#rbnews international show 22 June 2013: Happy birthday Mr. Prime Minister

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the formation of the coalition government in June 2012 (and of the day when it lost one of its three member parties), we discussed its achievements (or lack thereof) over the past year with @tsimitakis and @YiannisBab.

You can listen to the podcast, as usual, after the jump.

#rbnews international show 11 May 2013: Greece and the 2012 elections, one year on.

In this week's edition of the #rbnews international show, @tsimitakis and @IrateGreek interviewed Michalis Spourdalakis, professor of political science at the University of Athens and Chairman of the Hellenic Political Science Society. We took stock of the political situation of Greece on the anniversary of the elections of 6 May 2012, which was a political earthquake in which Greece's traditional bipartisan system collapsed, leading to the rise of alternative political forces, SYRIZA on the left and, most worryingly, Golden Dawn on the far-right.
You can listen to the podcast, as usual, after the jump.

6 May 2012 - 6 May 2013: one year from the Greek general elections of May 2012

By @galaxyarchis, translated from Greek by @anarresti, corrections by @IrateGreek

By Spyros Derveniotis
Translation: "Dirty immigrants, dying
where the Greeks eat!

Greece recently had two very important political anniversaries. More specifically, May 6th, 2013, marked three years since the adoption of the Memorandum which caused the greatest political rearrangements in the country's recent history, and one year since the 2012 general elections, when those dramatic changes were first expressed through the ballot box. Greek society is living in a period where political time is condensed to such a degree, that the changes occurring every month and every week can hardly be conceived by its collective consciousness. Since the May 2012 elections, which did not lead to the formation of a new government but to repeat elections a month later, the country's image and its political landscape kept changing at a rapid pace until today. In light of a greater tribute to the one year anniversary since last June's elections, when today's three-party coalition government came to power, we take a look at the facts and data which changed in this past year, starting from last May's elections.

Declaration of the Government of National Responsibility

Original post by @doleross, translated by @IrateGreek

The following text is the "Declaration of the Government of National Responsibility" - in other words the programmatic framework to which the three parties participating in the government coalition (New Democracy, PASOK & Democratic Left) agreed.

The government of national responsibility which is created with the support of the three parties (New Democracy, PASOK and Democratic Left) will have full powers and the time frame stipulated by the Constitution. Its goals are to face the crisis, to pave the way for development and to revise conditions set in the loan agreement (memorandum) without endangering the European path of the country and its remaining in the eurozone. And, of course, without casting doubts on the self-evident goals of zeroing the fiscal deficit, putting the debt under control and implementing the structural reforms the country needs. 

A further goal is to create the conditions for the country to rid itself of the crisis for good, as well as the dependence on loan agreements in the future. The new government of national responsibility will smaller, with a perspective of shinking even further, and it is meant to be functional and executive. 

It will not be constituted of fiefdoms influenced by parties, it will function with unity, it will be based on transparency, on the programmatic agreements of the parties that support it and on the staffing of the administrative mechanisms on the basis of merit.  

Furthermore, it will be founded on flexibility, in order to avoid that disagreements on specific topics impede its work or the consensus that is needed for its work to continue. 

Finally, the new government and the chair of the Parliament will take the initiative to change the Parliament's regulations in order for legislative practices and parliamentary control to adapt to the new conditions of coalition governments. This will also upgrade the role of the House. 

Urgent meeting in PASOK headquarters

Edit: alterthess.gr Translation: inflammatory_

In light of recent developments, Venizelos invited his close aides for a meeting to make final decisions of critical importance regarding the broader efforts to form a new government. A. Loverdos, M. Chrisochoidis, A. Diamantopoulou, K. Scandalidis, P. Efthimiou, M. Androulakis and F. Gennimata will join. 
The topics under discussion include everything raised by Samaras and Kouvelis (Democratic Left) to the Head of PASOK, who attempts to bring on board Kouvelis' argument against the aspect where Loverdos and Chrisochoidis would be appointed of ministerial posts they used to hold during previous government.
Everything shows though that PASOK members will join a coalition. 

LIVE BLOG on Greek elections, June 17

By @inflammatory_

01:50 Election Results in a nutshell 
Here's a recap of the day's main highlights

• Check here the latest official updates on election results from Ministry of Interior's webpage.
• As there is no outright winner securing 151 seats, leader of pro-bailout "New Democracy" A. Samaras, will receive a formal mandate from President Karolos Papoulias on Monday morning to form a coalition government. Some members estimate that might get back individual support from ex-comrades who switched to Independent Greeks thus putting its cohesiveness at risk.
• Although physical assaults on left-wing politicians and immigrants made headlines, it seems that neonazi Golden Dawn's voters are engaged with the party's rhetoric and practices.
• Communist Party KKE has hit a record low.
• A few who voted for right-wing anti-bailout Independent Greeks during last elections switched to Syriza and New Democracy, dropping down the party's rating.
• Although left-wing Syriza came second, the party managed to raise the percentage of the vote from 4,6% in 2009 to 27,1% in 2012. Syriza has rejected any coalition with a pro-bailout party.
• PASOK is keen to join forces with New Democracy, Syriza and Democratic Left with Venizelos apparently denying that Syriza's collaboration is a strong prerequisite. 

