Banning parties on ideological grounds
Dear Member,
This is our weekly round-up from Greece.
Greece is slipping towards ‘Orbanisation,’ a renowned Public Law professor and President of the European Constitutional Law Centre acknowledged. Most worryingly, Greece’s Top Court, aided by ND lawmaking, has opened Pandora’s box for parties to be banned based on their ideology.
The “Greek Watergate” and the apparent cover-up effort is a major blow to Greek democratic polity, the same expert warned, while the PEGA Committee was publishing a damning report for Greece as to the scandal. At the same time, the political leaders ‘debate’ was marked by journalists’ non-freedom, while DiEM25 denounced its exclusion from government-friendly oligarch media.
Finally, former Finance Minister Alekos Papadopoulos made a dramatic plea to the three governmental parties: Fiscal data have been presented rosy while they are grim, he wrote. You should make a proper fiscal assessment and join forces so that the country does not enter an economic crisis yet again.
“The court went an unneeded step further and used ideology as a criterion to ban a party from running”
Greeks are heading to the ballot box in an atmosphere where serious doubts have been cast about whether the Constitution has been properly upheld - we were also writing about that in our previous newsletter. We emphasized that there were 14 (mostly right or far-right) parties excluded from elections - out of 50 in total submissions, something ‘too convenient’ for the ND government.
More details came to light this week. Public Law and Social Administration professor, President of European Constitutional Law Centre-Tsatsos Foundation Xenofon Kontiadis made some groundbreaking statements in an interview (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) for Popaganda magazine this week.
Referring to the exclusion of the so-called ‘Kasidiaris party’ (ex-Golden Dawn convict), he said that from the relevant 400 pages of Top Court Areios Pagos decision, “we see that already this decision goes into assessments as to if a party serves the free function of a democratic polity in a way that raised concerns to many constitutional law professionals.”
Note that the relevant law passed by ND contains a clause that provides that the parties running for elections should serve the free functioning of democracy.
When the professor was asked what they worry about, he replied:
“I would expect the court to confine itself in two steps: First, to assess if the law amendment in question as to excluding the Kasidiaris party is in accordance with the Constitution and, secondly, to apply the law by establishing that according to its provisions the party is excluded from the elections because its lists contain a candidate convicted for a crime under article 187 of the Penal Code. But the court goes one step further, a step which was not needed for its assessment, and goes into a novice interpretation of Article 29 Const. Content, adopting a version of militant democracy alien to our constitutional tradition and theory. Instead of confining itself to the issue of a criminal organization, they also assess ideology as a crucial factor. The risk here is that such an approach in the future could extend to an intensive judicial control which would lead to excluding other parties based on their ideology.”
Now take a moment and think: What could be more scary than parties banned because of ideology? Especially in a country where the Left was banned and persecuted until a few decades ago.
Professor Kontiadis noted that the 14 parties were excluded “with a documentation which in certain cases is insufficient or erroneous.”
He said much more worrying stuff.
Kontiadis stated that Greece is slipping towards ‘Orbanisation.’ He based this statement on the fact that “free elections is an insufficient condition to characterize a state as democracy. An independent justice, the unprohibited function of independent authorities, individual and social rights, real pluralism, and media independence are the most important criteria to assess if democracy is slipping towards Orbanisation.”
He furthermore stated that the wiretapping scandal is a landmark for Greek Democracy.
“Even though the wiretapping scandal and wider institutional issues have received a low promotion and voters are not very interested in them, we will find them again soon, possibly even immediately after the elections. When there is speculation that wiretapped conversations between politicians can be used in extortion, you can understand the consequences for the political system’s reliability and the injury this can cause to democracy. The way EYP operated, the multifaceted pressures the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy accepted, and the covering up process to the scandal constitute a landmark for the Third Hellenic Democracy.”
More of a farce than a debate
At the same time, other processes were underway.
The PEGA Committee Final Report & Recommendations regarding Spyware was adopted on 8 May. The MEPs sounded alarm on the threat to democracy and demanded reforms, as they emphasise in the relevant press release:
“On Greece, MEPs say spyware use “does not seem to be part of an integral authoritarian strategy, but rather a tool used on an ad hoc basis for political and financial gains.” Even though Greece has “a fairly robust legal framework in principle,” legislative amendments have weakened safeguards. As a result, spyware has been used against journalists, politicians, and businesspersons and exported to countries with poor human rights records.
MEPs call on the government to “urgently restore and strengthen the institutional and legal safeguards,” repeal export licenses that are not in line with EU export control legislation, and respect the independence of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE). They also note Cyprus has played a major role as an export hub for spyware and should repeal all export licenses it has issued that are not in line with EU legislation”.
Meanwhile, at the political leaders' debate on 10 May, the Greek PM admitted (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) for the first time that there was no national security reason for the secret services – under his personal control – to bug the phone of socialist leader Nikos Adnroulakis.
At the same debate, Androulakis said that in relation to the wiretapping scandal “some must go to jail.”
It shall be remembered that the debate terms were asphyxiating and set by the parties, with the journalists having no say, as even their request to have a free question was turned down. One debate moderator, journalist Rania Tzima, later said (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) that when Androulakis made the above statement, all journalists froze. “We look at each other… I poked, we were not on camera at this point, and said, ‘Guys, are we going to do something? Are we going to say something?’ Kouvaras (i.e., a leading public broadcaster ERT journalist) sees me and waves, ‘My hands are tied.’ A political leader stated that somebody should go to jail for the surveillance issue, and we could not ask who he was referring to. If you interrupt, you risk being anti-institutional.”
