Members of the Cabinet met today for the first time with the participation of young people aged 17–35, as part of the government program titled “Take a Stand.” Nikos Christodoulides presided over the special session, during which he listened to proposals and recommendations regarding issues within each ministry’s portfolio.
Welcoming the representatives of the younger generation, as he put it, the President of the Republic noted, among other things, that “You are here not only symbolically but substantively, to put forward specific recommendations on the issues within your portfolio—recommendations that address what concerns the younger generation today. And we are here to discuss freely and for you to offer criticism, because criticism is part of the Cabinet’s work.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Another point I’d like to mention is something I asked of the members of the Cabinet, and it’s being implemented: a minister, a deputy minister—regardless of gender—is not responsible solely for his or her portfolio. Decisions are made collectively. In other words, you don’t just discuss issues related to your own ministry. The person who, in particular, discusses all matters so that a proposal can be brought before the Cabinet is the Minister of Finance, if the proposal has a financial dimension. First, the proposal is reviewed and evaluated to determine whether it has a financial dimension.
As a member of the Cabinet, you are responsible for all matters.
At the same time, when any issue is being discussed that involves either a personal conflict of interest—if it concerns you, for example— we have absolutely nothing to hide; we are discussing something brought by the Minister of the Interior from the Council on Exemptions regarding an exemption requested by a citizen or a company. If any member of the Cabinet—and we always say this, and it happens in many cases— and a member of the Cabinet has a family relationship, a friendship, or any other connection, they must declare this at the beginning of the discussion and recuse themselves from the decision-making process.
There are decisions we’ve made on which ministers have expressed a different opinion. We don’t come here just to go through the motions; there must be a discussion.
The items on the Cabinet’s agenda are categorized according to the pillars of our pre-election platform—whether they concern people, society, and so on— but there are also more routine matters, such as, for example, who will be appointed Ambassador to the United Kingdom. This is more of a formality than discussing the issue of child benefits—who they apply to and who they affect. That is where substantive discussion takes place. It is not a mere formality. So today, we want to hear your specific suggestions, and wherever you feel criticism is warranted, please voice it.
For us, from the very first day we assumed governance of this country—not as a slogan, but as an essential prerequisite for the decisions we make—it is an obligation that also stems from the European Union —is to achieve the goal of participatory democracy. That is why, for example, for all bills before Parliament, before they come before the Cabinet for approval and are sent to Parliament, we consult with those affected, with civil society organizations, and so on. We truly believe in dialogue, and we demonstrate this through our actions—beyond the ongoing contacts and discussions—of all members of the Cabinet, including myself, the President of the Republic. The President of the Republic does not have a vote in the Cabinet.
We are in constant contact with young people, with society in general, but especially with young people. With most of the decisions we make here, you—the younger generation—will be called upon to live with them, whether positively or negatively, or to bear the cost of the decisions we make, but more generally, this is why one of our first decisions was to lower the voting age to 21, and to implement automatic registration on the voter rolls starting at age 17—we wanted this to take effect for the parliamentary elections, but the Parliament decided it would take effect starting with the 2028 presidential election.
We moved forward, leveraged technology, and we have some digital tools, such as ekfracy and “The Voice of the Citizen,” which enable young people to express their opinions, their positions, and their perspectives, which is extremely important to us.
Today’s session serves to further reinforce our conviction regarding the need for participatory democracy.
Your proposals will not merely be heard; they will be evaluated and, wherever possible, forwarded for implementation. And, of course, the Government will provide its comments on the specific proposals you submit today.
I also think it’s important to mention the selection process—why you are here today and not someone else. You are here as a result of an open call for expressions of interest from young people aged 17 to 35 who had the opportunity to submit their own proposals. We received over 150 proposals; this is particularly important to us, as it proves that the perception held by some in society—that young people aren’t interested, that they don’t have opinions, and so on—is incorrect; this is a completely mistaken approach.
For the sake of full transparency, I would like to mention that last Tuesday, you had the opportunity, through an informational, educational meeting held here at the Cabinet to gain a better understanding of how the Cabinet operates, and the institutional responsibility that each and every one of you bears.
I’ll conclude by saying that today you should make the most of this opportunity freely. Dare to be creative; think outside the box in everything you discuss. Many times—and I want to mention this because just yesterday I was somewhere—through my engagement with society, which I personally strive for constantly, I’ve sought from the very first day I took over the governance of this country—some people see it, and it’s perfectly legitimate for them to criticize me—that I’ve been campaigning since day one —I continue to do what I did during the campaign, because by engaging with society I learn things I didn’t know before. Someone who has no contact with the public is out of touch with reality, and believe me, this past weekend I attended five events, and the amount I learned from people— the problems that concern people and society—these were issues that, I won’t hide it, I wasn’t aware of some of them. It was very important that, through these interactions, issues emerged that we must address, because the concerns expressed are entirely justified.
I would like to thank the Commissioner for Citizens’ Rights for this initiative, the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, the Secretariat for Coordination and Support of Government Work, and let us begin the discussion.”
