We have a ballot that unites forces and people who do not come from AKEL, but come together with AKEL and the Left in the great effort we started to join forces, to take Cyprus forward, said the General Secretary of the KE on Thursday evening of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou at the presentation of AKEL – Left – Social Alliance candidates for the European Elections 2024, in Nicosia District.
“Tonight we continue our party’s march towards society ahead of the June 9 elections for the European Parliament. We proceed with optimism and self-confidence that we derive from the excellent work and presence of AKEL in the European Parliament, in the 20 years that our Cyprus has been a member of the EU,” he said.
Noting that all these years AKEL has a rich and diverse work to show, he said that “we are fighting the battle of the European elections with our candidates as protagonists. George Georgiou, Anna Theologu, Stavris Kalopsidiotou, Andros Karagiannis, Niazi Kizilgiurek, Melani Steliou”.
He stated that the ballot is gender-balanced, it consists of people who are capable, honest and ready to fight for our country and our people, for the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots.
“We have a ballot paper that again gives a strong political answer to those who claim that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots cannot cooperate or even coexist in a common homeland. We have a ballot that unites forces and people who do not come from AKEL, but come together with AKEL and the Left in this fight, in this great effort that we started to join forces, to take Cyprus forward” continued General Secretary of AKEL.
We are fighting together, he said, “a great electoral battle which we will win. And our victory will send clear messages in all directions and to the Government of Nikos Christodoulidis, that opposite it is a strong Left that, together with its competitors, continues to fight for what we deserve. And we deserve a lot.”
He said, among other things, that AKEL demands decent wages and pensions, permanent and full-time jobs, expansion of collective labor agreements, public investments that will ensure decent housing for all, cheap electricity and affordable energy for every household.
“And let them not ask us where they will find the money for all this. Because the rulers here in Cyprus and throughout Europe know that there are solutions. What is lacking is the political will. Willingness, for example, to tax here and now – as AKEL requests every day – the super profits of banks and energy companies and with these revenues to finance major social programs for the societies of Europe and their needs”.
He also said that we want a Europe of peace, and peace is not to add fuel to the fire of the war in Ukraine, as the European Union is doing, giving weapons worth tens of billions of euros to the Zelenskyi government.
“The leaders of the major political groups of the European Parliament – the Right to which DISY belongs, the Conservatives to which ELAM wants to join, the Social Democrats to which DIKO and EDEK belong, the Liberals to which DIPA belongs and the Greens to which the Environmentalists belong – in a joint statement they demand that the delivery of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine be accelerated,” he said.
Next June, he added, we will vote if we want these forces to continue to dominate the European Parliament, next June we will have to choose a side.
“Do we want a Europe that turns a blind eye to the far right and deals with it under the table and sometimes openly in order to have its support? Surely this also happens in Cyprus? Isn’t it the extreme right that elected Anastasiades? Isn’t it the extreme right that nominated Mrs. Dimitriou as Speaker of the Parliament?” said the General Secretary of AKEL.
He stated that “the boundaries of the right and the extreme right became so indiscernible that the former first vice-president of DISY, Mr. Pelekanos, easily switched to ELAM. And instead of DISY worrying about its policy that is building bridges to the extreme right, its only concern is that AKEL will benefit, instead of worrying about Cyprus. All these years when the parties are colluding with ELAM, only AKEL refused to reach out to them, to normalize the extreme right”.
KYPE