GEORGE VASSILIOU: THE MAN WHO BREATHED NEW AIR INTO POLITICS

George Vassiliou was clearly a fascinating and singular figure. His life itself reads like a novel.

On a personal level, it’s enough to note that here was a man of a leftist background, from a family that endured persecution in both Greece and Cyprus, who then excelled in business in a field that was ruthlessly capitalist. And not just in Cyprus’s small market—globally. 

Politically, he was an outlier. A man outside the party system, an independent thinker with his own coherent, progressive views. He was never shackled by party gospel or ideological dogma, never had to claw his way up through compromises and backroom deals. That’s why he was free. And it’s precisely that air of free thought and vision that he brought into the country’s political life. Let’s not forget: when Vassiliou took office, Cyprus was living under the shadow of a suffocating party system where the only means to get forward was your party membership.

He changed that. He changed mindsets in the civil service. He changed the direction of the Cypriot economy. He dragged Cyprus out of its shell and made it look the outside world squarely in the eye. He exposed the Turkish side’s obstructionism on the Cyprus problem more effectively than any politician before or since, and he could have solved it—had he not been up against Denktaş, and had there not been, of course, the internal sabotage.

But the true measure of the man emerged even more strikingly when he accepted, without hesitation, an invitation from his supposed political rival Glafcos Clerides to lead the negotiating team for Cyprus’s EU accession. And he threw himself into it completely, astonishing the Europeans with his methodical approach, his work ethic, and his political dexterity. That phrase you heard throughout the accession years—”Cyprus is the best pupil”—bore George Vassiliou’s stamp. 

In the times we’re living through now, examples of political integrity like this—and here I include Glafcos Clerides as well—take on far greater value. Men who put country and people above ego.

This article was first published on 14.01.2026

Source: GEORGE VASSILIOU: THE MAN WHO BREATHED NEW AIR INTO POLITICS