Our View: Fix the basics before chasing defence fantasies

Defence Minister Vassilis Palmas announced on Tuesday that he would be submitting a declaration of interest to the European Commission with regard to the Security Action for Europe (SAFE), the EU defence loan instrument that will help member states fund additional arms spending. The Commission will issue up to €150 billion of funding until the end of 2030. EU borrowing, for the financing of the programme, will enable member states to secure competitively priced and attractively structured long-term loans.

“It is a fact that this development with the SAFE programme creates the conditions for the development of the arms industry in the whole of the EU, and at the same time the EU member-states, through these loans would be able to strengthen their defence capabilities,” Palmas told the Cyprus News Agency. At the end of November, Cyprus would submit details about the amount, the needs and the programmes in which Cyprus would participate, after consultations with the finance ministry, said Palmas.

This is in line with President Nikos Christodoulides’ past declarations about plans for “strengthening Cyprus defence industry.” He unveiled six measures last December that included legislation to insitutionalise hi-tech defence manufacturing, establishing industrial cooperation for defence programmes and providing funding for defence research and development. He had spoken about putting Cyprus at the forefront of defence technology and subsequently about utilising the SAFE programme to boost the country’s defence capabilities.

While it is commendable for a leader to have a vision and to think big for his country, it is also imperative for him to be pragmatic and have a sense of perspective, qualities that are rarely displayed by our president. The suggestion that that because Cyprus will have access to low-interest loans it will develop a defence industry and also boost its defence capability, belongs to the world of fantasy. On issues of defence, numbers make all the difference, and the fact is that a country with a population of less than a million (966,000 in 2023) cannot have a credible defence capability or defence industry which requires huge amounts of money that cannot be raised by a country with a smaller population than a middle-sized European city and no expertise.

The truth is that a country that has been unsuccessfully trying to import LNG for two decades, this spectacular failure incurring huge costs to the taxpayer, does inspire any confidence that it would ever develop a hi-tech defence industry, no matter how much money it can take from the SAFE programme. The government must focus on the country’s most pressing needs instead of peddling unattainable defence plans. We are still using oil for our power stations at a huge cost to households and businesses and the importation of LNG is according to the latest estimates, two years away!

This is not the only ongoing failure of governments. For decades, the authorities have failed to deal effectively with the water shortages that have plagued the country for as long as anyone can remember. Climate change has made the droughts that have always been part of Cyprus life, more frequent and longer lasting, but governments have consistently ignored the matter.  President Christodoulides presented the last-minute securing of desalination plants from the United Arab Emirates, that averted a disaster this year as a major personal triumph, not recognising that this underlined the total lack of any coherent policy for the management of our water resources. We are still creating golf courses and having lawn roundabouts when farmers are left without water for their crops. Waste-water treatment, which would ease the shortage problem is practically unheard of.

The list of problems that have existed for years and the authorities have consistently failed to tackle effectively is very long. Waste treatment funded has been a disaster and we still have open rubbish tips where fires start; the effort to set up a public warning system that would inform people in times of wildfires might be introduced, after four years of efforts, in 2026. Governments create commissioners, deputy ministries, advisory boards, special committees, but never provide lasting solutions to long-term problems facing the country.

This is what President Christodoulides and his government should focus on if they want to regain the trust of people, whose daily lives he claims he wants to improve. Once he has tackled the mundane matters such as energy, water shortages, waste treatment he can turn his attention to developing a hi-tech defence industry.