Politics | Interview
DEMETRIS SYLLOURIS: IN 20 YEARS, CYPRUS WILL BE THE MOST PROSPEROUS COUNTRY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION To participate in the life of the country personally and not to observe it from the si delines — it was thanks to this desire that our interviewee, the head of the Cypriot parliament, Demetris Syllouris, went into politics. In conversa tion with Premiere Business, he spoke about how much progress he has already achieved in his role, what direction he intends to take moving forward and what the future of Cyprus represents to him in the next 20 years.
Is your current position as a PP of Cyprus the result of a long journey in politics or is it the result of circumstances? Were you planning to become a politician? I was always interested in politics, even before I got to the university. I realised from a very young age that my country faced a lot of danger from Turkey. Here, I want to be very specific. So, it was my will from the very beginning to be involved in it so mehow. Politics became my main activity many years ago and, as a politician, I was elected 6 times in parliament. I believed that everybody should be involved in politics because that is the way to defend your country. I know that you have a technical education involving mathematical thinking. How does it help you in your political career? At the time, we called it the practical section of gymnasium, which involved a lot of mathematics, chemistry and physics. In England, I studied civil engineering becau se I like mathematics the most and mathematics is the basis of engineering; not only engineering, but also many other sciences requiring, first of all, a basic of logic. I think it does help me a lot. I do not distinguish. In the last few decades, people have said that if you are an engineer, it will bring more results. When I was first elected, it was sort of a surprise that an engineer got involved in politics. Now, it is not like that any more, because a lot of politicians all over the world are engineers. What is the most difficult part of your current job? The most difficult part of my job is when discussions or dialogues or arguments are not based on logic, but based on inverted commas or political party ideology. It is difficult when there is a discussion with somebody who wants to pass a message onto the me dia and from the media to the people rather than to support positions with arguments that are correct. As the PP, you have to retain a neutral attitude and not take any side, in order to be objec tive when discussing pressing issues. How do you manage to do this? I think that I already proved myself by spending 2 years in this chair. You always have to be objective and I apply the rules, the regulation and the con stitution despite whether somebody may like it or not. I would prefer to use the word ‘‘objective’’, not ‘‘neutral’’. I sometimes take sides based on the constitution or the re gulations of the parliament and I apply this objectively because my purpose is to cont rol not what the political decision is, but how this decision is taken within the dialogue and the framework of the regulations of parliament. Can you tell us about some of the key issues that have the highest priority now to be resolved? I will separate my responsibilities into two axes: one is the operation of the parliament and regulation of everything around it so that we have a smooth operation of the par liament and the other concerns my decision to change a lot of things in the parliament,
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PREMIERE BUSINESS | Politics
A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Representative of Nicosia Democratic Rally Party (DISY) — Liberals Coalition 1991–2001. • Secretary of the DISY Youth Orga nisation (NEDISY) and DISY Enlighten ment Committees. • Nicosia District Organisational Sec retary of DISY and General Secretary of the Party. • Observer to the European Parliament (2003) and member of the Political Group of the European People’s Party. • Parliamentary Spokesman of DISY (Ju ne 2001 – May 2004). • Member of the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK). • Founding member and President of the European Party (2005 – 2016). • Member of “Solidarity” (2016 – now). • Member of the National Council. • President of the House of Repre sentatives (from 2-d of June 2016).