The government appears to fall short of the expectations cultivated by the President of the Republic

Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL S.Stefanou:

21 June 2023, ‘Astra’ radio

The government is disappointing (its voters) and doesn’t appear to meet  the expectations cultivated by President Christodoulides, said the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou NOTED.

Speaking on Astra radio’s ‘Morning Edition’ program, he pointed out that the first 100 days of Christodoulides’ administration have a strong element of an approach serving communications purposes, stating that in essence not much can have been done in such a short period of time.

S.Stefanou further pointed out that the President yesterday tried to present his election campaign proclamations as projects that have been implemented. However, he noted that the government is not judged by the pledges said by the President, but by the work and content of the decisions, stressing that the previous President had also said a lot of “I pledge too…”

The General Secretary of AKEL also underlined that yesterday the President spoke about behaviours and decisions that do not correspond to the pledges that were issued by President Christodoulides, such as with regards the gender composition of the Council of Ministers, his full commitment that he will not appoint any officials from political parties, which he did, and the cronyism feast with the President’s appointments of advisers, which directly refer to practices that the previous government had ruthlessly made. In essence, he said, all of this shows that nothing has changed in such mentalities and approaches.

As far as the Cyprus problem is concerned, S.Stefanou pointed out that the mobility noted in the international community was to some extent expected after the elections in Turkey. He said that the President avoided mentioning what the agreed basis and framework for a solution to the Cyprus problem is, stating that the President of the Republic did not make any reference to Bizonal, Bicommunal Federation because he did not want to upset his relations with the parties that support him. The General Secretary of AKEL suggested that what must be sought is to convince the Secretary General of the UN to undertake a new initiative. He also said that the President must include the energy issues of interest to Turkey and the international community in the positive agenda.

At the same time, Stefanou accused the government of inaction and intensiveness as to effectively address serious issues such as expensiveness, the high cost of living and foreclosures, stressing that the government hasn’t a clarified its position on what it will do.

On the issue of the Cost of Living Allowance, the General Secretary of AKEL said it was not resolved, but rather that a temporary arrangement was made. Indeed S.Stefanou said they will see how whether the government’s word will be kept when the settlement period expires and whose side it will take. He also welcomed the effort of the Minister of Education on the issue of quarterly exams saying that at long last this anti-pedagogical system to the detriment of young people is finally being ended.