President Nikos Christodoulides spends an awful lot of his time abroad, attending councils, conferences, exhibitions. Last week he was in Geneva, before flying to Brussels for a European Council, while on Thursday he was in Paris for a gathering of European leaders dealing with Ukraine, not the first such meeting he had attended. He stayed on in Paris on Friday for a five-party meeting convened by President Emmanuel Macron for discussion on the Middle East. It was also attended by Lebanon, Greece and Syria and, according to the president’s tweet, it “was a very fruitful discussion.”

As regards Thursday’s meeting, Christodoulides reportedly expressed Cyprus’ readiness to be represented in whatever formation is created to ensure conditions of security and stability in Ukraine. Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Christodoulides said Cyprus had been invited “and is present at the highest level, and this is a recognition of the role of the Cyprus Republic.” What role of the Republic in the Ukraine war has been recognised? It would most definitely not contribute troops to any multinational peacekeeping force, said deputy spokesman Yiannis Antoniou.

The reality is that Cyprus is too small to have any substantive role or influence in international affairs, despite the government’s continuous rhetoric about our geostrategic significance, our role as a regional pillar of stability and other such platitudes. Foreign affairs is the only aspect of government that President Christodoulides seems interested in, perhaps because it is his area of expertise and there is no downside to it. It allows him to travel, rub shoulders with foreign statesmen at conferences and promote his and Cyprus’ alleged importance on the international stage, which, to put it bluntly, is nothing but a fantasy.

Christodoulides may not see it, but his obsession with Cyprus’ role in international affairs has a high political cost for him personally, as opinion polls seem to indicate. The latest opinion poll, published a few days ago, showed his popularity at a disappointing 24 per cent, much lower than that of Odysseas Michelides (59 per cent) and Disy leader Annita Demetriou at 36 per cent. From this poor showing, the inevitable conclusion is that the president’s supposedly successful foreign policy, which has upgraded Cyprus’ role, means nothing to most people.

Why would it, when living standards are falling? A survey carried out for the Union of Consumers and Quality of Life found that only 36 per cent of respondents said they had a comfortable household income. Some 34 per cent said they just about made ends meet, while 30 per cent faced difficulties coping on their income. The upgraded regional role of Cyprus is no comfort or consolation to people struggling to make ends meet every month. The perception might be that the president is too busy travelling abroad to take an interest in the plight of people struggling to make ends meet every month.

This seems to be the general view. Christodoulides has failed to grapple with the problems facing society and offer solutions. There are slapdash measures, such as the zero VAT and small discounts on electricity bills, but these have made no difference to living standards. He does not have the desire (or perhaps skill set) to deal with difficult domestic issues and try to find rounded, long-term solutions. Nobody knows when their electricity bill will become affordable; they cannot even use their photovoltaics throughout the day. We are now faced with a water shortage and the government is looking for desalination plants at the last minute to get through the summer and appease desperate farmers. There is no long-term plan for addressing the water shortages that have become a part of life.

Domestically, the government has no vision, no plan and no solutions. In the coming week, for example, the president will fly to the United States, visiting three states to attract investments. And in May, he will go to the UK to persuade Cypriots working there to return to Cyprus. Is there nobody else that could do these things, so the president could stay here and focus on governing the country, which has been in cruise control for too long?