Visit of the General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party in Cyprus

The General Secretary of the Portuguese C.P. (PCP) has visited Cyprus on the 19th of June. He was accompanied by the member of the Political Committee and the International Department of PCP com. Angelo Alves.

During the visit com. De Sousa held a bilateral meeting and a common Press Conference with the General Secretary of the CC AKEL com. Andros Kyprianou. During the bilateral talks issues of common interest were discussed as the political developments in Europe and particular in Cyprus and Portugal and the upcoming European Elections
in May 2014.
“The root cause of the problems in our view are to be found in the policies being implemented over all the past decades by the ruling circles of the European Union,” noted Andros Kyprianou, adding that worst of all “is that they are attempting by implementing the same recipes and policies that led to the global economic crisis to solve the problems the peoples are facing.” He went on to say that “the results are clear. In Portugal, Cyprus, Greece and Spain, and wherever these policies are being implemented, not only have they not led to exiting the crisis and overcoming the recession countries have been plunged into, but on the contrary the crisis has deepened even more”. The General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party Jeronimo De Sousa during the meeting touched on Portugal’s experience which Andros Kyprianou characterised as a “nightmare”.
“There is only one option before us, “the General Secretary of AKEL pointed out, namely to disengage from the Memoranda which have been imposed on us by the European Union.” On his part, the General Secretary of PCP expressed the solidarity
of the Portuguese Communist Party with AKEL and the Cyprioτ people in the face of the great threats they have to encounter with regards living conditions, but also concerning the future. “We have shared our experiences from Portugal which over the last two years has witnessed the conditions of an administration under a Memorandum”, he said, noting that, ” They told the people there would only be one Memorandum that would seek to find solutions regarding the debt and the deficits,” Now, he stated, two years have passed since the imposition of the Memorandum and the debt, the deficits, unemployment, poverty and social injustice have all increased.
They may have solved the problems the bankers and financial capital faced, but they have greatly exacerbated working people’s problems,” Jeronimo de Sousa underlined.