Dear Member,
This is our weekly round-up from Greece.
The PM proposed his MP and Parliament Speaker Kostas Tasoulas as a candidate for the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic. Thus, he did not renew the term of current President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the first woman to hold this highest office in the country.
Sakellaropoulou’s term has been controversial, with her approval rate from Greeks reported as low as 25%. Critics point out her stance on several important issues, accusing her of acting as a government member rather than upholding the values her constitutional role calls for.
Driving intoxicated and with no license, even after the police stopped him for an alcohol test, a 45-year-old Porsche driver crossed in the opposite lane and killed a 22-year-old after colliding with his car. There are reports the police let him go due to the intervention of some politician.
Sakellaropoulou finds out at the last minute her term will not be renewed
On 22 January 2020, Katerina Sakellaropoulou became the first woman to become President of the Hellenic Republic. Her election to the post was highly symbolic.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed to her for this position on 15 January 2020. She was the sole candidate and was elected with broad consensus (261 votes in the 300-seated Greek Parliament).
The term of the President of Democracy is five years and can be renewed once—that is, a person can serve up to ten years as President.
However, PM Mitsotakis did not propose Sakellaropoulou for a second term. On January 15, 2025, he proposed ND MP and current Parliament Speaker Konstantinos Tasoulas for the position, reportedly (Opens in a new window) without consulting Sakellaropoulou before the announcement. He only updated her just before announcing his new proposal.
Why did Mitsotakis decide not to renew Sakellaropoulou’s term in office?
The President of the Hellenic Republic is considered the guarantor of the Constitution, which is why they should enjoy wide respect in Parliament and society. The President’s role is highly symbolic, and their responsibilities are minimal compared to the government's. The President is supposed to be politically neutral and focus on upholding the Hellenic Constitution.
Sakellaropoulou’s term was controversial. According to a poll of October 2024, 7 out of 10 Greeks (68%) were giving a negative evaluation of her Presidency, according to a (Opens in a new window)survey. Only 25% were positive after five years in office. At an earlier poll (January 2023), 60% of Greeks didn’t think of her term very positively.
Such a narrow consensus is unprecedented for this office. Her four more recent predecessors were approved (Opens in a new window) by 62% (Prokopis Pavlopoulos), 57%, and 84% (Karolos Papoulias, second and first term,) and 86% (Kostis Stefanopoulos) of the Greek people. There has been no president with just 25-30% approval.
During her tenure, she emphasized democracy, justice, human rights, and environmental initiatives.
Sakellaropoulou participated in events supporting women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. Her institutional role did not allow her to legislate or directly influence the adoption of bills; however, she supported same-sex marriage, for which the government ultimately passed legislation.
During her tenure, she emphasized the issue of femicides and gender-based violence, acknowledging the surge of these phenomena and their profound social dimensions. She stressed the need for societal change to eliminate stereotypes perpetuating gender inequality. She advocated for recognizing femicide as a distinct crime and called on the State to take more effective measures to prevent and address gender-based violence.
On Greek-Turkish relations, she maintained a formal and unifying stance, emphasizing the need for peaceful coexistence and safeguarding national sovereignty. She repeatedly stressed that dialogue was necessary, but only if Turkey respected international relations rules. She criticized Turkish aggressiveness on issues such as airspace violations, illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the use of migration as leverage, highlighting the importance of strengthening Greece’s alliances, particularly within the European Union, to address Turkish provocations.
Criticism and controversies
Critics mainly accuse her of ending up acting as a member of the ND government. Let’s have a look at some critical issues she has been considered not to have lived up to her constitutional role:
Katerina Sakellaropoulou faced criticism from the opposition for her stance on the wiretapping scandal, dubbed ‘The Greek Watergate.’ The opposition accused her of lacking public intervention in an issue critical to the functioning of democracy.
Despite her legal background, she did not issue a clear public statement, leading to accusations of alignment with the government.
When journalistic unions in a letter asked for her intervention, she chose to stay silent, issuing a vague reply and stating (Opens in a new window) that “justice is currently investigating the case.”
One of the most significant controversies of her presidency is that, despite having made human rights a forefront issue in her speeches, she openly supported the government's Trumpist migration policy.
In July 2021, she visited the Evros Wall on Greece’s northeastern border with Turkey, emphasizing the importance of national security and the protection of borders. She was even photographed in front of the Wall, which has been repeatedly condemned by human rights organizations as having caused the deaths of innumerable refugees as they now choose sea routes to escape - and they often drown.
Critics also argue she was defending the government’s harsh anti-migration policy when she canceled the planned award for humanitarian worker Iasonas Apostolopoulos, who has rescued many refugees from drawing. The ND government had turned openly (Opens in a new window) against Apostolopoulos, and he also talked openly about pushbacks.
Regarding the Tempi train tragedy, Sakellaropoulou received criticism when she visited the collision site and threw flowers in the burned wagon. As the father of one of the victims later stated (Opens in a new window), the President did that while the rescuers were still there, looking for human remains. It is not clear whether the President was aware of this fact. To add insult to injury, Sakellaropoulou did not invite (Opens in a new window) the victims’ relatives to the reception for the Anniversary of the Reinstitution of Hellenic Democracy (Democracy Day) - except the family of a still missing person. She had invited people hit by Storm Daniel and relatives of victims of the Mati wildfires. Note that most of the Tempi victims’ relatives have allied to launch an independent investigation into the accident and have repeatedly turned against the government, accusing them of attempting a cover-up.
