They are giving away millions of euros as a gift to big corporations

Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Giorgos Koukoumas

The stand of DISY, DIKO, ELAM, DIPA and Themistocleous is a provocation for the whole of society

7 April 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The DISY bill proposal approved yesterday in Parliament with the votes of DISY, DIKO, far-right ELAM, DIPA, and A. Themistocleous—which gives away millions of euros to big companies—is a provocation for society as a whole. More specifically, these parties decided to retroactively refund €10 million to shipping companies that had been paid as employer contributions to the Social Cohesion Fund and have permanently abolished this obligation, and by doing so effectively giving them an additional €600,000–800,000 annually.

The provocation is even greater given that the Social Cohesion Fund is intended for social policies and benefits. It is also revealing that, to serve powerful economic interests, they ignored the objections of the Ministry of Labour, the Legal Service, the Director of Social Insurance, and the Office of the Commissioner for State Aid Control.

In other words, the same political parties that scream about the need for “fiscal stability” when they want to reject society’s assertions are now getting tongue-tied and giving away millions of euros as a gift to big business. As if the hundreds of millions of euros they gave away to the banks and big business through tax reform weren’t enough, they are now imposing cuts in social spending to give even more gifts to big corporations.