Why young Cypriots are the EU’s least active citizens

Only 26% of young Cypriots reported taking action to change society. Is it apathy, disillusionment or a different culture of activism?The 2026 Eurobarometer study on Youth and Democracy shows young Cypriots (aged 15-30) ranked last across the EU when it comes to social activism and civic engagement. That said, the wording of the survey may be unfair to our young people. Eurobarometer asked the following question: “In the past year, have you taken any action to change society by, for example, signing a petition, participating in a rally, or sending a letter to a politician?”. Only 26 per cent of Cypriots replied in the affirmative, less than half the EU average of 55 per cent. In Luxembourg, the figure was 72 per cent. It may be that the wording was too narrow, insofar as signing petitions and sending letters to politicians aren’t common forms of activism in Cyprus. “For example, young people might help vulnerable members of their community, or volunteer informally in community kitchens, they might support someone experiencing discrimination, they may raise awareness through social media – and, at the same time, may not necessarily think of any of these activities as political activism,” Giorgos Charalambous, associate professor at the Department of Politics and Governance of the University of Nicosia, told the Cyprus Mail. “Of course young people do activism,” adds 23-year-old Andreas Panaoullas. “I know many people who’ve sent [letters] – or taken the initiative to go in person – to ministries and MPs to express their ideas, and see how we can solve the problems that exist in society.” The catch is that Panaoullas is a member of Nedik, the youth wing of centrist political party Diko (all the main parties have one), and when he speaks of people sending letters or having meetings, it’s implicitly through organisations like his own. “There is indeed a lack of protest culture in Cyprus, which can be attributed to many reasons,” Andreas Riris told the Cyprus Mail, Riris being a member of progressive left-wing activist group Afoa (the letters stand, in Greek, for ‘Autonomy Feminism Environmentalism Anticapitalism’). Afoa is exactly the kind of group one would expect to attract angry young people seeking radical change in society, like the ones who’ve been leading rebellions and mass protests all over Europe, from France to Albania – yet only about 30 per cent of its membership are what might be called Gen Z. “I’d say the core of our active members is between late 20s and early 40s.” French high school students blockade one of the main central avenues in Paris, as part of nationwide protests demanding better school conditions Activism within the system Instead, what seems to happen in Cyprus is that activism gets enfolded into the system, through the parties’ youth wings or initiatives like municipal youth councils, advisory bodies to municipalities that submit “suggestions on topics that affect the youth, at the local level,” Victoras Kountouris of the Youth Board of Cyprus (Onek) told the Cyprus Mail. Onek itself, a semi-governmental organisation, plays the role of middleman. Another initiative, launched by the present government, is Ekfracy (playing on the Greek word for ‘expression’), “an online platform highlighting important matters that affect young people, like employment, traffic, housing and so on”. There are questionnaires, says Kountouris, where participants can vote, “and also a field at the bottom where young people themselves can leave comments or suggestions”. The most recent one was on youth entrepreneurship, and Onek have tallied the results and sent them to the commerce ministry. Kountouris says several thousand young people are registered to the platform. Is this activism? Maybe. “I believe that’s a positive thing about our country,” says Panaoullas. People do seek change, “just not with demonstrations, more with actions”. Does it lead to actions, though? Do ministries really pay attention to meetings with youth wings, or questionnaires on online platforms? “Up to a point, yes. They take us into consideration. Maybe not as much as we’d like, but they take us into consideration.” This may be what makes Cyprus different, by EU standards. Not just the small-society aspect, tending to resolve things by consensus, but the over-protectiveness of parents and clear, conformist path laid out for young people. “The child has to finish school, then the boys go into the army, the girls go straight to university – then they all come back and find a job straight away. It doesn’t leave much scope for activism, volunteerism and so on,” says Kountouris. In effect, a Cypriot child grows up in a cocoon of security and certainty – leading to a sense, in young adulthood, that all you have to do is tell the system your troubles, and the system will respond. The difference, in countries where the young are on the streets, is presumably that they’ve lost faith in the system. Apathy or disillusionment? Then again, that doesn’t entirely explain why Cypriots score so badly even on conventional forms of social activism like signing petitions. In truth, once you exclude the minority who care about politics – and join youth wings, or register to Ekfracy – there’s a great deal of apathy, though “I think there is a crucial distinction between apathy and disillusionment,” says professor Charalambous. Partly, it’s economic. Things aren’t as bad here as in other countries, so people “lack the appetite to protest,” says Riris. But it’s also disillusionment, a widespread distrust of politicians – above all because there’s no accountability, says Charalambous, leading to widespread cynicism that anything can change. “Young people may be very concerned,” he adds, “about corruption, inequality, environmental degradation, the future of the Cyprus problem – but, at the same time, this concern may not translate into a belief that signing a petition or contacting a politician will achieve anything.” Then there are cultural factors. History, for a start – the fact that we only became an independent country very recently, and spent centuries as “the bike that the whole neighbourhood has taken a ride on,” as Riris wryly puts it. That kind of history is bound to instil some unconscious deference to the status quo, and a greater reliance, to quote Charalambous, “on established personal networks over, let’s say, confrontation with institutions”. Religion, for another thing – an obvious engine for fatalism, and leaving it up to the Almighty. “I certainly think that the fact that Greek Cypriots are so religious doesn’t help,” says Riris. After all, in the occupied north “there is protest culture” – though it’s only partly because Turkish Cypriots are more secular, also “because they’re in a far worse financial situation than we are”. The Cyprus problem and the politics of protest Then – right on cue – there’s the Cyprus problem, cutting across all aspects of society. For one thing, the endless, insincere political theatre over reunification adds to the general cynicism, as the young come of age and realise they’ve spent years being lied to. For another, the obsession with Turkey often ends up shielding our own politicians – as with the golden passports scandal, notes Riris, where the discourse turned instead to Qatar, which owns Al-Jazeera, being ‘a friend of Turkey’. “I mean, the influence from school obviously doesn’t favour any sort of protest culture. The lack of critical thinking, the very religious, Orthodox, Hellenic-centric view of things. “They’ll only protest for the Cyprus problem, from a very nationalistic perspective usually” – students will inevitably be out in their hundreds next week, on the anniversary of the pseudo-state – “but they’ll ignore the injustices that are caused by domestic actors like the government, the ministries, the banks, the big businesses and so on. “I mean, it’s not Turkey’s fault that petrol at the gas station is €1.70, and diesel is €2, right?” It’s a complicated situation. Activism to create social change may be viewed as a lost cause, yet the lure of nationalism among young Greek Cypriots is real (hence the rise of Elam). The system is seen as dysfunctional, but we haven’t (yet?) reached the stage of open confrontation – and a lot of potential activism is successfully enfolded and co-opted by systemic apparatus like Onek. In a nutshell, the Eurobarometer study doesn’t tell the whole story. Besides, everybody knows – even in Luxembourg – that signing a petition or writing to your MP doesn’t do any good. “The answer,” replies Riris, “is that the only way we can be sure that no change is going to happen, is if we do nothing.”