A THREE-day debate on the 2010 state budget began yesterday at the plenum of the House of Representatives, with speeches by parliamentary leaders covering a wide range of aspects from the Cyprus problem, domestic policy to the economy.
The 2010 budget provides for revenue, excluding loans, of €5.729 billion, surpassing this year’s budget by 6.6 per cent. Expenditure, excluding the paying off of loans, is estimated at €7.922 billion, passing 2009 expenditure by 3.6 per cent.
Presenting the budget to the House last Thursday, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said the 2010 state budget was drawn up in a responsible and balanced manner. It was growth-orientated, with a social vision and contained no new taxes.
“This is the budget that will get us out of the financial crisis,” he said.
Party leaders and their representatives from AKEL, DISY, DIKO, EDEK, EVROKO and the Greens all spoke at the parliamentary debate yesterday, which will culminate with a vote tomorrow. It is believed that the budget will have an easy ride as it has the backing of AKEL, DIKO, EDEK and the Green party. Opposition party DISY and EVROKO are expected to vote against the bill.
AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou yesterday argued that President Demetris Christofias’ government had taken early measures to tackle the financial crisis. “I want to stress this because some people are trying to pass on the message that the government was inactive in handling the crisis. Most importantly, the measures undertaken by the Christofias government had a social orientation,” he said.
Kyprianou also highlighted that the election of Christofias, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Turkey’s progression to the EU now “allow us to talk about a critical if not historic phase in efforts to solve the Cyprus problem”.
The ruling party leader called for unity on the domestic front to achieve the goals set on ending the division.
Opposition DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades warned that the government should not take his party’s support on the Cyprus problem for granted, calling for greater consultation with the party.
He also hit out at recent comments made by Christofias to foreign press regarding the sacrifices he is making as a communist president of a capitalist country in order to reach a solution to the island’s conflict.
“It is inconceivable to hear this from the president of a European country. And he considers it a good deed that he’s running a capitalist state. What does he want to turn it into, one of the regimes from times gone by, which have collapsed,” he asked.
On the Cyprus problem, EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou was downbeat, saying “optimism for a solution is not justified”. He called on the government to freeze all chapters in Turkey’s accession negotiations as long as the latter fails to meet its obligations to Cyprus.
During last week’s briefing before parliament, Stavrakis said the government is aiming towards development, enhanced social cohesion and macroeconomic stability. He pointed out the need to lift the dependency of Cyprus’ economy on tourism and the construction sector.
Referring to the global financial crisis, Stavrakis said Cyprus’ economy has unavoidably been affected, though “thankfully to a lesser degree”.
However, after a year of “lethargic economic activity”, the government is forecasting for 2010 an increase in the public deficit, government debt and the unemployment rate.
Stavrakis warned that 2010 would be “a difficult year”. The latest budget includes provisions for 30 large-scale public projects and hundreds of smaller ones. The government will launch initiatives to limit the bulky civil service payroll through “bold initiatives” while the budget also includes an “ambitious package” for cracking down on tax fraud and tax evasion.