This is all you need to know to assess how much of an honest debate was.
One wonders how under such conditions, Greece disputed the RSF Freedom of the Press ranking that placed the country 107th. The organization responded (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) to Greek government accusations calling them unreliable:
“RSF is unreliable, says Greece, again ranked last in the EU. The country can have a better story to tell in 2024 if journalists can rely on the authorities to prevent arbitrary surveillance and bring justice for the killing of Giorgos Karaivaz.”
At the same time, DiEM25 denounced (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) that their representatives had been excluded from oligarch Vangelis Marinakis’s media. Marinakis has traditionally been affiliated with the ND party.
First incident: DiEM25 candidate was invited to a MEGA TV panel, and at the last moment, the channel called to say he was no longer invited on the pretext the other participants did not want them there.
Second incident: A journalist from Marinakis’s newspaper TA NEA requested an interview with Varoufakis. Varoufakis gave this interview, and just before publication, “Mr. Marinakis intervened and prohibited the publication of the interview,” Varoufakis stated.
Third incident: DiEM25 candidate Michalis Kritharidis was invited to MEGA channel. “Again, at the last moment, he was informed that the panel would be smaller and smaller parties will not participate. Finally, the panel was large, and all Parliamentary parties were there, and instead of Michalis Kritharides was Mrs. Despina Koutsoumpa from ANTARSYA.”
“The fiscal situation is falsified; Far from being rosy, we are at the edge of the cliff”
“The financial situation is beautified, risk of derailing ahead”: This was the message of former Finance Minister (under the early PASOK government) Alekos Papadopoulos' open letter (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) to ND, SYRIZA, and PASOK leaders.
In this open letter, which received low attention from mainstream media, Papadopoulos emphasized that some fiscal data are overwhelmingly promoted as phenomenal achievements. In contrast, others of major importance, like the enlarged general government and state debt, are hushed up.
This way, the fiscal situation is better than it is - and there is a tremendous political risk after the elections, independent of who is in office.
“A recent example is the intense and coordinated promotion of the relatively unimportant and essentially nonexistent primary surplus and the vanishing of the multi-billion deficit as well as of the unprecedented expansion of public and state debt,” Papadopoulos wrote. “Are these elections -one wonders- an opportunity to put our society’s real problems on the table, or will the same mistakes that led to the recent bankruptcy be repeated?”
Among other important data, the former Finance Minister emphasized that:
The deficit after the Budget execution was 4,727 million euros.
Public debt in absolute numbers exceeded public debt during the 2011 debt crisis and reached 356,256 million (171.3% of the GDP) - “the highest since the country’s accession in the Eurozone.”
State debt exceeded state debt during the 2011 debt crisis and reached 400,276 million (192.4% of the GDP), “by far the highest since the country’s accession in the Eurozone.”
Papadopoulos posed seven crucial questions on cash and debt and suggested that the fiscal situation be accurately defined before elections so that “a repetition of the traumatic debt crisis” is averted. He concluded by addressing the three leaders:
“Your responsibility as leaders of governmental parties will be heavy and nonexcusable if the country is fiscally derailed within this decade or at the beginning of the following one, under the burden of repetitive irresponsible and unconsidered expansionist policies. I deeply believe and allow me to suggest the immediate joint set up of a stable National Fiscal Strategy, even after the elections, as an immense need due to the still dangerously ill Greek economy.”
Read
Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) report on Risk of Poverty 2022 (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre): Based on the data of the 2022 Household Income and Living Conditions Survey, the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion amounts to 26.3% of the country's population (2,722,000 people), showing a decrease by 2.0 percentage points compared to 2021. The target set in social protection by the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan “EU 2030 targets” is: ‘The number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion should be reduced by at least 15 million, out of them, at least 5 million should be children’ by 2030.
Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) report on Material and Social Deprivation and Living Conditions 2022 (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre): The percentage of the population that lacks at least 7 out of 13 goods and services (i.e., the index that calculates the "percentage of the population with severe material and social deprivations - Europe 2030") amounts to 13.9%, while the percentage of the population that lacks at least 4 out of 9 goods and services (i.e., the index that calculates the "percentage of the population with severe material deprivation - Europe 2020") amounts to 15.6%.
Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) report on Income Inequality 2022 (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre): 25% of the population in the 1st quartile, with the lowest income, holds 10.3% of the total national disposable income, recording an increase of 0.7 percentage units compared with 2021. 25% of the population in the 4th quartile, with the highest income, holds 45.3% of the total national disposable income, recording a decrease of 0.4 percentage units compared with 2021. 50% of the middle-income population in the 2nd and 3rd quartiles holds 44.4% of the total national disposable income, recording a decrease of 0.2 percentage units compared with 2021
Greeks abroad to cast their vote on Saturday, May 20 (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
Albanian forces arrest Greek minority candidate for Himara Mayor (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
Greece Supreme Court: Law does not recognize “private beaches” (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
Eviction of disabled elderly man with 20 police officers (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
High school student fires at teacher with air gun (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
“Blue Flag 2023”: Greece ranks 2nd worldwide with 617 beaches (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
Plan Ahead
Acropolis Museum events on European Museums Night & International Museum Day: (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)With special events and free entrance, the Acropolis Museum will celebrate the annual European Night of Museums on Saturday, May 13, and the International Museum Day on Thursday, May 18, 2023.
That’s all for this week,
Stay tuned because elections are ahead!
The AL team
