One of the most dramatic results of the Anastasiades-DISY government policies is that they have turned Cypriot society into one of the most unequal in Europe. In actual fact, we have the highest percentage increase in the gap between the handful of rich and all the rest of the people. 90% of Cypriot citizens have seen their incomes being drastically reduced, while the richest 10% have seen their own grow. In short, in the three years of the government of Mr. Anastasiades and DISY party President Averof Neophytou, the rich have got richer and the poor poorer. There can be no stable economic recovery without reducing economic inequality.
Inequality damages the economy. It restricts the purchasing power of the middle strata and working classes. Growing inequality hurts society. It generates uncertainty and anxiety. It destroys society’s social fabric and squeezes the middle strata.
Working people, women, the unemployed, pensioners, farmers, young people, large families, single parents, people with disabilities and vulnerable groups of the population are all victims of the policies being imposed. That is to say, all of those people whom Mr. Anastasiades had during the presidential elections pledged to protect.
AKEL’s effort is to protect all those in need. That’s where all our proposals, positions and initiatives aim at. There are ways to tackle the situation and reduce economic inequality through the redistribution of national wealth. I stress this because every time AKEL proposes a measure in this direction the government and DISY are up in arms arguing that our policies will destroy the country’s economy. However, when it comes to their own policies that protect the banks or the privileged and select few then everything is fine and convenient. Everything can be arranged to serve their interests.
AKEL proposes and supports policies that benefit the majority of the people and not the privileged elite. It proposes concrete measures; measures for specific groups of the population aiming at combating poverty and inequality. These concrete measures can be implemented without delay.