The ferry chaos that Kythera and Antikythera have been experiencing in recent months has brought to the surface not only the serious responsibilities of the Ministry of Shipping and the ferry companies, but also the duplicity and political timidity of the Harhalakis municipality. The Mayor, who on February 10, 2025, declared with a flourish that «tolerance is over» and that the next day he would file statement of claim against anyone responsible, not only did it not take any legal action, but a month later, it returned to the familiar path of inexpensive letters and institutional rudeness.
From threats to «lukewarm» letters
In his statement on 10/02/2025, Mr. Harhalakis painted a scene of «war», denouncing a blockade that brought the islands to the brink of a humanitarian crisis: shortages of food and essentials, crews stranded, citizens stranded in Athens, even bread kneading in Antikythera for the survival of the locals. After this outburst, he assured that he would immediately go to the Justice Department with a lawsuit, «at his behest’. See here:
What did he finally do?;
Nothing. No lawsuit, no legal action, no substantive claim. The Mayor, after playing the «warrior» in front of the microphones, reverted to his favourite tactic: a lukewarm letter to the Ministry, full of «pleas» and generalities, which neither exerts pressure nor demands a solution.
Mr. Zacharias Souris, head of the faction «All Together Kythira - Antikythera», reacted a few hours ago, after today's developments, by sending an open letter, where he denounced the complete negligence and complicity of the municipal government in the ferry collapse. The Souris letter forced Harhalakis to make public, as a counterweight, a letter to the Ministry that he had sent a day earlier, on 4 March. A letter so tasteless and painless that it could have been written by... a press office of the Ministry of Shipping itself.
The Mayor is afraid to clash
The reality is bitter: Mayor Harhalakis never wanted to clash with the Ministry and the shipping companies. The theatrical announcements about lawsuits were nothing but a communication trick to defuse popular anger, while behind the scenes maintained channels of «good cooperation» with the same people responsible for the maritime strangulation of the islands.
Citizens pay for hypocrisy
Harhalakis« tactics - tough statements for show and pretend letters for the »record" - have arrived on its limits. Kythera and Antikythera remain hostage to sloppiness, incompetence and political cowardice. The absence of dynamic action, the lack of legal recourse and the constant retreat show that the Mayor of Kythera has accepted the role of a spectator in a drama that is experienced daily by the society that elected him.
False impressions are over - Citizens demand solutions
The famous «lawsuit report» of 11 February 2025 was never filed. Instead, a month later, the Mayor sent another subdued letter, asking «please» and «kindly» the Ministry to take care of the connection of the islands. A symbol letter of the politics of complacency. And for the record, let's remember that in 2014 Mr. Samaras and the then responsible minister Mr. Varvitsiotis on the subject of shipping same time as now. But then he was without the mayor's chair...
The society of Kythera can't take any more lukewarm letters and hypocrisy. Residents ask for a dynamic presence and a real battle for their self-evident right to move and live. The time for hypocrisy and histrionics is over.
Read yesterday's letter from the Mayor below.
Kythera.News
