Until recently, the lack of awareness of our country’s modest size and the role we might play on the global stage, was largely a matter of optics for domestic consumption: a boost to the Cypriot ego, an embrace of grandiosity, narcissism, and further polarisation within political parties, all in the absence of serious or substantial political discourse.
We have never become the hub of the Eastern Mediterranean - not in telecommunications, not in electricity transmission, much less in natural gas, high-tech innovation, transit trade, air travel, or business leadership.
At times in our modern history, we have managed (unfortunately) to become a hub for issuing European passports, with damaging repercussions for the international reputation of the Republic of Cyprus; a hub for money laundering through various activities; a hub for corruption and favour‑trading—some under investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office; a hub of opacity; and, of course, a hub of sloppy execution. Many times, the Cypriot people have fallen victim to the pride of institutional actors who exposed the national economy in pursuit of their illusions.
And now, once again, that archetype of grandiosity and opportunism, knocks at our little country’s door. The President of the Republic recently travelled to Egypt for the Gaza Peace Summit carrying with him a six‑point initiative aimed at demonstrating that our small nation can make a decisive contribution to implementing the Trump agreement, particularly in humanitarian aid, security, and reconstruction.
“I want Cypriot companies to have an active role in rebuilding Gaza,” he said among other things. That, at this moment - with peace still uncertain, the blood of war victims yet fresh - was a thunderbolt for the construction industry, which readily admits it is incapable of participating in overseas projects: lacking resources, especially skilled labour.
Beyond its haste, the fact that this proposal came from the President himself, delivered abroad and with a somewhat forward stance, shows that the inflated value we (as Greek Cypriots) attach to our “micro‑cosm,” the possibilities of our allegedly advanced culture, and our geopolitical position - put to the service of humanity - is in danger of transforming from a deep‑seated belief in our collective subconscious into a national myth. A myth that carries potentially dangerous consequences for our present and future in this divided little island that hosts us.