Katerina Fatsa Calls the Mayor to Account

At the center of the controversy over the four-year contracts for unprofitable routes was Katerina Fatsa, who, in a detailed and well-documented post on Facebook, confronted the mayor of Kythira, Efstratios Charchalakis, to confront the essence of his role as a representative of KEDE in the SAS.

«KEDE is neither a decorative body nor a listeners» club", he emphasized, noting that it is an officially established body dedicated to advocating for the interests of local communities. Her representative on the SAS, he added, is not an «observer», but it has a duty to intervene institutionally, to document issues, and to exert pressure. With legal precision, he pointed out that the SAS is an advisory body, pursuant to Article 10 of Law 2932/2001, and therefore the value of its presence there is determined by how assertive the KEDE representative is.

Referring to the mayor’s stance, she noted: «Instead of addressing the problem that for four years you tied Kythira to a contract with no provision for replacing the ship, you choose to mock the opposition for doing what is only natural: exercising oversight. But the essence remains: your failure does not lie in the fact that you did not speak out, but in the fact that you did not demand action.» And he concluded with a phrase that lingered in the air: «Politics is not the art of silence. It is the art of making demands. And yes, failing to make demands is tantamount to failure.».

The mayor's response was personal and sarcastic in tone: «Do you know what KEDE is? Were you there? Did you watch the meeting? Excessive grief leads to madness!». He then cited his three consecutive election victories, dismissing the criticism and attempting to dismiss his interlocutor by referring to her academic degrees.

Katerina Fatsa responded calmly: «It’s not degrees that make a mayor, but the way he stands up for his municipality and the way he listens to his constituents. The difference is that my degrees have never harmed the people of Kythira, while your terms in office have left behind a legacy of hardship and missed opportunities.».

The question that remains unanswered is whether the residents of Kythira will see any improvement in their ferry service over the next four years, or whether the dispute will remain limited to heated rhetoric andside.