Statements by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL on the sanctions issue

Cyprus is paying the price of previous policies pursued

19 April 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

We are now paying for the consequences of policies that were pursued in recent years. In the pursuit of temporary gain, the emphasis was placed on Cyprus’ chase for profit. Cyprus made a very bad name for itself internationally and unfortunately, the previous government ruling forces simply turned a blind eye or denied that the problem existed and at the same time denied that there was even a conflict of interest by those who took the decisions.

For that reason, today we are paying a price that the new government will have to face. In order to deal with this issue, first of all, we need good practices, transparency in this area and of course our demand is that all those who led Cyprus down these erroneous paths, all those involved in discrediting of Cyprus internationally, must be held accountable. There must be real and in-depth investigations and the guilty must be held to account. We will insist on this to the very end.

In reality, we do not know about the actions taken by the President of the Republic. We hear that there are meetings upon meetings at the Presidential Palace. But what will count is the results. So we will wait for the results. What is certain is that the government will have to deal very seriously with this difficult situation that has been created which is also affecting both the Cyprus economy and its productive base, as we have said many times.

The temporary profit benefits some specific groups, a few people and indeed the provocation is enormous because the billions were too much with the ‘golden’ passports scheme.

AKEL had however pointed out many times that such practices have no perspective, no depth and at some point they will have a negative impact on the economy and our country. We are seeing such impacts before us today.