Was the bailout of Greece legal?

Edited by Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King’s College London, for USI

As the European political crisis becomes ever more intense and the economic crisis ever more acute, there is a third crisis yet to unfold.  This is the crisis of legality now engulfing the EU, an entity that seems to be free to do what it likes and to ignore the legal foundations on which it is supposed to be built.

The EU, its institutions and its representatives are required to act with legal authority and within the scope of legal powers.   To this end, the post–Lisbon treaty is full of clearly expressed principles and obligations, the EU apparently founded on the values of ‘human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights’.

The pre-electoral commitments that shape the “electoral polarization” in this June’s elections.

By @galaxyarchis, translated by the #rbnews international team.

The shaping of the pre-electoral landscape concludes with the final pitch of the leaders of the two parties which theoretically and practically, have a claim to power on June 18. Under the circumstances, PASOK has to a large extent withdrawn from the battle for leadership and is reserving for itself –as expressed by the statements of its leader Evangelos Venizelos– a regulatory role. The same goes for the Democratic Left which has also stated its intention to participate in a coalition government.

The rupture between Samaras (leader of conservative New Democracy) and Tsipras (the leader of left wing SYRIZA) reached a climax with the presentation of their pre-electoral commitments on Thursday and Friday respectively, thus shaping a new polarization around the dilemmas which they put forward clearly: “Memorandum or Drachma” and “Memorandum or Syriza.”

What follows is a detailed juxtaposition, on a point by point basis, of these commitments.

A French translation is available on Okeanews. 

PASOK's downfall and the attempts to stay afloat

By @inflammatory_


Say hello to a new era where PASOK's ability to rule with a comfortable parliamentary advantage is over. With the repudiation of austerity policies at the ballot box, it saw its vote plummeting from 43.9% in the last elections to 13.2%. "PASOK is rotten" said its leader -Evangelos Venizelos- to his aides, highlighting the need for readjustment as many of those sustaining the party's state electoral clientèle -nurtured by favoritism, contracts, and subventions- seem to "abandon the ship". With perks cutbacks under the bailout agreements, high-profile members of major trade union bodies cut ties with the party, while others move around on the political spectrum, seeking shelter with hints of electoral success. 

Thanks to Simitis' embrace of neo-liberalism in the mid 90's and Papandreou's approval of austerity measures that kicked Greeks in the guts, PASOK abandoned certain clauses of its own charter and shifted to the right, setting voters deprived of a genuine "socialist" choice. Now Venizelos will have to use his soft media skills to reposition the party in the centre-left, a challenging task considering Syriza's rapid gains in popularity. Putting his six-point plan on the table, he strives to promote the idea of reviewing Greece’s loan agreement and come across as a potent force in politics that has taken stock of negotiations with international leaders over the last year. Although determined to start building the party's reputation from scratch and win back a part of the votes lost to Syriza, Democratic Left or apathy, the feasibility of the matter in hand within a few weeks time remains questionable.

Admittedly overshadowed and squeezed between New Democracy and Syriza, PASOK sees itself playing a secondary role for the first time in decays. To this end Venizelos puts the message of "unity efforts in view of country's troubles" ahead of rivalries. Since the hard-line attack on Tsipras somehow backfires on PASOK but works for New Democracy, Venizelos mellowed down the confrontational rhetoric against Syriza without keeping the divides aside though.

Τsipras gets the international treatment: non-Greek media coverage of the leader of SYRIZA focuses on the man, not the message

By @zoemavroudi

It has been only two weeks since Alexis Tsipras was thrust into the international political limelight after leading the Coalition of the Radical Left-SYRIZA party to a surprising second place in Greece’s May 6 election and major media outlets in Europe and the United States have been hosting a slew of articles about him, in an attempt to piece together a coherent narrative.

This post is also available in French on Okeanews. 

