The Presidential Office replies to AKEL on Pournaras.
As Government Spokesman Marios Pelekanos says, AKEL has long lost its sense of seriousness and proves it once again with today's statement, the first line of which claims that the decisions taken regarding the transfer of unaccompanied minors from Pournara will not be implemented.
"Furthermore, they proceed with the unsubstantiated allegation that supposedly the lifting of the decision follows from statements made publicly by the Mayor of Paralimni. We refer them to yesterday's announcement by the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, which they either have not read or, even worse, choose to ignore," it notes.
At the same time, it says, "We therefore reiterate, for AKEL's information, that the Social Welfare Services, as well as all the relevant services, had, within five days, taken swift action to implement the instructions of the President of the Republic and the relevant decision of the Council of Ministers. In fact, within the same period of time, the necessary staffing of caregivers, social workers and all the necessary material for the care and feeding of the children, as well as their education and activities within the premises was ensured.
Unfortunately, at the last moment, the owner of the chosen accommodation withdrew from what had been agreed upon.
The procedures were resumed with the aim of implementing the decision in the next few days.
For the umpteenth time, we will remind AKEL that as a state we not only make full use of all European funds provided for the management of the migration issue, but we pay many additional tens of millions of euros from the state coffers, while only recently an agreement has been signed with the European Union, from which the Republic of Cyprus is expected to benefit in terms of managing flows, strengthening its infrastructure capacities and significantly increasing the number of returns of those whose asylum application has been definitively
"As a Government, we will continue to focus on solutions to the complex and multifaceted problems arising from the emergency situation in which our country has found itself as a result of the increasing flows," it concludes.
"Unaccompanied minors are becoming a ball in the hands of the rulers", says AKEL
Earlier, AKEL, through Marina Savva, said that "yesterday it was announced that finally the decisions taken on unaccompanied minors following the visit of Mr. Anastasiades' visit to Pournara, will not be implemented."
As she said, although the Council of Ministers decided to move unaccompanied minors to accommodation in the free Famagusta region, it reversed its decision apparently following the well-known statements of the Mayor of Paralimni.
"Unaccompanied minors, for whom the government receives millions in funds from the European Union, thus become a ball in the hands of the rulers.
AKEL will continue to remind the rulers of their obligations under international and European conventions for humane accommodation conditions, especially when it comes to unaccompanied minors," it concludes.
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