It bothers me that Mitsotakis and Anastasiadis returned from the last European Council with empty luggage. It bothers them that once again they raised the bar and went down. It is also annoying that they present a beautiful picture of the outcome of the Council's work and try to portray a failure as a success!
It is obvious that they do not convince anyone, as everyone understands what happened during the European Council on December 10 and 11, as long as they have read the conclusions and references.
And therefore they do not need anyone to interpret the relevant paragraphs.
So we do not need subtitles!
It would be politically correct for Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to inform the public that the goals have not been achieved instead of seeking "creative ambiguity" and creating their own narrative.
The pursuit of the two governments for the imposition of sanctions against occupying Turkey for its aggressive and expansive behavior was not achieved, as this was not allowed by the conditions, the data and a number of Member States.
Cypriot President Anastasiadis and Mitsotakis should at least describe the reality.
Honesty presupposes political courage and helps the country because after a failure the leaders express great satisfaction, then this weakens any claim in the future.
If there is satisfaction with the fact that they have not achieved what they set out to do, how will this be perceived by other leaders? How will Germany, which led the effort to prevent sanctions against occupying Turkey, receive it?
Everyone can understand how the demands of Greece and Cyprus will be dealt with in a next phase.
"Dialogue" is being prepared
Our partners will have no reason to face the issues that will be raised as, whatever they decide, in the end Anastasiadis and Mitsotakis will be satisfied.
In such issues, important for the country, no domestic consumption policy is pursued. Especially when these issues are open, they should be returned and submitted later, when and whenever necessary.
Unless, since the last attempt, both Anastasiadis and Mitsotakis found that the issue of sanctions, as a tool of policy and pressure on occupied Turkey, is over and has largely failed.
This, of course, means that they will follow Merkel's instructions: that the only way to defuse the tension is to start a full-fledged "dialogue" with Turkey, based on the demands of the occupying power.
Greece and Cyprus have obviously been seeking dialogue with Turkey for decades, but what is being suggested by Berlin and others is for the Turkish agenda to be accepted.
Let the illegal and irrational claims of the occupying power be on the table, in order to legitimize them.
The recent failure in Brussels calls for a redefinition of our policy towards Turkey.
This policy redefinition does not mean adapting to Turkish demands.
It means abandoning the policy of appeasement and the policy of the "good boy".
The last session of the European Council confirmed that "bad guys" get paid when they claim and do not bluff. Turkey, for its part, has avoided sanctions from the EU and is additionally asking for change!
Turkey is not satisfied, because it asks for everything and sees that it can secure it!
The views of the author do not necessarily reflect those of Greek City Times.
Costas Venizelos is editor-in-chief of Phileleftheros newspaper in Cyprus and a regular contributor to SLPress.
