DISY leadership is seeking to close the internal front that opened following the Anti-Corruption Authority’s report on Mafia State. The party’s parliamentary spokesperson Dimitris Demetriou and deputy president Efthymios Diplaros spoke to Politis in different tones but ultimately reached the same conclusion, that DISY does not want to turn Anastasiades’ abstention from party bodies into an internal crisis.
Dimitris Demetriou, who had publicly raised the question of whether the former president should step back from the party’s collective bodies before he eventually did so, is now lowering the tone. As he said, “there is no aftermath, nor do we want to continue this,” adding that the handling of the issue was decided collectively by the leadership at the executive bureau.
“What happened, happened. In my view it was the right decision, in the view of others it was not. We move on,” he said, sending a message that the party does not wish to further “dig into” the matter internally.
Asked whether Anastasiades still exerts influence within DISY, Demetriou replied that “there is no division.” As for Anastasiades’ decision to step back, he said the former president “took a decision, explains it, and his explanation is respected for his love for the party.”
Regarding Anastasiades’ future role within DISY, Demetriou said he “does not have an active role at the moment,” clarifying, however, that his presence is provided for in the party statute, as is the case with former ministers and MPs. He acknowledged that in Anastasiades’ case there is “a different weight,” as he remains the party’s honorary president.
Diplaros on Anastasiades
DISY deputy president Efthymios Diplaros continues to stand close to Nicos Anastasiades. He said the relationship between DISY and the former president “remains as it was before,” with no change in communication or ties.
“We do not feel that Anastasiades is a burden for DISY,” he said, adding that the former president contributed, like thousands of other party members and supporters, to the party’s victory in the parliamentary elections. According to Diplaros, if his contribution is needed in the future, “whether we ask him or not, he will act accordingly.”
He also rejected discussion about a “break” from Anastasiades. As he put it, if some mean by “detachment” that DISY should erase the decade of Anastasiades–DISY governance or distance itself from what it considers positive elements of that period, “we will not do so.”
However, sources at Pindarou insist that Anastasiades’ decision to abstain from party bodies did not come as a surprise. According to party sources, the former president had informed both Annita Demetriou and senior leadership figures from the outset that he did not intend to give grounds to those who might attempt to “strike DISY through any potential criminal liabilities of his own.”
Views on the reshuffle
On the issue of the upcoming government reshuffle, both senior DISY figures share the view that it does not concern the party, though they adopt different tones.
Dimitris Demetriou was categorical that DISY does not wish to be part of President Christodoulides’ plans, recalling that there is a party congress decision placing DISY in opposition. He said that he, the party leader and other officials have sent a message to the president to leave DISY out of his plans.
Efthymios Diplaros focused on the institutional aspect, saying a reshuffle is the exclusive prerogative of the president of the republic. At the same time, he stressed that DISY “is not driven by opposition for its own sake,” but will support where it agrees and disagree in good faith, with concrete proposals where it disagrees.
“The past belongs to the past”
Diplaros also sought to put an end to discussion about internal tensions, saying that the problems following the 2023 presidential elections “belong to the past.” As he said, voters chose “stability and responsibility” at the ballot box, giving DISY 27%, and everything else is now behind them.
