They don’t understand what the majority of society are living through every day

Statement by AKEL Political Bureau member Eleni Mavrou on fuel increases and the Minister of Finance’s statements

6 April 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

If the opposition’s warnings didn’t ring a warning bell to the government, the queues at petrol stations just before the fuel subsidy was terminated should have concerned them. Unfortunately, today’s statements by the Finance Minister show that the government does not understand what is happening in the daily lives of the Cypriot people. How else can we interpret the Finance Minister’s insistence that “the issue is being addressed through targeted measures”?

If the measures recently announced by the Christodoulides government are the best it can do to confront price hikes/expensiveness, then it obviously does not understand the pressure that households and the economy are under on a daily basis from the ongoing increases in fuel, essential goods, electricity and borrowing.

They insist on not talking about the additional taxes that are coming soon. They insist on not talking about the accumulation of revenues in the state coffers, mainly due to the price increases – revenues that in 2023 alone exceeded 1 billion. They insist on not talking about the fact that the banks and energy companies are accumulating millions in exorbitant profits by exploiting the situation in the energy landscape.

This is the direction the government should have taken – the taxation of windfall super-profits. A measure that would enable it to offer support to society and businesses whilst at the same time strengthening the state coffers. The fact that the government

refuses to exploit this possibility, as other European states have done, simply confirms that their only concern is that the super-profits of the banks and energy tycoons should not be affected.

6.4.2024