Efstratios χαρχαλάakis: Our actions for the ship - responsible information

Friends,
On Tuesday 6/2 in the afternoon, the ship AQUA JEWEL, struck the breakwater of the port of Diakoftium of Kythera, during its maneuvers to Kissamos, and after having disembarked passengers and vehicles from Piraeus, after 3 attempts to dock. The wind in the area was gusting over 8bf.
Immediately after the accident, the Civil Protection of the Municipality, the responsible Deputy Mayor G. The Municipality's Municipal Department, the responsible Municipal Commissioner G. Katsanevakis, the Deputy Mayors D. Kalligeros (President of the Municipal Transport Authority) and P. Zantiotis, the President of the Board etc. were at the port in order to assist in any way possible.

Personally, I did not stop for a minute to ask the competent authorities for the immediate launching of a ship, both in writing and with my constant telephone communications with the competent Minister, the Deputy Minister, the Chief of the Greek Navy and every competent person. At this point, however, it should be understood that neither the municipalities have their own ships, nor does the Ministry of Shipping. The ships belong to the shipowning companies and it is practically impossible for them to leave their lines and come to Kythera just by «order», as some people think. Even the ships that seem to be «sitting» and not operating a route, also cannot be launched in a few days as they have no crew or valid certificates.

In addition, the January-February period is the most difficult for shipping as most ships are in their annual standstill for repairs and it is also impossible to start sailing with the engines open.

The public service line contracts, and the terms of the notice, do NOT provide for mandatory replacement, replacement is potential, the contract and the notice say «may» not «shall». Contracts are under the supervision of the Court of Auditors and the EU authorities related to competition, the framework in which they are concluded is very specific and no body, mayor etc. can interfere with it. I would like to dwell on this a little bit. We have read and heard utopian proposals and theories according to which an inter-party committee should be set up to draft (!) and impose (!) on the YEN the terms of the contract with the shipowning companies! These contracts are based on specific terms of declarations which MUST follow both National and EU law of healthy competition. The terms, down to their last word, are set in accordance with this Law which NO ONE - however enlightened - can change. That is the truth, the rest is just for internal consumption.

So let's not take everything lightly. I recall that in midsummer 2017 the CORNAROS was severely damaged and left our line. In the middle of the summer. We didn't have a revolution then, nor a demonstration outside the YEN, because even if we did, there was NO other ship available. We made the right moves, we went to the SAA, we demanded and achieved a very large increase in subsidies and within 3 months of the discontinuation of the Kornaros, the service to Piraeus, Gythio and Crete was restored with the launch of the IONIS. And we achieved an additional 2nd weekly subsidized service to Antikythera with the local ferry, which ensures until today the viability of our daily reliable connection with Neapolis Laconia.

What we did about the current problem:
1. We deserved and PURPOSED the realization of daily flights from/to Athens until 19/2 with OA in order to serve the travelling public.
2. We deserved and PEPYCHAME the emergency supply of the island with a vessel of the Navy, which despite the adversities due to the adverse weather conditions, successfully completed its mission. At this point I would like to state my strong opposition to any kind of ironic-negative comment on this issue, especially from people who have nothing to do with issues of warship navigation, because on the one hand they insult people and nationally critical government services (which of course are always invoked for the danger from the East), and on the other hand they create false impressions in the general public.
3. We deserved and WE ACHIEVED the temporary ro-ro ferry service from Neapolis to Kythera 3 times a week (including 1 to Antikythera). We clarify that Ro-Ro type vessels are NOT allowed to carry passengers for 2 main reasons: a) they do NOT have the lifesaving equipment provided for the transport of passengers and b) they do NOT have adequate accommodation facilities. In particular, the lack of adequate life-saving equipment is a condition that no one (not even the Minister himself) can, and rightly so, override.
4. We deserved and ACHIEVED the launching of a state-of-the-art and fast ship from/to Neapolis by the end of February, the HELLENIC HIGHSPEED, of HELLENIC SEAWAYS, which will operate without passengers and vehicles having to pay a ticket! In order to achieve this, the personal dynamic intervention of the former Deputy Minister of Shipping Mr. Kostas Katsafados and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Shipping Mr. Kyriazopoulos, who literally personally undertook to find a ship for the transport of passengers in constant cooperation with me.
5. We worked daily with both the ownership of the AQUA JEWEL and the owners of the PORFYROUSA, with the aim of a quicker return of the local ship to our line. To their credit, Mr. Tsailas and Mr. Tourlomousis expedited the work so that they could return to our line in case there was no other ship. As far as Mr Iliopoulos is concerned, our cooperation has been daily, resulting in the only feasible and achievable solutions being found, given that the current period is extremely difficult due to the annual immobilisation of many ships.
6. We deserved and MADE the mobilization of the SS to transport stranded passengers to/from Antikythera and supplies/food. Our thanks to the Chief and the worthy officers of the SS are heartfelt.

We note that passengers who have suffered all this inconvenience reserve every right to seek legal compensation for all the expenses they have incurred without any responsibility whatsoever on their part.

