-The Christodoulidis-Erchiurman Communication
– Anita-Averoff and… “all is well”
– The big pension bubble
– Stefanos’s lunch with the “candidate”
Have a good day. The past week has been difficult and tragic. As if everything August has thrown at us so far weren’t enough, this year has decided to add its own tragedies. And in doing so, it has exposed all the filth that some people hide in their souls.
• What some people have written about the tragic shipwreck off Kyrenia is truly shameful and indicative of a society in decay. Rejoicing in the deaths of people—especially young children—does not make one any more of a “patriot.” It simply reveals what a wretched person they are and just how much nonsense has accumulated in their brain. And as was rightly pointed out very early on, all of these people used to spout their nonsense in cafes and at family dinner tables. Now they’re parading it in public view through social media.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
• Thankfully, our President stood his ground. He offered to help—if you believe in God—via a text message he sent to Erhurman. Via text message! Reports that he wrote in the message, “So, do you want help, huh?” have not been confirmed. Oh, and four days later, he remembered to express his condolences before the Cabinet. No prior statement, no post like the ones he usually makes. And there are still people who doubt his determination to move forward with a solution to the Cyprus problem…
• Averof, however, is not among them. In fact, he states that he will stand by him if he moves forward. In other words, to be clear, based on his actions to date, does Averoff conclude that the President is moving in the right direction? Or is all of this just a ploy to provoke Anita and play both sides? The cunning Argakas is in danger, for the first time, of getting trapped by his own maneuvers. And mark my words.
• As for Anita, she’s not holding back. She’s given Christodoulides the cold shoulder, put together her shadow cabinet, is holding daily meetings with unions and federations, and is trying on her presidential suit. Between you and me, Anita, some of the people you’ve been talking to have started making sarcastic comments about your constant requests for meetings. You might want to watch that a little.
• In any case, she says, the two met on Thursday afternoon, and according to the leaks that were circulated (who leaked them?), everything is “all honey and milk.” Now, we’re not sure who’s fooling whom, but we’ll find out very soon once the internal party machinery gets rolling. Until then, everyone can keep up the act of being calm and friendly.
• Over at AKEL, is everything okay? They say they’ll decide on their own candidate soon, too. However, that lunch the Stefanou couple had last week with Andreas Mavrogiannis and Panikos Papanikolaou (a collaborator and sponsor of Mavrogiannis’s 2023 campaign), did not go unnoticed. “Everything will depend on the polls we conduct,” a source from the inner circle of decision-makers told me.
• Mr. Makis (Keravnos), you haven’t exactly accustomed us to such sleight of hand. What was that you told us—that the surge in inflation (5.2%) was due to the tourism we had during that period? So that even we laypeople can understand: last year, when we had more tourism and inflation was at 0%, what exactly happened? You can’t be touting our strong performance last year and then trying to justify it this year in a way that isn’t convincing.
• And since we’re on the subject of ministers, let me tell you something that’s going to blow up very soon. This much-touted pension reform by Mousioutta will turn out to be a big bubble. Behind its various provisions, there’s an attempt to push through some minor changes—but with a five-year timeframe. It’s as if to say, we’ll make a little show today that will cover the next presidential term, and then you’ll be scrambling again over the 12% penalty, the possibility of raising contributions, and even the possibility of extending the retirement age to 67. After all, we’re not entitled to a third presidential term.
• What else will we see before the presidential election? The President says he’ll convene a Cabinet meeting with… new ministers. No, this isn’t just another reshuffle. It’s the brilliant idea of reaching out to young people who can submit an application, a resume, and the proposals they wish to put forward in order to be “appointed” to the position of minister for a session to be chaired by President Christodoulides. DIKO, as I’ve been told, has already secured five “young minister” positions for NEDIK…
• We’ll discuss EDEK next week because, at the time this column was written, the situation hadn’t yet become clear. But what can one say about a party that began with Doros Loizou’s “I’ll throw my hair back” and ended up in a tug-of-war among its own members?
• Returning to the Kyrenia shipwreck and its political ramifications, the only Cypriot politician who ultimately had—and still has—a vision for the reunification of this country is Mustafa Akinci. When he was leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, he both accepted and sought assistance from the Greek Cypriot side on two separate occasions. And now, he put it very clearly to his compatriots: “If we could have reached a solution in Cyprus, if we had been operating within the framework of the EU and international law, would this disaster have happened? Throughout my political life, as I have fought for a solution, for the EU, and for international law, my fundamental goal has been for our society to live in an order governed by rules.”
Have a nice Sunday and an even better week.
