The opinions expressed from various sides regarding the poor performance of Nikos Christodoulides in his first year of his presidency are not unfair.
However, it would be wrong for these criticisms to be limited to the familiar and detested whirlwind of political confrontation, usually of a stadium-like nature.
The issue is for the President himself to reflect on his actions and deeds so far.
Not, of course, with the flatterers who always go hand in hand with high-ranking figures, but with himself first, and with one or two people. Preferably, outside his circle.
The President’s problem is not just communicative. Positive work speaks for itself, even if you have the best team beside you, which I don’t think is the case here.
His problem is that he isn’t convinced that he is the President, rather than just an influencer…
The beautiful adventure of politics begins and ends with the basics. This is wonderfully stated, as food for thought, by Eftychis Vardoulakis, a strategic and communication consultant and co-founder of the company Stratego.
He studied Political Science at the University of Athens and did postgraduate studies in Political Communication at City University in London:
“The basic issue in politics does not change. It is the demand for a better life. That simple. Except for some special circumstances where national issues are at stake or ethical issues prevail, what interests people is how their lives will improve and how they themselves will feel part of the changes taking place.”
The truth is that, as the great American short story writer, journalist, poet, and veteran of the American Civil War, Ambrose Bierce, said, politics is a struggle of interests disguised as a competition of principles.
I am not the right person to describe the “ideal model” of a good politician. But I always remember the great saying of Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the USA (1801-1809), that “when a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.” Not a public servant…
In defiance of our toxic, often inward-looking attitude, a glaring example of which we have experienced in recent days:
Around the figure we elected as President, and not with the ever-diminishing Cyprus left to us (quantitatively and qualitatively), today in Parliament, the main and most important news for a long time is Putin’s war in Ukraine, and its global repercussions.
Around the reaction of religious parties in Greece to the bill on adoption by our homosexual fellow human beings.
… the main and most important news for a long time is Putin’s war in Ukraine, 719 days today, and its global repercussions.
In Memoriam: I didn’t know Petros Papadopoulos. His son, the publisher of Politis, was killed while repairing, if I understood correctly, a machine in an olive press in Limassol. I read what my colleagues wrote and posted, along with his photo. But what stayed in my mind was his gaze. Crystal clear. With the stamp of hope. For the future…
I see the same gaze almost every day in the headlines. Apart from those on open war fronts, here in Greece, young people are lost in the madness of the asphalt almost every day. The next day, their photos are posted, over which I shed my tears. And an angry complaint: God, you can’t take people’s lives like this in the midst of their enthusiasm for life. Think about it…
