Greek leftist politicians have reacted strongly to France’s Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right Patriots for Europe group’s participation in an event in Athens to discuss democracy in the EU.
Bardella, the head of France’s far-right National Rally and President of the newly established Patriots for Europe group in the EU Parliament was invited to speak at an event on Thursday organised by the Athens Democracy Forum.
But his participation in the event has triggered reactions in Athens amid a fragile domestic political landscape. The two main opposition parties—leftist Syriza and socialist Pasok—will soon elect new leaders.
“We make it clear that Le Pen’s protégé is unwelcome in Athens”, Nasos Iliopoulos, spokesperson of the New Left party, told Euractiv, adding that it is “unthinkable” to invite Bardella to speak about democracy.
“Apparently, this invitation reflects a broader perception prevailing in the ‘liberal centre’ on the basis that the extreme right can be refined and be an important ally”, he noted.
For his part, the Greek MEP and candidate for the main opposition Syriza party Nikolas Farantouris commented that Bardella embraces an ideology that has intolerance and racism at its core.
“As a candidate for Prime Minister of France with Le Pen and current MEP, he supports a phobic Europe in a divided society. We clash in the European Parliament as representatives of two different worlds that collide. My world detests fascism and anything that embellishes it”, Farantouris, a Jean Monnet professor of EU Law and member of the Federalist Spinelli group, added.
‘Via dialogue extremes can be challenged’
Euractiv also contacted the event organisers to ask why Bardella was invited.
In an emailed response, Democracy and Culture Foundation President Achilles Tsaltas stated:
“As a Forum, we invite speakers that are pro-democracy and anti-democracy, as it is through discussion and dialogue that we can better understand, challenge and confront the rise of the extremes and authoritarianism to help democracy evolve”.
A fragile political environment
Similarly to several EU countries, far-right parties in Greece are on the rise, according to polls.
The latest poll suggests that the far-right Greek Solution Party (ECR), the Voice of Reason (Patriots for Europe), and the far-right “Niki” (non-affiliated with an EU group) score 15%. A few weeks ago, another poll showed that they could reach up to 20%.
The Greek member of the Patriots for Europe is the far-right Voice of Reason led by MEP Afroditi Latinopoulou.
The latter recently hailed Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) ‘s victory in the elections, saying, “The EU changes, reason prevails.”
Meanwhile, mainstream pro-EU parties are still trying to recover from the results of the EU elections.
Read more: Greece’s mainstream parties in crisis mode after EU elections
The ruling New Democracy party (centre-right EPP) has lost more than one million votes since the 2023 legislative elections and now polls at 27%, followed by socialist Pasok, which stands at 14%.
The main opposition is the leftist Syriza party, which comes in fifth place with 7.7%.
Both Pasok and Syriza will soon elect new leaders, hoping to give their parties a fresh boost. Some estimate that depending on the next leaders, the two parties may form a “progressive” front to confront conservative New Democracy.
Analysts in Athens estimate that the next leadership of socialist Pasok holds the key for the next government, marking a turn to the left or right.
For its part, New Democracy hopes to have a socialist leader who is friendly to the centre-right while simultaneously shifting the political agenda’s focus to migration, fearing further vote losses to the right.
Speaking to Euractiv, the EU Commission recently rejected funding a fence the Greek government is building at the Evros land border with Turkey to prevent irregular migration.
However, German Christian Democrats (CDU), who belong to the same EPP family as New Democracy, supported the Greek argument.
“I expect the Federal Government and the EU Commission to ensure that we do not abandon states by the external borders such as Poland and Greece,” Alexander Throm, the CDU’s lead MP on home affairs, told Euractiv earlier this week.
Source: euractiv.com
