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President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday sought to cut through the noise on social media and elsewhere by speaking directly to the public through a press conference – but faced some tough questions from a skeptical press pool.
Flanked by key members of the cabinet, Christodoulides presented an overview of the new government’s victories achieved within its first 100 days – ranging from a deal on the cost-of-living allowance (CoLA) and reducing migration to increasing support for low-income pensioners.
But after his speech, the president faced a barrage of questions on the government’s policy on the Cyprus problem, with concerns also raised over allegations of nepotism and the mishandling of appointments to public positions.
The press conference was billed as an opportunity to inform the public of the government’s policies and actions – therefore dispelling unjustified critcisim, but others viewed it as the president trying to get ahead of bad press and a lackluster start.
For many, its policies and debates on bills in parliament have been overshadowed by a series of early “own goals”.
Critics say that there were hopes Cyprus would turn the page on corruption, but these were soon dashed after a number of appointments as ministerial ‘advisors’ – persons either very young, supposedly unqualified and with ties to Christodoulides’ camp – backfired spectacularly.
The president responded on Tuesday but acknowledging that some cases were mishandled but insisted that the focus should instead be on these mistakes being immediately addressed – not having been covered up.
Earlier this month, a poll commissioned by daily Politis found 55 per cent of those surveyed had a negative rating for the new administration – in contrast to the 52 per cent in which in won the election with.
The new government was sworn in on March 1.
Some analysts have viewed the government’s more successful policies as coming from the interior ministry, headed by former health minister Constantinos Ioannou.
Those include the overhaul of refugee housing as part of the state’s ‘Ktizo’ scheme, along with the its handling of the migration issue – such as creating a new deputy migration ministry and reducing the number of rejected asylum seekers.
The symbolism surrounding the first 100 days in office came from US President Franklin Roosevelt’s first three months in power, where the administration pressed through major bills to get the economy back on track.
That’s a lot to live up to, but often the expectations from the first 100 days are self-imposed – candidates on the campaign trail seemingly promise the earth and seek to energise voters.
The first 100 days are viewed as a sweet spot where the administration can take credit for the positive developments but also bat away most complications – “it’s what we inherited, we haven’t had time yet” and so on.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Mail
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Mail
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