NEW KID on the block, LASOK yesterday suggested an innovative solution to the problem of unemployment amid parties’ obligatory bickering on the Cyprus problem and other grievances.
“We propose a housewife’s benefit giving the right to any working mother with dependent children to quit her job so that her place can be taken up by a young unemployed person,” said president of the Citizen’s Rights Bureau of the Popular Socialist Movement (LASOK), Lakis Ioannou.
LASOK’s proposal aims to increase employment figures among the young, reduce crime and strengthen family ties.
Meantime, opposition DISY and ruling AKEL tried hard to put on a show of not playing the blame game all the while suggesting that the other party was culprit to sensationalist tactics regarding the Cyprus problem.
AKEL’s leader Andros Kyprianou said that “some politicians come out of the national council criticising the president’s opinions thereby throttling discussion.”
This got a reaction from DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades who told Kyprianou: “You must finally start naming people. You refer to things that have nothing to do with me.”
Strangely, that was also the most amicable exchange among the two, being in effect a break from thinly disguised accusations: Kyprianou earlier said that some politicians did not trust the president and an angry Anastassiades complained that his words were being twisted by “others.”
EDEK and EVROKO also had their say on the Cyprus problem with both having an issue with Christofias’ reference to the need to “give and take.”
Both parties felt there was more giving than taking with EVROKO being the more outspoken: “What more can we give, Mr President?” said its vice-president, Stelios Amerikanos.
The Greens’ contribution to the discussion amounted to declaring their intentions to propose a referendum after elections so that people could decide for themselves how they wanted the negotiations on the Cyprus problem to pan out.
Moving on to other woes, Green Party’s George Perdikis talked about a ten per cent increase in crime during Christofia’s presidency and the police’s failure to get a handle on the situation.
Perdikis added that the Greens would rehash an old law proposal of theirs to tackle the issue.
EDEK talked instead about inflation calling for more effective mechanisms to be placed for the protection of society’s vulnerable sectors.
DISY had a breather from its ongoing conflict with AKEL to discuss green policy.
We must move away from an oil dependent economy towards one making use of natural gas, said Anastassiades.
True to his party line of motivating businesses by way of attractive financial packages, Anastassiades said that recycling and energy policies should come with tax incentives.
