In a new post the Mayor of Kythera, Efstratios Harhalakis, returned to the confrontation with SYRIZA, responding in the recent press release of the local organization.

Below is the Mayor's post:

Finally, does SYRIZA Kythera support Mr Tsipras?;

We saw that too! At the moment when Mr. Tsipras is preparing a new party that will mean the complete disintegration of SYRIZA, the local SYRIZA organization of Kythera is rushing to defend him! The reason for this is the wide publicity given to my statement yesterday, publicity that I did not seek, and perhaps this finally annoyed the comrades of Kythera.

But, because I always take a position with facts, let's look at just a few of the demands of the Municipality that have been officially sent to Mr.Tsipras as one of the 5 MPs of our constituency of Piraeus and Islands:
1.03/07/2025, 13:52: Transmission of the Board of Directors' decision 39/2025 regarding the necessity of extending the runway of Kythera State Airport.
2. 19-06-2024, at 13:50: Transmission of my letter no. 2885/19-06-2024 regarding the Kythera State Airport.
3.19-06-2024, 14:02: Transmission of my letter no. 2887/19-06-2024 regarding the school cleaners.
4. 17-12-2024, at 13:07: Transmission of my letter no. 6746/17-12-2024 regarding the Kythera State Airport.
5. 11-03-2024, 12:37: Transmission of my letter no. 1115/11-03-2024 regarding the air connection between Thessaloniki and Kythera.
6. 26-01-2024, 13:47: Transmission of my letter no. 342/26-01-2024 regarding the staffing of the Kythera Hospital.

According to SYRIZA Kythera all the above are «buffets and facilities», they understood this from my post! Is the upgrading of the Airport, the staffing of the Hospital and the air connection with Thessaloniki a buffet?;

The issue is neither personal nor partisan. Mr Tsipras is a sitting Member of Parliament and former Prime Minister, and he receives a monthly, not inconsiderable parliamentary allowance and enjoys all the relevant parliamentary privileges. He therefore ought - yes, he OUGHT - to be aware of all the problems of the municipalities in his Prefecture, to talk and cooperate with all the Mayors in his constituency and to bring the relevant issues to Parliament, as do his other colleagues in the Prefecture. If he cannot do it himself, let him have someone from his office contact the Mayors in the area.

The Constitution and the Rules of the Parliament do not reserve any special treatment to former Prime Ministers who hold parliamentary seats, beyond the privilege a) to maintain their own office in the building of the Parliament and b) to occupy any parliamentary seat they wish WITHOUT cross-election!

Therefore, Mr.Tsipras has all the possibilities of exercising parliamentary work that Members of Parliament who have not served as President of the Government have: questions, topical questions, reports, interventions in Ministries, etc. In fact, the weight of a parliamentary intervention by a former Prime Minister is great, so - under other circumstances - we would feel lucky that one of the five parliamentary seats in our region belongs to a former Prime Minister, even to the Prime Minister who identified himself with the devaluation of local government by characterizing elected officials as «blasphemous mayors» (September 2013).

SYRIZA Kythera has more nerve. The representative of their party in the Piraeus, the only one who represents them in Parliament from this prefecture, has chosen not to deal with any of the serious issues raised by our Municipality. And that cannot be changed, covered, or excused. The political future of the redranded Mr. Tsipras is none of our business. But his political present, in the constituency that he voluntarily chose to represent in the House, is of great concern to us.

Finally, I would not dare to talk about infrastructure in the position of SYRIZA members. This year is the first summer with very few water supply problems (I know, some people rubbed their hands but it didn't work out), precisely because the projects we have carried out and are carrying out are paying off. The island is a vast construction site (WWTP projects, redevelopment, water mains, building, roads, etc.) and if the local SYRIZA party leaders don't see this, then it really begs the question of who is actually absent from the place.