Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou on the C.C. decision to vote against the 2021 state budget
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 11th December 2020, Nicosia
In its plenary session yesterday, the Central Committee of AKEL, having discussing the 2021 state budget, unanimously decided to vote against it.
The conclusion of the C.C. of the Party is that the Anastasiades-DISY government has not changed anything substantial in its policy and that it has pursued the same neoliberal recipe in the formulation of the 2021 state budget, as it did in all previous years.
The C.C. of AKEL notes that the 2021 budget did not take seriously into account the challenges, needs and problems which the coronavirus pandemic has accumulated, rendering the budget incapable of addressing them.
The budget also does not meet the general need for a change in the developmental model, so that the Cyprus economy can respond and meet the developmental and social needs in the coming years.
The discussion and vote on the 2021 state budget is a predominantly political act. AKEL, by voting against the budget, expresses its strong disagreement with the socio-economic policy followed by the government, but also in general, with the attitude and ethos of its administration.
It is the government’s policies and authoritarianism that have led it to isolation. It is the government’s responsibility to seek consensus in the House of Representatives for a vote in favor of the budget, without setting any blackmailing dilemmas and engaging in scaremongering.
