Only last month former president Nicos Anastasiades made public a letter he had sent Disy leader Annita Demetriou, complaining because the party failed to publicly defend the work of his government which had saved the state from bankruptcy and administered the “rebirth of the Cyprus Republic”. He also expressed “great disappointment over Disy’s distancing from the achievements of the 10-year Anastasiades-Disy administration”.

In the last few days compelling justification was provided for the Disy leader’s decision to distance the party from the so-called achievements of the 10-year Anastasiades administration. It was reported that two of its achievements, costing hundreds of millions of euros, were being investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in connection with corruption, involvement of PEPs (politically exposed persons), funding of a costly and complex project by a company that had no expertise and could not raise funding.

The projects under investigation were Vassiliko LNG import terminal that was awarded without competitive bidding, and resulted in its abandonment by the contractor before it had even been half-completed, and the EuroAsia Interconnector that was fully backed by the government despite the company’s lack of know-how and inability to raise funding. The European Commission, which had committed €654 million to the interconnector project, which would link Cyprus to Greece’s power grid, forced its sale to the Greek company Admie, a few months after the 2023 presidential elections because of fears it would never get off the ground.

All this shoddy work that is being investigated by EPPO and is likely to cost the Cyprus taxpayer hundreds of million euros are the achievements of the 10-year Anastasiades government. Meanwhile on Wednesday the council of ministers revoked another 26 passports issued by the previous government when it was selling EU citizenships to so-called investors and their families. Anastasiades is also being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Authority he had set up. A prominent Australian lawyer is looking into allegations of corruption made against Anastasiades in three books written by journalist Makarios Drousiotis and we are now awaiting the findings of investigation.

It does not look like Anstasiades will be remembered for his achievements. There were some, but these will be far outweighed by the shady dealings. There are reports that the fiasco of the Pentakomo waste treatment plant was also being investigated because the Commission contributed significant funds for its establishment. This proved another major blunder as the plant which was set up to replace landfills did nothing of the sort – the treated wasted was buried in the ground.

President Nikos Christodoulides, aware that Brussels was looking at these projects, ended the Pentakomo contract as the well as that for Vassiliko, decisions that were necessary but could be very costly. As regards the EuroAsia Interconnector, he supported the Commission move to have the project taken over by Greece’s Admie, even though the now-named Great Sea Interconnector has now caused a rift between the governments of Greece and Cyprus over its funding, as well as sparking threats by Turkey which claims it would violate its continental shelf.

All this puts Cyprus in a rather difficult position in Brussels, just four months before it takes over the presidency of the Council of the EU. It could be rather embarrassing if the findings of the EPPO investigations will be made public when we have the presidency in the first half of 2026, even if the blame is laid on the previous government, of which Christodoulides was a part. To his credit, the president has not tried to cover anything up and was not afraid to pull the plug on projects of the previous government such as Vassiliko, Pentakomo and the interconnector; and the interior minister has been revoking passports.

It is not only Disy that should be distancing itself from the Anastasiades administration and its ‘achievements’, but the government as well. Christodoulides has made all the right moves so far, and on Friday repeated his resolve to terminate problematic public contracts, underlining his commitment to the prudent administration of the taxpayer’s money. “I will not allow the state to become a prisoner of problematic agreements and non-transparent procedures,” he asserted. This is the only way to deal with the legacy of the Anastasiades government.