by Costas Papachlimintzos
WHEN an MP called Yiorgos Karatzaferis was expelled from New Democracy (ND) over his harsh criticism of the party’s spokesman in 2000, nobody could have predicted that one day he would manage to form a party, enter parliament and end up participating in a coalition government.
A journalist with no university degree, Karatzaferis, 64, was a far-right ND deputy known for incendiary statements like calling the coup d’etat of 21 April 1967 “a movement ... I have no problem calling it a revolution”, or defining “New Order” as a state which “means that we are a puppet in the hands of the Jews”. In addition, he would call for the inclusion of monarchists and fascists in ND’s ranks through his daily show on his private TV channel Telecity.
That was the mid- and late 90s. After his expulsion from ND and the founding of his right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally (Laos) in September 2000, Karatzaferis started to move slowly but surely towards the centre of the political spectrum. This enabled him to achieve two goals - of entering parliament and becoming a key player in Greek politics.
At the same time, however, he had to keep the grassroots and extreme rightwing members of his party happy. In its founding declaration Laos states that it is a “democratic, reformist, hellenocentric, people’s party” which “supports the interests of non-privileged citizens”.
That is also why Laos’ political programme in September 2007 - before the national election that granted the party entry into parliament for the first time - included proposals for the autonomy of Northern Epirus (now a part of Albania), the introduction of capital punishment for offences such as bribery of state employees, drug dealing, pederasty and the rape of minors, and measures to “preserve the current, at least, population ratio of citizens of Greek descent in Greece”.
Long before the onset of the Greek debt crisis, there were clear signs that the political parties which had dominated the Greek scene since 1974 were reaching a stress point with their electorate. Karatzaferis tried to present Laos as an alternative rightwing party that maintained close ties with the people.
His political twists and turns and standpoint reversals, part of his effort to promote ideas and policies that seemed more popular, are phenomenal. Karatzaferis recently rebuked George Papandreou for calling for a referendum. In 2007, however, Laos said that “the Greek citizens should decide by a referendum if they wish for our country to remain in the eurozone or if they prefer the reintroduction of the drachma”.
Memorandum views
During the year, Laos has heavily criticised the memorandum’s terms and conditions, although it voted it through in May 2010. Early in September, Karatzaferis noted that he is “at the forefront of the unification of the big centre-right party”. By November 14, he had changed position, saying that “there is no such thing as the unification of the centre-right”.
On November 1 Karatzaferis had further claimed that “even if Papandreou leaves and we form another government from this parliament [session], it is already too late”. A few weeks later, not only did he agree to the formation of a new government, but he also participated in it.
Analysts, intellectuals and politicians have been debating the “rise of the radical right” in Greece for quite a while now. During the same period, Laos has managed to cross the three percent threshold to enter parliament twice, in 2007 and 2009. Now, it officially has the status of a governing party.
No comments:
Post a Comment