Press Statement by the Portuguese Communist Party

The PCP General Secretary, Jerónimo de Sousa, and Ângelo Alves, member of the Political Committee of the Central Committee and of the PCP's International Department, during a visit to Cyprus at the invitation of the Progressive Party for the Working People (AKEL), held a meeting with its General Secretary, Andros Kyprianou, and the leadership of AKEL.

During the visit, which took place on June 19, the PCP delegation also held meetings with the Chairperson of the Cypriot Parliament, Yiannakis Omirou, and with the leadership of the Cypriot class trade union central (PEO – Pancyprian Federation of Labour).

The PCP delegation visited the cities of Nicosia and Larnaka. In Nicosia it had the opportunity of visiting the “green line” which divides the Cypriot island since the 1974 coup d'Etat that resulted in the Turkish occupation of 37% of the Cypriot territory. In Larnaka, the PCP delegation took part in a public meeting where AKEL made public and debated with the population its proposal that Cyprus exits the Eurozone and its rejection of the so-called “memorandum of understanding” that was agreed between the right-wing Government, headed by President Nicos Anastasiades, the European Union and the IMF.

The main goals of the PCP's visit were to become better acquainted with Cypriot reality after the signing of the “memorandum of understanding” and to reiterate the solidarity of the Portuguese Communists with AKEL, and with the Cypriot workers and people, in their struggle against the impositions of the European Union and the IMF, for an end to the Turkish occupation and for the reunification of Cyprus.

PCP and AKEL also held talks with a view to ensuring the cooperation of both Parties in the struggle for another Europe, of the workers and the peoples, namely taking into account the forthcoming elections for the European Parliament, in May 2014. PCP and AKEL are both members of the Europena United Left/Nordic Green Left Group in the European Parliament.

The PCP delegation's visit allowed it to witness the extreme violence of the measures that are being imposed upon the Cypriot people, as a result of the signing of the “memorandum of understanding”. These measures seek to challenge, not just the living standards and the social and labour rights of the Cypriot workers and people, but also the sovereignty of Cyprus, namely its control of its natural resources, in particular the natural gas reserves which were recently discovered in Cypriot territorial waters.

The visit to Cyprus has made it possible to confirm and strengthen the traditional relations of friendship, cooperation and solidarity between the Portuguese and the Cypriot Communists.

June 21, 2013
The PCP's Press Office