In 2022, Sakellaropoulou was also criticized (Opens in a new window) for committing “an institutional blunder” and a “grave misstep” when “she made positive references,” as reported (Opens in a new window), to then-convicted child-rapist Lignadis on Democracy Day. "The Justice system is not administered based on the common sense of justice, but following the Constitution and the laws," she said, adding that "institutional checks and balances are not subject to majorities and fleeting correlations." Lignadis was the National Theatre director appointed to the office by the Mitsotakis government. The director reportedly was closely affiliated with the government. When the first reports surfaced pointing at him as a child rapist, the government kept silent. There was an effort to discredit the reports. At the time of Sakellaropoulou’s speech, the public rage was huge against Lignadis, who was also by that time convicted for two rapes - and he was under trial for a third.
If she did ally with the government, as critics say, then why did Mitsotakis not renew her term?
Well, possibly because no one wants to take the political cost for such an unpopular President.
In our following newsletter, we‘ll update you on who Greece’s next president will be.
A car accident illustrative of the state of affairs in Greece
Twenty-two-year-old Panagiotis Katatzis lost his life on Saturday, 11 January, while driving in Chania region, Crete, when a 45-year-old driving a Porsche crossed into the opposite lane and crashed into his car.
The 45-year-old driver of the luxury Porsche SUV had tested positive in a breathalyzer test conducted by police just hours before colliding with the victim’s vehicle, local zarpanews.gr (Opens in a new window) revealed (Opens in a new window). The police let him go. They gave the car keys to his… co-driver, but later the perpetrator “managed to reclaim them,” and he continued driving until he killed Katatzis, according to the police press release.
The perpetrator was not just intoxicated: it was reported (Opens in a new window) he did not even possess a valid driving license, as it had previously been revoked for driving under the influence of alcohol on the VOAK highway, Crete.
The Chania Prosecutor's Office was informed of the incident, and a case file has been prepared. Additionally, the General Regional Police Director of Crete has ordered an internal investigation into the police officers involved in the case.
The official procedure when a driver is tested to have drunk beyond the limit and does not possess a driving license certainly is not to give the car keys to the co-driver. The police officers who stopped him on Saturday morning should have arrested (Opens in a new window) the 45-year-old and contacted the prosecutor.
According to police sources, the 45-year-old is said to have had several open cases with the law, including traffic violations and other offenses, and had previously been accused of domestic violence.
It was also reported (Opens in a new window) that the perpetrator had threatened another driver before the fatal incident and even smashed the window of his car. That driver said he called the police immediately, warning them of a dangerous Porsche driver “who is not sober.”
The perpetrator is held in custody (Opens in a new window), facing felony charges for reckless driving under the influence of alcohol, which led to the death of one person. He requested not to be transferred to the Korydallos prison, Athens, as he is the father of a child living in Chania.
The three policemen who conducted the alcohol test have been suspended (Opens in a new window). At the same time, the whole Chania Police Department will be uprooted, and new officers from Athens will be appointed, according (Opens in a new window) to a prime ministerial decision.
Who is this guy who has repeatedly escaped the law so quickly?
He is reportedly a rich businessman from a wealthy and well-known family in the town of Chania.
How can he behave like a cowboy with no consequences?
The three police officers who conducted the check on the 45-year-old on the fateful night and were suspended for failing to arrest him despite his intoxication all claim they acted on "orders from above." It has not been clarified by whom or which individuals these orders came from.
As part of the preliminary investigation ordered by the Chania Prosecutor’s Office, it has been requested examine the mobile phones of all three police officers, especially following reports (Opens in a new window) that the 45-year-old perpetrator communicated with a close associate of a political figure in Chania through whom his arrest was avoided. Specifically, as reported by Documento, on the night of the incident, when the 45-year-old was stopped, he called this woman, who then contacted the Chania Traffic Police, citing her role as an associate of the political figure.
Additionally, PASOK (the Panhellenic Socialist Movement) raised the issue (Opens in a new window) with Civil Protection Minister Chrysochoidis, requesting information on whether "there was any telephone interference during the check of the driver to prevent the application of the immediate arrest procedure, and if so, who or which individuals spoke to the police officers conducting the check to allow the driver, who caused the tragic death of a young man, to be released."
It is most possible that the car’s driver would still be free, continuing to create hell on the road, driving intoxicated and bullying people. That is, it took the killing of a man to arrest this wealthy and well-connected bully.
Two things here:
Crete, the largest of Greece’s islands, is home to a culture that raises boys to believe it’s ‘manly’ and ‘cool’ to drink and drive. This culture exists in the rest of Greece, although to a lesser degree.
Secondly, in Greece, wealthy and well-connected people often get away with gross misconduct and violation of the law - something you would have already understood if you had read this newsletter for some time.
We’ll keep you posted on the case.
Read
Greece has tapped 18 bln euros from EU’s Recovery Fund (Opens in a new window)
EU report slams Athens noise (Opens in a new window)
Suspected protection racket deputy remanded in custody (Opens in a new window)
Fraport Greece airports saw 36 mln passengers in 2024 (Opens in a new window)
Motor Oil expands in retail (Opens in a new window)
Giannis Antetokounmpo leads fan voting for this year’s NBA All-Star game (Opens in a new window)
Technical issue causes brief delays on Thessaloniki metro (Opens in a new window)
Italian Architecture in the Dodecanese Islands (1912-1947) (Opens in a new window)
Ten of the Acropolis Museum’s Most Beautiful Exhibits (Opens in a new window)
The Greek Island Teacher Who Reaches Her Sole Student by Dingy (Opens in a new window)
That’s all for this week; please forward this email to anyone you think might find it interesting and ask them to join our international community!
The AL team
Date
January 19, 2025
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