Greek elections: the politics behind failure and the challenges ahead of success

By @inflammatory_ 

There was media frenzy over fruitless coalition talks and the "last-ditch efforts" to form the so-called "government of prominent personalities". Following Papademos leadership, the option of having unelected technocrats in government again, was under consideration. With the tyranny of pragmatism enslaving politics and society, fully trained economists are seen more competent to spot the right policies. They are supposed to have the skills and experience to ensure successful execution of EU guidelines and maintain effectiveness in a financial environment of ambiguity. Is there any clear evidence to support that? The euro for instance, was launched without significant political institutions behind it, which was not proved to be very clever. However the prospect of a second round of elections, was expected to bring havoc anyway. Under edgy circumstances,  voting -the backbone of democracy- is considered lethal. No need to wonder which section of society might feel threatened when people have their say for their own matters. Apparently a caretaker prime minister took over until elections in June, with a possible "Grexit" making headlines at the moment.

The meeting between the President of the Republic and political leaders on 15/05/2012

Prepared by the #rbnews international team

Below is an English-language summary of the transcript of the meeting held on 15/05/2012 between the President of the Republic, Karolos Papoulias, and the leaders of Nea Demokratia (Antonis Samaras), SYRIZA (Alexis Tsipras), PASOK (Evangelos Venizelos), Independent Greeks (Panos Kammenos) and Democratic Left (Fotis Kouvelis) in a last-ditch attempt to form a coalition government after the failure of consultations held on 13/05/2012 and 14/05/2012. The leader of the Communist Party (Aleka Papariga) declined to attend, while the leader of neo-nazi Golden Dawn (Nikolaos Michaloliakos) was not invited. 
The original transcript of the meeting as published by the presidency can be found here.

The meetings between the President of the Republic and political party leaders on 13/05/2012

Prepared by the #rbnews international team

Below is an English-language summary of the transcripts of the meetings held on 13/05/2012 between the President of the Republic, Karolos Papoulias, and the leaders of all the political parties that were elected to parliament following the 06/05/2012 elections, in an attempt to form a coalition government. Papoulias first met with the leaders of the three largest parties (Nea Demokratia, SYRIZA and PASOK) and then proceeded to individual meetings with the leaders of the Independent Greeks, the Communist Party, Golden Dawn and Democratic Left.
The original minutes published by the presidency can be found here.

The day after elections: all the latest developments

By @inflammatory_


With more than two years of cuts, layoffs, unemployment and…suicides’ rising toll, Greeks expressed their resentment over the political establishment yesterday, in what appeared to be one of the most low-key general elections.  There were no massive rallies, not excessive use of promotional material whilst for the first time, socialist PASOK and conservative New Democracy avoided setting up in public space their pre-election campaign kiosks, in case passersby attempt to destroy them.

From the beginning, it appeared unlikely for any political party to win a majority. Some believe that the election results officially dropped the final curtain on polity, the time period from 1974 onward, where PASOK and New Democracy succeeded each other in power. With many voters backing small parties and left-wing Syriza achieving its best result ever with sweeping gains in constituencies that traditionally belonged to rivals, there is a merit on that assumption.

32 parties competing in Greek elections

By @inflammatory_ 

There have been only a few hours left for Greece to hold one of its most important general elections in decades. As the two major pro-bailout parties, PASOK & New Democracy which have been ruling the country for the last 30 years, struggle to get a 40% of the votes together, smaller parties are expected to shine through. In fact for the first time, eight to ten parties are expected to elect deputies in the 300-seat parliament.The following list shows 32 registered parties (and their leader) that compete

Sex, hypocrisy and elections

By @inflammatory_


Greek authorities  released  the name and pictures (along with other personal info) of 17 HIV- positive sex workers, who allegedly provided their services illegally, accusing them for intentional bodily harm. The incident attracted media attention and the women swiftly became subject of mockery, making headlines as “public health time bomb”. In an attempt to crackdown unlicensed brothels  prior to the elections, hundreds of sex workers across the country are being screened for the virus by the state-run Center for Diseases’ Control & Prevention (NCDC). The agency has been reportedly receiving numerous telephone inquiries about sex and safety issues from men seeking to be tested as well. In an interview at Net Radio, Health Minister Andreas Loverdos underlined the severity of  ”AIDS time bomb” which “has now spread outside immigrant ghettos“, although he did his best to tackle the issue on time.
We are used to seeing the familiar narrative of a “social menace” that requires state and media intervention to protect citizens from “disaster”. It’s the backbone of  ”fear culture” and this story of foreign sex workers who were found to be HIV-positive, triggered racist comments against them. However human rights advocates condemned the violation of medical confidentiality and the ruthless stigmatization of women, with apparent signs of abuse, who sell their body for a living. Following undocumented immigrants, sex workers come to fill the “scapegoat scenario” that stirs up media frenzy in an attempt to boost falling popularity ratings of PASOK leaders. It is estimated though that there won’t be a clear winner on tomorrow’s elections and the country might go for a second round within months.