Charalakis: «Is it worth it to start a serious conversation with Mr. Sofios?»

The political confrontation in Kythera takes on new intensity, after the latest post of Mayor Efstratios Harhalakis, who comes back with a particularly sharp position towards Anargyros Sophios. The Mayor, now openly questioning the seriousness of the dialogue with the head of the opposition, speaks of «populism», «ignorance of self-government» and «youthful impertinence», while bringing to the fore the absence of Mr. Sophiou from the tourism conference and the meeting of the Tourism Committee of the KEDE in Kythera.

Below is the Mayor's full statement:

Is it worth opening a serious dialogue with Mr Sophio?;

I'm not asking in a derogatory way, but in a substantive way. Because Mr. Sophios has been telling us nothing for 3 years except that he wants to be Mayor. Without a costed and clear programme, apart from very specific things, such as: withdrawing the municipality from the Islands Network (i.e. the LEADER programme!) and supporting his party's proposed candidate for the Home because he has a nice smile!

I did not intend to deal with the case of Mr.Sophiou any further, but since his youthful impudence is very great, I will give him some answers, not so much so that he can hear them, but mainly so that even the most sceptical people can understand what exactly a man who is so fiercely seeking to become Mayor stands for.

1. Mr. Sophios has no right to impose on the deputy mayor Ms. Varda (or anyone else) how and what exactly he will answer his questions. We have the right to answer as we see fit, either with specific facts and documents, or with questions to the questioner, or with a poem that may fit the occasion. Our right. If he doesn't like Mr. Wise's answer, that's his problem. In that case, it would be good for him not to scratch the goo of the shepherd. Because his absence from the Tourism Conference and the in person honorary for our island meeting of the Tourism Committee of the KEDE (of which he is a member) at the Kythera Town Hall, was and remains provocative.

2. Mr. Sophios is a LACIST. And one of the biggest populists who have passed through the communities of Kythera. Every municipality, every local government, encounters a small noisy section that produces noise instead of arguments (some call these groups «the misery gang»). Kythera is no exception. Mr Sophios often tries to convince us that the projects have no name and «would have been done anyway»! He thus shows not only his populism but also his total ignorance of how local government works. If that were the case, why weren't all these projects we are doing today done 15 and 20 and 25 years ago, in the days of fat cows and when today's time-consuming procedures and permitting were not required? Why, for example, did our municipality not have a single legal sports field or a certified playground? Why was the Kapsali WWTP only allowed to operate at 15% of its true potential? The whys are many. The answer is one: projects are not automatically approved, nor are they given to us, Mr Sophie. We invest in studies, we spend significant amounts of money to have complete files, we apply with vision and planning, we submit proper technical reports, we have proper technical assistance, we spend all our personal and family time in serving the municipality and its citizens and we deliver results, that's what bothers you. All of this has a name, whether it suits your narrative or not. Young people Mr. Sophie are generally leaving the province, not just Kythera and in the few exceptions where this has been temporarily halted there are very specific reasons you would be well advised to look for. And this requires central government policies to reverse it. It requires well-paid jobs, which - sorry to spoil your dream - the municipalities are not creating. It requires low taxation and support for island business, which again is not the responsibility of the municipalities. However, when we were voting on the budget, which includes, among other things, doctors« and teachers» allowances, the projects that are currently completed or being carried out, you, as a party, were totally FUCKING AWAY. When we were announcing how many jobs had been maintained or created on the island by the LEADER programme, you, with a great deal of youthful foolishness, were proclaiming "the decoupling of the Municipality from the Islands Network", which is necessarily the ODA of the programme! Do you really know how the dozens of beneficiaries of the Programme on the island felt about this announcement alone (some of whom may be your constituents)? That's a very nice provision for the locals you envision! Bravo!

3. Mr. Sophios is also a LIAR. Because he sees «stagnation» on the island under our administration. If this were true, the election results would not vindicate us in 2019 or 2023. I guess Mr. Sophios is missing something. Because the projects that are being and have been done on the island since 2015 until today cannot even remotely compare in terms of amount and scope with what was done decades ago (with a few exceptions, such as the Hospital and the Port, the Myrtidia bypass and the WWTP). All these projects are not done for me, they are done for the locals, the young people, the professionals that Mr. Sophios constantly invokes, with a lot of hypocrisy. The municipal projects that Mr Sophios does not vote for in the Budget are the most essential support for the citizens. The rest is theory and air.

In the face of those who desperately attempt to build political careers on toxicity and nihilism, I will not be silent. Anyone who has concrete, well thought-out and costed proposals will bring them to the table of the institutions. Anyone who merely has a narrative and personal goals sends them to a blog.

The Municipal Authority will continue its work unhindered, and those who attempt to create a climate of denigration and nihilism will receive the appropriate response, as befits anyone who chooses to operate outside the boundaries of political seriousness.

Kythera is moving forward. The projects will not stop, they will continue, they will be completed, they will work and we will bring even more, even if this spoils the narrative of Mr. Sophiou.
Misery and nihilism are rejected by society itself.

And one last thing: it is good that any grammatical knowledge in the documents should be in line with the spontaneous spoken word... and God forbid...