposits. The economy’s partial stabilization is baseless and is not be able of changing the situation after the deep recession that has taken place.

The Government and DISY argue that without the prosperity of numbers and statistical figures there can be no prosperity of society. Without a doubt, to achieve prosperity in society the economy’s performance must get better. But when this happens this doesn’t necessarily mean that society will prosper. This never happens automatically.

To have prosperity in society a policy for the redistribution of wealth and income in favour of the lower income social strata must be implemented in order to combat the immense inequalities. However what the government and ruling forces are doing is exactly the opposite. As a result of the austerity policies being pursued – greatly reducing working people’s income, dismantling the welfare state and selling off public wealth and assets (for example, the privatization of profitable semi-governmental organizations) – the middle strata are shrinking, poverty is assuming mass proportions, whilst only a very small section of society is increasing its revenues and improving its social situation.

These are not arbitrary conclusions, but are well-documented by official and indisputable statistical figures. According to EUROSTAT in recent years income inequality in Cyprus has increased dramatically. As a result we have got to the point where Cyprus is registering the worst figures in the entire European Union, apart from Latvia and Lithuania. An even more important statistic is that the percentage increase with regards social inequality in Cyprus is the highest in all the EU Member States.

With the punishing dogmatic policies they are implementing (as the Minister of Finance himself says “the Memorandum is our own ideological manifesto”), the government and ruling forces are changing Cyprus. They are creating another Cyprus, but not the one that we knew until today. They are creating a Cyprus of mass poverty that includes a great number of working people; a Cyprus of permanent unemployment, emigration and enormous social inequalities.

 

The sacrifices being forced on the majority have positive results only for the privileged few. It is the privileged few which the government and ruling forces are serving and protecting. With such policies the current situation for the overwhelming majority of citizens will remain difficult. The prospect for Cyprus will continue to be bleak.