Statement by the General Secretary of AKEL, S.Stefanou, after meeting with the Minister of Interior

 

2 May 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Today, we had the first official meeting with the Minister of Interior Constantinos Ioannou since he took office. We wished him well in what is admittedly a very difficult and demanding Ministry, the most multi-faceted of Ministries, with numerous powers and responsibilities.

We took advantage of this meeting to discuss some of the issues that lie ahead of us, such as the housing issue. AKEL is currently organising a campaign on housing. A campaign that aims to highlight a number of problems and to elaborate a series of proposals and approaches to address them. Proposals which, of course, we will forward to the government in an attempt through dialogue to promote the formulation of a coherent state housing policy so that access to housing is facilitated – especially for small and medium-sized families, young couples, the vulnerable groups of the population and of course for refugees, because housing for refugees is part of the overall housing policy.

We also discussed issues such as immigration, in view of the government’s pending submission of a relevant bill to establish a Deputy Ministry. It is a difficult and complex issue where comprehensive and multi-level policies are required.

We also discussed the issue of Local Government Reform in view of the Local Government elections to be held next May.

I want to thank the Minister for the very creative meeting we had. The Minister and I agreed to be in touch and to have a two-way dialogue. AKEL may be an opposition party, but it wants its proposals and creative approach to help in solving problems. This is how we perceive our role as an opposition force and this is precisely how we will proceed in the future.