The miscommunication among the governing officials, resulting in the Government being absent from the discussion on the State Budget, was one aspect of the scenario that came to light and concerned the overall relationship between the Presidential and Parliamentary entities.
A second aspect unfolded behind the scenes in the meeting rooms of parliamentary groups, especially those of the allied parties.
While the leaderships of DIKO and DIPA may maintain a low profile, there is now a growing dissatisfaction among their parliamentary groups towards the Government and its approach to allied parties.
According to information reported by Phileleftheros, both within the parliamentary group of DIKO and among the MPs of DIPA, there is discontent over the rejection of a series of requests that were submitted as proposals to the Presidency.
As for EDEK, sources suggest that after the disagreement regarding the discussion and final voting on the foreclosures bill, the relationship of the party to the government has deteriorated.
Before the start of Monday’s Plenary Session, the parliamentary group of DIKO convened in the absence of its party president, Nikolas Papadopoulos. During the session, strong criticisms were voiced by party members against the Government and President Christodoulides for the way supporting parties are treated.
Reportedly, a party member remarked in the corridors of the House that even Nikos Anastasiades, whose government the party did not support, adopted more proposals from DIKO in the state budget than Nikos Christodoulides, whose election they supported.
During the session of the DIKO parliamentary group, specific references were made to proposals related to defense and health.
The proposals submitted by DIKO MPs were rejected. Party sources pointed out the following: “We struggle inside the House, we bear the cost, but they completely ignore us when it comes to political axes and well-founded requests that could be promoted for implementation through the state budget.”
Judging from the statements of DIKO MPs in the House during their speeches, their dissatisfaction with the Government was evident. It is indicative that there was no tendency to support or highlight the government’s work by almost any MP.
More critical in his statement was MP Pavlos Mylonas, noting that the budget “does not have a philosophy supportive of the populace nor does it herald any change, it does not carry a vision so necessary for our country, a vision that we MPs should have presented throughout the previous period.”
The dissatisfaction with the Government’s attitude towards the political positions of DIPA is also intense.
As party sources mentioned, proposals could have been adopted, such as the issue of parliamentary associates, the low salaries of public servants, and even the creation of a heliport in Lakatamia.
They noted that the problem of coordination with the Christodoulides Government has not been resolved, resulting in disagreements.
Initially, yesterday, the Government attempted to attribute its complete absence from the Budget discussion to the session of the Council of Ministers and the obligations of the Ministers.
The session of the Council of Ministers was on Tuesday morning, while the Plenary Session was in the afternoon.
Later, in the briefing of journalists, the Government Spokesperson talked about an omission and a mistake.
“The absence of members of the executive authority created an image, which is by no means due to disrespect for the executive authority. In any case, it was an omission, it was a mistake that we acknowledge,” he said.
