Spin merchants taking us for a ride

WHEN IT comes to raising public expectations sky-high, the government is in a league of its own. It is capable of making the most outrageously optimistic predictions about matters and spinning policy failures into major triumphs.

The fact that most of the media uncritically repeat the official version of events and never question the initial claims after they have been proved less than accurate, has allowed the government to carry on the spinning. Why mend its ways if the generation of hype does not carry any political cost?

Nothing better illustrates this phenomenon than the government-generated hype surrounding gas and oil exploration in the Cyprus seas. Not only was there a big fanfare at the beginning of the year, when the government announced that it would be inviting applications for exploration, but the impression created was that big oil companies would be fighting each other to secure licences.

The government had told certain papers that there was unprecedented interest from the giant oil companies which would all be descending on Cyprus.

This proved a figment of the government’s imagination. As the deadline for the submission of the applications approached, the interest shown was minimal, yet officials continued to make wild claims about the big interest shown, while the Government Spokesman announced that there was at least one big oil company showing an interest.

All government hype and myths were exposed on August 16 when just two concerns – neither of which could be described as a giant oil company – applied for licences for three of the 11 plots on offer! The government had to put a brave face on, insisting that the interest shown was “satisfactory”.

But did the government learn anything from this embarrassment? Of course not, it has already begun raising expectations about the next round of applications for the second batch of exploration plots. A week ago, the commerce minister Antonis Michaelides told one newspaper that he expected increased interest for the second batch of plots. How wise was this, given the August fiasco?

The proverb, “once bitten, twice shy” does not apply to this government. Only six days after the deadline, the head of the Energy Department, at the Commerce Ministry, told Simerini that he would be visiting Israel to look at revolutionary new technology that would end Cyprus’ dependence on oil! “In 12 square kilometres we would be able to produce enough power to cover all Cyprus’ electricity needs,” he told the paper.

If such technology existed, interest in oil exploration would surely fade. Then again, the same official had boasted a week before the deadline for exploration applications, that “in eight years we will be selling oil to all of Europe and you can imagine what Cyprus will become.”Unfortunately, the government will continue to take us for a ride for as long as the hype and the myths do not carry a cost.