As “injections” to the budget are the fashion, I understand you will have a meeting with the President of the Republic. Does AKEL aim to “inject” the Budget with its proposals?
AK: We aim to have a constructive dialogue with the President. We shall convey our views on the key characteristics that the Budget should have had. Let me just mention some key positions that will aim to benefit the people and Cyprus in general. From there onwards, decisions are taken by the government, I want to make this clear. Our view is that many things would have been avoided had this dialogue underway today preceded the last few months. Voices in protest were heard, warnings of where we would end up were issued. The government ignored them. I hope and wish that there is that common denominator that will benefit the people. That must be the goal. Any discussions underway should be political and mainly aimi at serving the people and not the interests of anyone else.
Do you consider that AKEL may reconsider its position through this dialogue and perhaps the acceptance of its own proposals?
AK: I don’t have any illusions. We have a different philosophy than the governments. It isn’t easy for it to adopt what we propose. For that reason, we will hear how the President will react to what we propose and then we’ll take a stand.
Do you agree with what social democratic EDEK seems to have proposed and the government seems to have accepted?
I dont know what EDEK has proposed. I think it would be very hasty for me to make an assessment. Let’s see how things turn out and we will take a stand. We have plenty of time.
There is another parameter in what EDEK proposes. We are talking about something that affects the NHS and AKEL is a party that is very sensitive on NHS issues.
I’ll repeat that I dont know what specifically has been proposed by EDEK. I see journalists writing some things. Let’s see. What I want to clarify is that as far as we are concerned, we are not going to accept a change in the NHS’ philosophy under any circumstances.