By Theano Kalavana
There is one word that Nikos Christodoulides has elevated into an entire political philosophy: “readiness”. He is ready for talks. Fully ready for an enlarged conference. Ready to table new proposals. Ready to discuss confidence-building measures. Ready to seize every window of opportunity. So ready, in fact, that he is close to completing his term still waiting to begin.
Readiness is not an achievement
Someone should explain to the President that readiness is not a political achievement. It is the precondition for starting work. In psychology, a vast body of research shows that intention alone is not enough to achieve a goal. Bridging the gap between intention and action takes specific skills. That is why a President cannot ask for political credit for declaring himself ready to do the job he was elected to do. Nor can he present the constant repetition of his intentions as proof of effectiveness. From March 2023 to today, almost four years later, how many times have we heard about readiness, initiatives, momentum, a positive climate and windows of opportunity? And what exactly has changed on the ground?
Not a single new crossing point
Not a single new crossing point has opened. Not one new passage to make daily life easier for Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Of course, crossing points are not opened unilaterally. No one is asking Christodoulides to perform miracles or to overlook Ankara’s responsibilities. But we are asking him to explain how he understands political initiative when, after so many meetings, the only tangible result is yet another announcement of readiness.
Proposals without results
The visit of María Ángela Holguín this week offers another opportunity for the government’s favourite narrative of momentum. Yet even before returning to Cyprus, the UN Secretary-General’s envoy made sure to bring back down to earth those who still confuse meetings with progress. “What matters is not the number of proposals, but the political will to agree on them and implement them.” Christodoulides has nineteen proposals. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman has seven. They could have nineteen thousand. If none is implemented, the numbers mean very little. Unless, that is, we introduce a new benchmark for measuring presidential effectiveness: the number of proposals tabled, regardless of the outcome. Holguín also reminded the leaders that their political calculations cannot outweigh the prospect of a reunited Cyprus. That observation carries particular weight in a country where the Cyprus problem is often treated more as a matter of managing political cost than as a historic responsibility.
Readiness as a way of governing
In the end, it seems that the “readiness” the President keeps invoking has become a hallmark of the government as a whole. On wildfires, for example, this year we were once again debating the level of readiness, the gaps that had been identified and everything that should have been done after the destruction of the previous summer. On energy, we keep hearing about plans, strategies and projects that will transform our energy future, while citizens are paying the cost of the delays today. On water, we talk about the need to speed up infrastructure, while water scarcity does not wait for government meetings to end. We were ready for foot-and-mouth disease, and we lost a huge part of our livestock farming!
Intention presented as action
I suspect this may be Nikos Christodoulides’ greatest political success. He has managed to present intention as action, process as results and waiting as strategy. He has turned political stagnation into permanent preparation for a breakthrough that is always just a little further down the road. After the next meeting. After the next visit. After the next conference. After the next window of opportunity.
Time keeps passing
And meanwhile, time passes. Not the President’s political time, which can be filled with visits, meetings, statements and photographs. What passes is the real time of a society that still lives with division. It is the time of people waiting at the crossing points, of young people growing up without knowing the other community, of refugees growing old, and of opportunities for cooperation that are being lost.
Another trilateral meeting on 9 November
Another trilateral meeting has been scheduled for 9 November. We will most likely hear once again about a constructive climate, a frank exchange of views and the need to continue efforts. I hope that this time we are proved wrong. I hope there is at least one concrete result. Because Cyprus does not need a President who is permanently ready to begin. It needs a President who can show us what he has achieved. And above all, we need to stop treating the absence of results as normal, as long as it comes with the right statements.
For history will not record how ready Nikos Christodoulides declared himself to be. It will record what he did. And so far, amid so much readiness and so many windows of opportunity, the only window that seems consistently wide open is the one between his words and his actions.
