Under pressure from EU institutions and NGOs, Greece’s Prime Minister announced that the rule of law in his country was “stronger than ever” following a string of attacks accusing the centre-right government of rule-of-law violations.
Greece is the latest member state subjected to EU ‘lawfare’, finding its funding threatened because of national policies—and voters—that are seen as out of step with Brussels’ left-leaning ‘values.’
Kyriakos Mitsotakis was speaking on Tuesday, February 20th, at a joint press conference with Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament (EP), who is touring European Union capitals ahead of European elections in June.
The left-liberal majority of the EP recently adopted a resolution condemning Greece for a myriad of alleged actions they say are threatening the rule of law—eg. lack of media freedom, wiretapping of political opponents, the “pushback” of illegal migrants—and called for the freezing of EU funds to Athens. In a debate last week, leftist members of the European Parliament accused Athens of “massive and sustained” human rights violations with respect to its treatment of migrants.
Earlier this month, 17 human rights and press freedom organisations, including Human Rights Watch, wrote to the European Commission to complain about journalists allegedly being targeted by the government with spyware, coercive lawsuits, and obstructive regulations.
The claims seem to be a left-wing attempt just ahead of the elections to discredit another conservative government—after similar attacks on the current conservative Hungarian government and the previous Polish cabinet. The New Democracy party (in power since 2019) has conducted a successful turnaround of the Greek economy and drastically reduced the number of migrants coming to the country. After easily retaining power in the 2023 national elections, it is set to gain the highest share of the votes in the upcoming European elections, polling at 34%.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis blamed political opponents for the criticism of his government and argued that the “country was at the centre of a slander (campaign).” Referring to the left-wing opposition, he said:
It seems a little odd that certain forces in our country, which once used the most anti-European, populist slogans, suddenly present themselves as the defenders of justice and democratic values and justice.
He cited a libellous report by German liberal publication Der Spiegel which accused Greek authorities of not doing enough to save a 5-year-old Syrian girl, Maria, who died while stranded on a small islet in the middle of the Evros River. The paper later retracted the article, saying it had “made mistakes” in its reporting.
While vehemently rejecting the attacks on his country, Mitsotakis seemingly would like to shift the blame onto others. In an interview on Monday evening, he said “the problem is elsewhere. Greece is not the problem of the rule of law in Europe.” He urged the European People’s Party—of which his New Democracy party is a member—to cooperate with the Liberals, the Socialists, and the Greens—the political forces that adopted the resolution against Greece.
The recent adoption of a bill in Greece allowing same-sex civil marriage may also have been an attempt by the government to appease the leftist Brussels elite. Mitsotakis said during his press conference on Tuesday that the bill is the latest example of the expansion of rights and the enhancement of pluralism and equality. “This reinforces the position of our country in the heart of Europe, being attached to the principles of democracy. These are values that have been acknowledged by our partners,” he emphasised.
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen recently acknowledged the practice of ‘lawfare’, noting that the EU was withholding funds from Hungary because of “concerns on LGBTIQ rights, academic freedom and asylum rights”—all policies that belong under national competencies, meaning the EU has no business issuing edicts to member states on the subjects.
