Elam targets bicommunal funding in budget debate

Elam has moved to strip funding from bicommunal education and migration programmes through a series of amendments to the 2026 state budget on Wednesday.

As parliament prepared for a final vote on the fiscal plan, Elam proposed abolishing all credits linked to confidence building measures, including funding for new crossing points and bicommunal initiatives.

Central to the party’s proposal is the defunding of the state scholarship scheme that supports Turkish Cypriot students attending the English School.

Elam argues that public funds should be reserved exclusively for Greek Cypriots, calling for an immediate halt to tuition subsidies for Turkish Cypriot pupils.

Elam went further in its assault on the English School itself by suggesting cutting the school’s annual state grant in full, rejecting its bicommunal role and framing the funding as a ‘threat to the Republic’s sovereignty’.

The English School, unlike other private institutions, is governed by a board of directors appointed by the council of ministers, making its funding a matter of state policy.

The school resumed its bicommunal mission in 2003 and remains one of the few institutions where Greek and Turkish Cypriot students are educated together.

Elam has also renewed its push to dismantle migration related spending.

The party is seeking the complete removal of financial allowances for asylum seekers, the defunding of reception centres and the cancellation of new facilities, including those planned for Limnes.

It insists that the state should ‘abandon integration policies’ in favour of ‘mass deportations’.

Parliamentary parties across the spectrum have signalled that the amendments will not pass, reaffirming commitments to international obligations and social cohesion.

Disy leader and house speaker Annita Demetriou dismissed claims that parliament was adopting far right migration policies, stressing that the budget is grounded in responsible management rather than populist cuts.

The Law Office has previously warned that withdrawing scholarships on ethnic grounds would expose Cyprus to discrimination lawsuits.