Pavlos Xanthoulis
What do you call a government that knowingly fines citizens who haven’t broken any laws? The Christodoulides government, of course. And how does it pull this off? Quite simply: when two of its ministers “team up.”
In this case, we’re talking about Transport Minister Alexis Vafeadis, who, politically speaking, is known as the architect of our president’s residence, and Justice Minister Marios Charatsiotis, famed for his long résumé and, most of all, for his “courage” in refusing to resign despite countless political missteps.
And how do they collaborate? In this enviable way:
The Department of Road Transport (DROM), under Vafeadis, has known for months that its vehicle license renewal system is malfunctioning (as revealed by Phileleftheros) but did nothing to fix it. Unsuspecting citizens, some of whom have paid and renewed their licenses, appear in the system as if they hadn’t. Consequently, they are treated as lawbreakers, even though they haven’t done anything wrong.
Meanwhile, the police, under Charatsiotis, impose fines “lightly” on these citizens, fully aware that no crime has occurred.
This Vafeadis–Charatsiotis “partnership” creates another, even more alarming problem: citizens who have paid their fees and believe their licenses are valid might find themselves uninsured if involved in a road accident, thanks to the DROM system’s failures.
The most remarkable part? Both ministers claim no political responsibility. Vafeadis tells affected citizens to take it up with the public authority itself, essentially dumping the government’s mistake on them. Charatsiotis, for his part, apparently sees no issue, letting the police hand out fines to anyone flagged by the system, even those victimized by DROM’s errors. The excuse? The police “cannot distinguish” between law-abiding citizens and actual offenders. In plain English: Charatsiotis’ police don’t care if the innocent get caught in the crossfire and are willing to burn both the guilty and the innocent alike.
Naturally, the Attorney General will now have to step in, cleaning up the mess caused by this “highly successful collaboration” between Vafeadis and Charatsiotis, a ministerial duo that President Christodoulides continues to keep in an increasingly dysfunctional government. Every incident, from license renewals to administrative bungling, exposes its weaknesses.
Is there any other EU country that knowingly fines citizens who haven’t broken the law? One that puts them at risk of being uninsured in an accident due to its own incompetence and doesn’t even notify them? Probably not. But here’s the upside for Cyprus: this Vafeadis–Charatsiotis “innovation” is a European first. Who knows...when Cyprus takes the EU presidency on January 1, 2026, it might even promote this as a “model practice” for other member states. Watch out, Europe!
P.S. Don’t worry...the rotating EU presidency only lasts six months. We’ll survive.
*This op-ed was translated from its Greek original
