The government and DISY must give a reply: should the Automatic Cost of Living Allowance be restored or abolished?

Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Giorgos Koukoumas

17 February 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

At exactly the same time that the government was looking for excuses to reply AKEL, ruling DISY party MP Marios Mavrides – speaking on ANT1’s midday TV program – was provocatively stating that the Automatic Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) must be abolished. At a time when price hikes are daily nibbling away at working people’s wages, DISY government MPs are calling for the abolition of a workers’ GAIN that protects their purchasing power.

The people remember that ten years ago, DISY and its President Averof Neophytou fought alongside the Troika to abolish the COLA once and for all. They did not achieve this goal, as they managed to keep it frozen for a few years. Now that the time has come for COLA to be restored again – as AKEL and the trade union movement are demanding – not only is the official DISY party in hiding, but its leading members are demanding that COLA should be abolished.

We call on and challenge the government, DISY party and its President Averof Neophytou to take a clear position: should the COLA be abolished or should it be fully restored and extended to cover every working person in the country?