The government “has no policy that comprehensively addresses the elderly’s issues”, Disy MP Rita Superman said on Tuesday.

Speaking on the second day of the parliamentary debate on the state budget, she said the government also has “no flexible strategic plan” to ensure this sector is integrated into society.

To this end, she called for funds to be allocated for housing for elderly people, for carers to be “protected”, and for “decent” pensions to be provided.

She also spoke about people with disabilities, saying the government must ensure access to quality health services, mental health support and social support with the aim of keeping society accessible for disabled people.

This point was met with agreement by Dipa leader Marios Garoyian, who said that “for years, decades even, people with disabilities have been conspicuously absent from the state’s welfare system”.

“Even after 2011 and the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the state has never fully implemented its provisions and has never ensured that people with disabilities can live with dignity,” he said.

Meanwhile, Akel MP Valentinos Fakontis described the government’s budget as “colourless” and “visionless”, and added that it “does not provide answers to the major challenges facing our society”.

“The model of this budget also favours the oligopolies of banks, energy and fuel, while the country’s economic benefits are ending up in the hands of the economic elites,” he said.

Meanwhile, Alexandra Attalides, who belongs to Volt, expressed pessimism for the future.

“Extreme toxic positions are trampling on the universal values of democracy, equality and solidarity. The economic and health crises we faced created conditions of social unrest which were exploited by the far right, which, with algorithms as its ally, now sets the agenda and the level of public debate,” she said.

She said that for this reason “we would have expected the state to have policies which would have the corresponding budget funds to address this populism and debasement.”

“We expected it to prioritise the welfare state, more for the elderly, daycare structures, home care, infrastructure for decent living, all-day schooling for children, support for single parents, and addressing the high cost of living.”

Akel MP Marina Nicolaou chose to focus on foreign policy, criticising the government’s position regarding conflicts in the Middle East.

She expressed her distaste for “the acrobatics of those who govern us, who trigger the risk that our country, instead of being a bridge of peace between the Middle East and Europe, risks turning into a war base for Nato”.

She also criticised “those who secretly celebrate the reactionary forces which overnight were baptised ‘rebels’ and were presented as ‘liberators’ of the Syrian people”, before turning her attention to Palestine and Israel.

On that issue, she said, “for more than a year now, a lasting crime has been committed against the heroic people of Palestine, with the backing of the powerful of the earth.

“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s far-right government is committing genocide against the Palestinians, disregarding every principle of international and humanitarian law against a people who are experiencing the longest occupation in modern history and who have been fighting for justice for decades.”

She added, “a recent study showed something which is beyond the human mind, for those who still want to be called human: 49 per cent of children in Gaza wish to die, and you close your eyes.”