A Democratic Alarm and a Citizens' Alliance voted today in favor of a referendum in the general population, which will be held in May, specifically on the day of the parliamentary elections, in order to see whether the citizens want or do not want a reform of the Local Government.
In a meeting they had this morning at the offices of the Citizens' Alliance, George Lillikas and Averof Neophytou discussed, among other things, the vote in favor of the revised state budget, the Cyprus issue, as well as the reform of Local Government.
In statements after the meeting, the President of the Democratic Alarm, Averof Neophytou thanked the President of the Alliance, George Lillikas for the important contribution of both the party and himself, in the fact that there is an approved budget, with Cyprus avoiding " adventures, political and economic instability ".
They also discussed despite the different approaches, but with the common goal of rescuing the country from national dangers, in view of the new initiative, which will be taken by the UN Secretary General, for the informal five-day conference.
In addition, Mr. Neophytou said that they have exchanged views on the need for the Government and Parliament to proceed as soon as possible to the bill on state guarantees, noting that "it is the most essential tool to support small and medium-sized businesses in general. place ".
On the issue of local government reform, Mr. Neophytou said that it is "a reform that society and citizens need and it has unfortunately become a party tool, to serve party purposes."
"I heard the opinion of the Alliance, which is also our position. Dear George said to hold, yes, referendums, asking the whole society. I will add that we have parliamentary elections in May. The people, at the same time, with the choice of the party and its deputies, to answer a question whether they want or do not want the reform of the Local Self-Government ", he said.
He added that "there will be no additional costs or additional hassle and we will have several months, based on the decision of the referendum, to proceed to the most correct reform for the local self-government", to add that "when we vote for municipal elections "At the same time, there should be a referendum if the people want the reform of the local self-government and not each municipality and each neighborhood separately".
For his part, the President of the Citizens' Alliance, George Lillikas, said in relation to the budget that "since the basic proposals were met, which would support the vulnerable strata of the people and certain categories of citizens, such as young people with the minimum wage and "pensioners with pensions above the poverty line, but also other proposals submitted by the Alliance, we would support the budget and we did that."
For the five-party, he said that they may have different and different views and policies regarding the Cyprus issue with DISY, however, he noted that they had a constructive discussion about the dangers that lurk and how they could manage this critical turning point of the Cyprus issue. .
"Because it will certainly be crucial, especially after the position of the UN Secretary General yesterday, that he is bound by the Security Council resolutions, but he is ready to listen to any point of view. "This poses great dangers for us, which have to do with the 'legitimation' of Turkey to present in the presence and with the tolerance of the UN Secretary General, the position and the proposal for two states", he said.
On local government issues, he said the Alliance's proposal was from the beginning and remains the same, as a national referendum is held.
As he said "it is wrong and will cause many practical problems to hold local referendums", to add that "many Municipalities that are planned to be consolidated or communities that intervene with each other, we may have one Municipality to vote positively, the intermediate negatively and the third Municipality that borders the second to vote positively ".
"So," he said, "it will not be able to work and because it is not a case that concerns only the citizens or only the citizens of the municipalities that will be unified, but concerns the whole society. The revenues and expenditures of the Municipalities are not covered only by the Citizens, the deficits they presented all these years are covered by the state budget, therefore by all the taxpayers. So to hold a referendum on a nationwide basis whether we want as a society, local government reform or not. "
As for the bill on state guarantees in loans to companies, he said that the Alliance is positive, however, he noted "under certain conditions".
He said some conditions set by the Alliance had been added to the bill, such as for businesses to be viable.
"We will not give guarantees from the state to companies that will not be viable. This is now included in the bill and we are satisfied. We will make some other suggestions, which we discussed with my friend the President of the Democratic Alarm and the Minister of Finance, regarding the guarantee of transparency and the necessary controls that must be done, as well as issues related to the obligations of the companies that will "They are recipients of government guarantees," he added.
Finally, he expressed the assessment that "in the given conditions we live in both as a State and as political forces, a productive dialogue should begin, leaving aside any party or electoral expediencies, and in a spirit of consensus and cooperation to see where we can we converge on proposals, on measures that will help in the fight against corruption and entanglement but also in the solution of the great economic and social problems that our country is facing ".