The President confirmed that he broke his pledges

Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL S.Stefanou:

 

9 January 2024, ‘Astra’ radio

With the government reshuffle, President Christodoulides has confirmed the rule that he is breaking his pledges, the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou pointed out speaking to ‘Astra’ radio. Furthermore, he stressed that Mr. Christodoulides had said that he would not appoint any party officials [in his government], persons who had served in other governments and that the participation of women would be at 50% in the Cabinet.

All this, he added, did not apply in the case of yesterday’s government reshuffle. S.Stefanou said that the facts themselves so far do not permit any optimism, given that the President of the Republic does not appear to understand the real problems Cypriot society is facing.

Referring to the issue of the Cyprus Problem team, the General Secretary of AKEL said that the President has not yet clarified what the terms of THE Team’s mandate will be. He noted that AKEL will not participate in this Team if the aim is simply to meet and discuss in general and vague terms. However, Stefanos Stefanou underlined that if there are developments surrounding the Cyprus problem, AKEL will be present as it has always been.

The General Secretary of AKEL went on to state that we have a prolonged deadlock on the Cyprus problem which Turkey is exploiting to consolidate occupational fait accompli, adding that the President of the Republic must at long last move forward in a decisive and substantive manner. S.Stefanou added that lately Mr. Christodoulides has not been talking about a positive agenda, and this must change. He said that AKEL would send a document with the proposals it has made from time to time which the passage of time has proved that they were correct.

After reiterating that we have lost our credibility because of the handlings made by the Anastasiades administration, S.Stefanou recalled that when Nikos Christodoulides was Foreign Minister, we cut our own throat several times, especially in Brussels.