It is provocative for the government to blame Parliament on state-backed loans issue
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou
State-backed loans are a useful if used with transparency and scrutiny to help SME’s that don’t have access to loans
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 14th April 2021, Nicosia
If the DISY government was really in a rush for state-backed loans, it wouldn’t have brought the relevant bill before Parliament at the very last minute. It submitted the bill just last Thursday, April 8. How can one say that it did not have time at its disposal? Since last April, it withdrew it and subsequently put it in its drawer. If it was as urgent as it claims, it had a whole year at its disposal to bring it back.
When the government decided last February to seek the views of the political parties, it could have moved faster.
Even at the last minute it had sent it to Parliament, the government or even the ruling DISY party could have asked for it to go through the urgency process or at least to call on the parties to conduct the debate immediately. They did none of that.
What is worse, however, is that the President of DISY appeared provocatively and irrevocably to shift the government’s own grave responsibilities on Parliament for the long delay observed.
But the most provocative of all is that the President of the Republic took the baton from DISY President A.Neophytou and is accusing Parliament of serving expediencies. This indeed is unheard of! A government and a President who have elevated serving expediencies/considerations to a daily practice by accusing others of practicing such practices.
Populism is is dangerous anyway. But when populism is reproduced by the President and his government, it becomes even more dangerous.
AKEL presented its views and proposals on the issue of state-backed loans with openness and clarity last April and last February when our opinion was asked. Government state-backed loans are a useful tool provided that they are used with transparency and scrutiny which should seek to help those businesses – and in particular small and medium-sized businesses – that do not have access to loans.
