Tag: Nicos Anastasiades

In an attempt to show he was a magnanimous winner committed to building unity, after his re-election President Anastasiades announced he would go through the election manifestos of his rival candidates and adopt their policy proposals that he thought would be good for the country. First, he invited the leader of the Citizens’ Alliance Giorgos Lillikas to the presidential palace and after the meeting it was reported that among other things the president would adopt the proposal for subsidised heating fuel for residents of mountain villages. Not surprisingly the proposals the president agreed to implement were the type all our politicians embrace and consisted of spending the taxpayer’s money on supposedly worthy causes. Increasing state spending is the only economic policy that our political leaders understand and support unquestioningly. Diko participated in the 2013 Anastasiades government for its first year in office before Papadopoulos decided to withdraw over disagreements on the Cyprus problem. Diko’s informal alliance with the government has a very high cost for the taxpayer, even if the government would in this way buy the party’s support to get reforms through parliament. Interestingly, the last time these bills were taken to the House plenum Diko voted against them. While this high-maintenance alliance will ensure the government’s reform bills are passed a broader issue is raised. They did not and Anastasiades is cheating his voters by agreeing to implement Papadopoulos’ wasteful policies. He pretended to be a pro-settlement president, which quite clearly he was not, while the idea that he was committed to prudent economic policies was exposed as a myth long before he invited Papadopoulos to help with the squandering of the taxpayer’s money.