Androulla criticises ‘odd’ decision to cut her police detail

Former European commissioner Androulla Vassiliou on Thursday criticised as “odd” the government’s decision to no longer provide her with a police officer to act as her personal security. Vassiliou was one of two widowed former first ladies, alongside Elsie Christofia, to lose her police protection following a decision issued by the justice ministry on Wednesday, with former House presidents Demetris Syllouris and Yiannakis Omirou also losing their security detail. Asked by television channel Sigma whether she was “annoyed” by the decision, she answered in the negative, saying that “it just strikes me as odd, though I must say I fully respect the decision”. “I just wonder about the things we spend money on, or where the money is lacking, and now we are debating the cost of a single police officer for an 83-year-old former first lady, when, regarding certain things, like attending events, embassy functions, various conferences, and so on, on my own, it does not seem quite right,” she said. She then reiterated that she will “respect the decision”, before saying that she hopes the government will “show the same readiness regarding other matters as well”. To this end, she said that “I do not think it is just a matter of security”, but that “it is also a matter of prestige”. “A president who feels unsafe ought to have actual reasons for feeling that way,” she said, before pointing out that Mimi Kyprianou – wife of former president Spyros Kyprianou – “had two drivers until the end of her life”, before drawing comparisons with Greece, saying “I do not know if Mrs Simitis in Greece drives around alone or if she has a driver”. Then asked what the role of her security detail was, she stressed that “my case was not a matter of security”. ‘Am I now going to go and drive around the neighbourhood to find parking?’ “It was a matter of him taking me to official events, because I must emphasise that for my private use, I never used a police officer. However, [I used the service] to go to embassies which are still kind enough to invite me, and I see it that with some, especially European Union member states, I am obliged to go,” she said. Additionally, she said, she used the security to go to “conferences where I am a speaker, to the presidential palace and other things”. “So am I now going to go and drive around the neighbourhood to find parking to be able to go? I will simply slowly cut back on all of that,” she said. On this front, she then asked, “is it a credit to a state to have a former first lady and European commissioner to be driving around in circles outside an embassy to find parking to be able to go to an event?”. It was then pointed out that she had earlier written on social media that the only president in the history of the Republic of Cyprus who had not acquired a new presidential limousine was George Vassiliou, and she was asked whether such a thing was “required during his term”. “No. They put it to him, but he said that ‘I do not see the reason to get a new one given that the one we have is fine’,” she said. Asked whether the discussion around the safety of presidents, which reached the fore after it was revealed that a budget of €590,000 has been allocated for incumbent President Nikos Christodoulides’ new presidential limousine. “I do not know. I am not in a position to know how safe the presidents and former presidents are. Others have to decide about the matter of safety,” she said. Then asked whether some former presidents may have reason to have fears for their own safety, she said that “that depends on the president, on the actions of the president, on the decisions he made, and on his behaviour”.