DISY to vote against budget

OPPOSITION party DISY has given the thumbs-down to the 2009 budget, which comes up for vote at the plenum today.

During the second day of debate yesterday, DISY deputy Christos Stylianides said his party would vote against the budget on principle.

Calling the government’s financial blueprint for 2009 uninspiring and short-sighted, Stylianides said the budget was ill-equipped to deal with the impact of the global credit crunch.

He went on to criticise the communist government for a “dogma-driven” approach to drafting the budget.

Nevertheless, the DISY deputy welcomed the government’s move to issue €1.4 billion in treasury notes in a bid to boost commercial banks’ short-term liquidity.

Stylianides came up with a novel proposal, namely, that discussion of the Cyprus problem should be banned from the plenum.

“If we want to talk about the Cyprus problem on an annual basis, then we should do this separately. By mixing the two subjects [Cyprus and the budget] we are confusing people.”

The normally tedious discussion got interesting yesterday after Soteris Sampson, another DISY MP, said he had evidence that the government planned to sell land on which army camps are built.

The comments outraged Defense Minister Costas Papacostas, who said he would not even dignify the allegations with a response.

The European Party is expected to join DISY in voting against the budget today. But support from ruling AKEL, DIKO, EDEK and the Greens will ensure that it will pass.

Meanwhile EDEK’s Giorgos Varvava raised concerns over mounting reports of nepotism within government departments and SGOs.

In particular, he drew attention to recent appointments at the Electricity Authority of Cyprus, accusing its board of “going overboard.”

The MP complained also that little had been done to combat profiteering, a problem acknowledged by the government.

“How is it possible… for a breadwinner, for a father of a large family, or a pensioner to get by on €300 to €400 a month?” he mused.

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