Media debate on welfare benefits to refugees
A media debate was sparked off in July 2010 when a newspaper published a copy of a welfare cheque issued in favour of a non-Greek name for the sum of €7,000 (approx.) and was fuelled by an ERF awareness raising campaign aimed at sensitising public opinion on the plight of refugees. The publicisation of the copy of the cheque led to numerous TV and radio discussions on the allegedly disproportionately high benefits paid to migrants in relation to Cypriots. A complaint against the publicisation of the cheque was submitted to the equality body and is currently pending. The ERF campaign brought about the ironic comments of a retired highly placed civil servant who set out the cases of refugees depicted in the campaign in juxtaposition with cases of Cypriots and “our Greek brothers” who are not entitled to welfare benefits in spite of being poor and in need. The article brought about the reaction of the Interior Minister who wrote to set out the actual asylum figures and criticised the tone of the article as fuelling racism. The Minister connected the views expressed in the article with far right groups and the rise in racist violence experienced in Cyprus recently. The former civil servant responded to the Minister criticising him for his immigration policy which allegedly leads to a dramatic change in Cyprus’ demographic character. The RAXEN NFP director joined the public debate with an article on welfare chauvinism and racist tendencies which was responded to again by the former civil servant. An intensive discussion on the subject also took place amongst bloggers positioning themselves with one or the other line of thought.
Sources:
Ο Φιλελεύθερος, 30.07.2010, http://www.philenews.com/Digital/Default.aspx?d=20100730&nid=2319969.
Ο Φιλελεύθερος, 06.08.2010, http://www.philenews.com/Digital/Default.aspx?d=20100806&nid=2346343.
ANEF_Oriwn, 22.09.2010, http://aneforiwn.blogspot.com/2010/09/702010.html.
