Call on the government to assume its responsibilities on the issue of accuracy, in the afternoon, AKEL General Secretary Stefanos Stefanou, adding that accuracy is also due to the government's inability to adequately and decisively address a number of problems that exist in Cyprus, such as electricity, cereals and fuel.
At the same time, with regard to the additional difficulties due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he noted that it is an effort "which we all have to make collectively and I want to convey the message that we have the willingness and the intention, if the Government considers that we are needed, we are here again to help."
In statements after a meeting with Bishop Nektarios of Kition, Mr. Stefanou described it as "complimentary" and said that "we talked about the charitable activity of the Church and the Metropolis which is very important, bearing in mind that in our society there is a lot of poverty, a lot of hardship, a lot of people need support."
"I am happy because the Metropolis of Kition has a very intense charity work with daily help to many people," he said and expressed "satisfaction and thanks to the Metropolitan for this very important work he is doing."
Referring to his visit to the Kition shopping street as part of a tour of Larnaca, the AKEL Secretary General said that "we will have contacts with shopkeepers, since we know very well that small and medium-sized businesses have too many problems which have multiplied because of the pandemic and because of the current lack of precision, which is not a current phenomenon." "Precision has been eroding the family budget for several months," he said, noting that "part of this precision is of course due to the increase in prices of basic goods and raw materials worldwide."
To a large extent, he continued, "the accuracy is also due to the inability of the government to adequately and decisively address a number of issues that exist in Cyprus such as electricity, fuel, grain and dealing with cartels and oligopolies which ultimately leads to price increases."
He added that accuracy "also has to do with the activation of institutions and tools that the state has at its disposal to protect consumers from obscenity". "It is for this very reason that AKEL has been campaigning for a long time on the need to tackle accuracy and the need to relieve households in order to help society and the economy cope with this wave of accuracy, which is expected to become even stronger because of the very unpleasant events that are happening right now with the war in Ukraine," he noted.
After stating that "there are no magic wands, it is not easy to deal with difficulties, but ways and tools exist", Stefanou said that "AKEL is not only a party that protests and reacts to policies, it is also a party that proposes policies". "We have formulated very concrete, practical, workable proposals to be able to help the economy and society," he said, adding that "we have made them public, we have sent them to competent ministers and the government but we regret to note that we face silence and sometimes mockery from the government."
According to Mr. Stefanou "the Government has first and foremost to protect society and has a moral responsibility in the sense that a significant share of the responsibility for this situation is due to its own incompetence and unwillingness to address the problems."
"Once again we call on the Government to assume its responsibilities," he said, noting that "we will continue to try inside and outside Parliament. We will take new law proposals to Parliament as we had done with the reduction of VAT on electricity from 19% to 9%."
After stating that this particular law proposal "was passed by the vast majority of Parliament with the exception of the Coalition but unfortunately the President (of the Republic) had other accounts. He sent the law to the Supreme Court and things stayed there, but the accuracy continues to increase so the government has to move."
The AKEL General Secretary also said that "because it is obvious that the economy will face additional difficulties due to the situation in Ukraine with Russia's invasion there, we also need to see how specifically we are acting proactively so that we can deal with the difficulties to the greatest extent possible."
The AKEL General Secretary also said that "because it is obvious that the economy will face additional difficulties due to the situation in Ukraine with Russia's invasion there, we need to see how specifically we are acting proactively so that we can deal with the difficulties to the greatest extent possible. AKEL is ready to contribute to this effort with our expertise and with our own capabilities."
It is an effort, he continued, "which we all have to make collectively and I want to convey the message that we are willing and willing, if the government considers that we are needed, we are here again to help."
Source: CNA
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