Disy MPs critical of government on second day of budget debate
Disy MPs were critical of the government’s performance during the second day of discussions in the House regarding the 2024 state budget on Tuesday.
Despite party leader Annita Demetriou throwing her party’s weight behind the budget on Monday night, her party members appeared less than enthusiastic.
Rita Superman said there is “no clear support” for internally displaced people and their descendants, and added that those people are “tired of hearing that we are in favour of a bicommunal bizonal federation”.
She lambasted the “exaggerations, footnotes, and asterisks” regarding internally displaced people in the budget.
Charalambos Pazaros expressed alarm at Cyprus’ low birthrate, saying “if it remains the same in 30 years, the population of Cypriots will decrease by 50 per cent.”
He added that “the high cost of living combined with low wages does not allow young people to live decently.”
His speech then took a turn when he described immigration as a “scourge”, saying “the key is to cut benefits to people granted political asylum.”
He did, however, congratulate the government for how it has managed the matter of migration so far.
Of the other parties, Akel MP Valentinos Fakontis expressed his disapproval, saying the budget is “reminiscent of the previous ones, those of Anastasiades”.
He added that the budget “doesn’t address the huge problems of equity and housing, doesn’t address the issues of contemporary social policy, and doesn’t focus on working parents and the family.”
He also said the government “lacks vision, lacks strategy, innovative ideas, and inspiration, but above all, lacks political will”.
“What particularly characterises the current government is constant indecision,” he said.
Fellow Akel MP Marina Nicolaou said the budget “serves the needs of the few and not the many” and added that the government “cannot provide solutions” to the problems ordinary people face.
She also used her allotted time to criticise President Christodoulides’ statements that Israel has a “right to self-defence” during the ongoing crisis in Gaza. She said these statements “mean letting that barbaric army continue its slaughter”.
Additionally, she asked the government, “is our country turning into a war base for the atrocities of the occupying Israel in Palestine or not?”
“Our neighbourhood smells of blood, it smells of death,” she added.
Fellow Akel MP Nikos Kettiros said the budget “does not escape the trivialities of a neoliberal government” and said that it “does not even serve even the typical orientation of a state which is on the verge of collapse”.
Volt MP Alexandra Attalides said the budget is “not the future we dream of” and added that it “brings nothing new”.
She said the budget “ignores the needs of both the country and society”.
But Diko MP Christos Senekis welcomed the budget, saying “for the first time, after almost 15 years, serious measures are being taken which have drastically reduced inflows of irregular migrants and significantly increased returns to their countries of origin.”
He added that the government’s anti-inflation measures “supported social cohesion and attempted to reduce the cost of basic necessities, energy, and housing”.