The state will not bow to pressure that does not have public interest at its epicentre, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Monday evening, referring to the state hospital doctors’ planned 48-hour strike on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Addressing the Business Leader Awards, the president called on everyone involved to rise to the occasion and find a solution without outside interference.
A crisis, he said, would be in no one’s interest.
“I want to make it clear in the most categorical way that the state is not going to succumb to pressure that does not serve the interests of the whole of society or acts as a hindrance to the major reforms that must be implemented and that we set in motion to further upgrade and modernise our country,” he said.
The president added that health and education, to which the largest part of the state budget was allocated, could not be used to serve other interests.
Christodoulides said no one was questioning the right to strike, however “especially in the sectors of education and health we need to be more serious.”