The obligation to have an Operational Plan in case of a peacetime blockade of an inhabited island is the sole responsibility and competence of the Ministry of Defence and not of the Municipalities. We have proposed this to the political leadership and on the occasion of the Kythera incident, we have reiterated our proposal. I believe it will be done, so that there is a clear (but implementable and not theoretical-useless) manual of actions for each involved entity in similar cases.

We also reiterate our long-standing proposal: that the Naval Ministry should annually lease a security ship, which would be compensated only to sit and wait. But when such a problem arises, when a ship serving an island suddenly breaks down or is withdrawn for whatever reason (e.g. as is the case now in Kythera, a few years ago in Samothrace, etc.), then there will be this safety ship (such as the Navy's Skopun) which will be launched immediately.

For those who have given a recital of insults, irony, malice, empathy and nihilism, I want to tell them that the Mayors are not responsible for the weather, nor for the ships and planes, nor do they have their own boats, nor can they order a ship to leave Milos and come to Kythera. That is, they have neither the knife nor the melon. Mr Alexis Haritsis, the President of «New Left», should also know this, who was annoyed by my public thanks to people who actually helped in the situation these days. So let me remind Mr. Haritsis, that when he was Minister of Interior (2018-2019), he was not very interested in institutionally and statutorily strengthening the role of the Mayors so that they are indeed local governance bodies and not the daily self-flagellators of the State, but he only cared about voting for «simple proportional representation», a law that is thoroughly undemocratic, which gave local superpowers to purely minority and opportunistic political groups (as has been amply demonstrated), dissolving dozens of municipalities in the name of a fake democracy, which is not democracy at all.

For those who think that these problems can be solved by demonstrations, revolutions, occupations and sensationalism, I have to say that fortunately my views are different and always in similar (and much worse) incidents, I have consciously avoided the easy way of populism and preferred to be useful and effective by communicating with the people in charge in the way I personally judge and decide how it should be (mild or sharp depending on the circumstances), having 10 years of experience in the administration of the Municipality. What I and my close colleagues (in Kythera and Athens) went through these days ONLY we know and it is unacceptable to write publicly such insulting comments about all those who fought all these days to normalize the situation. If we had not respected the suffering of the citizens, we would not have claimed and achieved any of the above. However, automatic solutions have not been and will never be found to any similar problem. Anyone who claims otherwise is at odds with reality.

I also inform you - because citizens should know - that of our 5 MPs in Piraeus and Islands, only 3 MPs of the Southwest (Mr.K.Katsafados, Mrs.D.Michailidou, Mr.N.Vlahakos) contacted me directly and dealt with the issue, while the KKE MP Mr.N.Abatiello made a written intervention. Mr. A.Tsipras, MP of our region and former Prime Minister of Greece, who never replied to even one of my memos during his 4.5 years as Prime Minister, shone through his absence as he did not consider it right to call me even once, even for the eyes of the people. If he is not interested in the problems of «his» constituency, why does he not hand over the seat to the altogether decent Mr. Th. Dritsas, who at least we know will be involved in more than he is?;
In addition, the interventions of the Regional Governor Mr.N. Hardalias at multiple levels were important, but also in his capacity as former Deputy Minister of Defence for the emergency supply of the island with the naval ship.

I would like to thank the political leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Minister Mr.Chr. Kyriazopoulos and all the staff of their offices, the Chief of the Navy Vice Admiral Mr. Alexandrakis and the executives of the DFS, the former Deputy Minister of Shipping Mr. Costas Katsafados and the Members of Parliament of Piraeus who contacted me and dealt with the issue, for the extraordinary solutions that we jointly proposed and for the fact that they understood my anxiety (which I expressed sometimes in a very harsh way) for the restoration of shipping normality.

Of course, I would like to make the following observation: the comments in the MDBs were largely more than exaggerated. This is because, many times in the recent or distant past, our island has been closed due to weather conditions for 3, 4, 5 and 6 days even. If, for example, there had been a strong 10s north wind, the same (and longer) blockade would have occurred as it does now. Why so many extremes and exaggerations? Are those who are expressing themselves in such a sharp manner (many of whom permanently reside in Attica and were neither blocked nor have their fridges been emptied), are they covering some internal need with these reactions? Do they need to reconsider their attitude? And where were they all really, when they were frequently excluded, for example, Antikythera for 4 or 5 or more days due to weather conditions? Were they ever interested? Did they ask what actions we are taking to ensure that these heroic inhabitants do not feel abandoned? I don't expect answers, but certainly more wisdom and less talk when something like this comes up again, from people who are neither involved in these matters nor have the knowledge of the issues.

Transport issues are complex and intractable. They do not lend themselves either to sensationalism or to (mis)political speculation. Ideas and dreams are good, but translating them into action requires serious planning, methodicalness and, above all, realism. With theories and imaginative ideas neither ships come nor planes fly. Let us not forget that «politics is the art of the possible», and that the risk of losing ships and planes and being left with dreams will always be there. After all, when theories trump actions, the results are known and we have experienced them both as a nation and as a place.
Happy Sunday!