Knowledge, experience, fewer disasters
Disasters and human tragedies of all kinds always attract the spotlight and public interest. This is not unique to Greece; it is the reality for news worldwide. War, murders, accidents, fires and tsunamis justifiably shock the public more than peace, trouble-free traffic on the roads, the prevention or rapid management of wildfires and the early preparation to avoid floods.
In this light, the heinous crimes – murders and rapes, even of minors – that have shocked Greek public opinion in recent months and monopolize the news, and on the other hand, the war in Ukraine, as well as inflation and the wiretapping revelations, made us somewhat forget the fact that this year we did not experience the tragedies and disasters of the previous years from wildfires.
This fact came to mind recently as I watched Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Christos Stylianides present a model pilot program for fire and flood prevention for the island of Ithaca.
As a former commissioner responsible for disaster management at the pan-European level, he has the experience and access to Brussels to quickly secure the necessary support. At the same time, precisely because of his tenure in the European Commission, he had the advantage of having worked with the previous Greek government as well. It is useful for a minister to maintain a relationship with the opposition. And as a Cypriot, he has some distance from the often blind domestic political confrontation.
About a year since Stylianides was appointed, we can say that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made a very sound choice. When the appointment was announced, main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras had stated that the new minister “has an open mind,” even if he later criticized specific actions.
The lesson is rather self-explanatory. For posts where political ideologies do not play a role, it is useful to make meritocratic choices and for officials to enjoy wider acceptance, which makes it easier to secure non-partisan support in the management of problems.
There’s no Right, Center or Left way to deal with wildfires. There is only a national necessity to do it right. Is it difficult to choose such people? They are not perfect and they make mistakes. But they are certainly much better than some party appointees, often unsuccessful in their political bids, who are not knowledgeable about the portfolio they are given, or who are simply incompetent, whose only “advantage” is their party affiliation, and who are often chosen due to the constituency they represent, which contributes to internal party balances. And that is true for any party.
