Paschos Mandravelis

Sure, some of the demands being made by Greece's protesting farmers are “outside the European framework,” as Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis recently commented. Some are even ludicrous. But then again, is merging a subsidy payment agency with the authority for public revenue “inside” any European framework? France has the Agence de Services et de Paiement, Italy has the Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura and the Netherlands, which we are supposed to be emulating, has the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland.

Populism may be one thing, but it comes in many different guises. It can be left-wing – a guise we are all too familiar with in Greece after having lived with it in 2010-2015 and paid such a heavy toll for it in the first half of 2015. It can also be right-wing, as is the case in the United States today and which is, alas, taking a toll on the entire world. But it can also come dressed in mourning, like the guise that we are seeing surface today.

Something good may yet emerge from developments on the American political scene. The presidency of Donald Trump may have the same effect on right-wing populism as the SYRIZA government had on left-wing populism in Greece: It may thoroughly discredit it.

We all know that the very last article (number 120) of the Greek Constitution states that “observance of the Constitution is entrusted to the patriotism of the Greeks.” Is there maybe some hidden provision that adds that “it is also left to the kindness of those in power”?

“OK – ‘Nikos Androulakis is inadequate, Alexis Tsipras is outdated, Maria Karystianou is pro-Russian,' and as for Sokratis Famellos and Gabriel Sakellaridis, there is nothing even worth discussing. What remains, then? Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “There is no alternative” (TINA), as Margaret Thatcher used to say.

We have said many times that corruption is inherent in human affairs. It is found even in divine matters, if we consider that one of Jesus' 12 disciples was bribed to betray him. So, if 8% of the holiest group in Christian history – the Apostles – turned out to be corrupt, what should we expect from the Kifissia Building Authority?

PASOK has become something like a poodle: small and, as a result, insecure. It keeps barking constantly – not only at the government, which is, after all, part of its role – but also at the media and opinion polls.

There's no arguing that any ordinary citizen would be embarrassed about being called into a police station or summoned by a prosecutor. This is doubly so for public figures, who pay the price of the publicity they worked so hard to acquire by being “hung out to dry,” as many government officials like to say. Life is funny that way, though, so even lawmakers may be summoned by a prosecutor to explain their involvement in a case that is under investigation. Of course, this is not the case for ministers. When it comes to ministers, the government majority in Parliament will simply use Article 86 of the Greek Constitution to protect them from even the simplest questions that may be asked by judicial officials. This is one of the articles the government says it wants to change, possibly because it doesn't want the temptation of invoking it all the time.

There is a cartoon by Kostas Mitropoulos showing two people standing in front of a newsstand. One says, “Ah, it smells like spring…” The other, looking at the newspapers announcing new benefits, replies, “It smells like elections…”

There's a lot happening on Greece's political stage right now, and it's all getting its fair share of commentary. We're witnessing the second coming of Alexis Tsipras, Kyriakos Mitsotakis' resilience, Nikos Androulakis' weakness and all the departures from Maria Karystianou's new party.