Karamanlis and the New Democracy party support the accession of Turkey to the ... European Union.
by Makis Voridis
member of the Executive Committee of the People's Orthodox Rally
|
Karamanlis and the New Democracy party support the accession of Turkey to the ... European Union.
|
For the last 2 years the political party of New Democracy is in power in Greece, after 23 years of almost continuous governing by the socialist party PASOK. The general impression abroad is that New Democracy is a conservative party, the Greek equivalent of the German Christian-Democrats and the American Republicans. This impression is reinforced by its participation in the international conservative European People’s Party (EPP) and its party conflict with the socialist PASOK. However a more careful analysis of the Greek political reality leads to completely different conclusions.
Let’s start from the foreign policy. The president of New Democracy and Greek Prime Minister Constantinos Karamanlis has declared that “there is no disagreement between New Democracy and PASOK in the foreign policy strategy” (1). This is also proved by a comparison of their positions.
New Democracy, as opposed to the EPP (2), as well as the Church of Greece (3), supports the accession of Turkey to the European Union. If finally this becomes true, then Greece and the rest of Europe will be swamped with millions of Turkish Muslims with European passport, a real nightmare that will mean the demographic end of Europe. Not only that, but New Democracy acted as a mediator and supporter of the request of the Turkish “Justice and Development” Islamic party of Tagip Erdogan to become a member of the … Christian-Democratic EPP (4).
As for the future of the European Union, New Democracy is in favor of a European super-state and the abolition of the European nation-states. It is typical of New Democracy what the chairman of the Greek Parliament Mrs Psarouda-Benaki has said: “the national borders and a part of national sovereignty will be limited for the shake of peace, prosperity and security in the enlarged Europe” 5. New Democracy rushed to approve, in concert with the socialist PASOK, the European Union Constitution through the Greek Parliament and without a referendum (6). The basic reason of the rush was that from the beginning the Greeks were divided on the issue (44,57% for, 38,85% against), while, after the Constitution’s rejection by France and the Netherlands, they are clearly against (34%, 53,6% against) (7). The EU Constitution contains no reference to the Christian cultural character of Europe and cedes more power from the nation-states to the European Commission in Brussels.
New Democracy was one of the few European conservative parties in the Council of Europe who voted against the memorandum condemning the crimes of Communism (8). In the recent EPP’s convention in Rome Mr Karamanlis delayed his entrance to the meeting room so as to avoid sitting next to the host, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whom he considers very conservative, while he refused to join in the official dinner.
New Democracy is anti-conservative in its immigration policy too. In 2005 it offered an amnesty to all illegal immigrants in Greece, without any study of how many and whom the Greek society really needs. It is the third amnesty offered after the two previous ones, in 1999 and 2001, by the PASOK governments. The issue has taken explosive social dimensions: Greece is the country with the largest percentage of immigrants (10%) in the European Union and many neighborhoods of Greek cities have been downgraded and turned into ghettos. Ignoring the reality, the Interior Minister Mr Pavlopoulos supports that “immigration contributes to the economic development, the social progress and the fertilization of civilization” (9) and “makes efforts for the legalization of all illegal immigrants” (10). The enforcement of the law, which requires the deportation of illegal immigrants, is an unknown word to the New Democracy government.
The lack of conservative ideological background is especially obvious in the New Democracy relations with the parties of the Marxist Left. The president of New Democracy and Prime Minister Mr Karamanlis asked for his reading preferences, said that “he reads with persistence and patience the leftist intellectuals, such as Marx” (11). The historical worldview of New Democracy is unashamedly anti-conservative: it pays homage to those who struggled for the establishment of a communist dictatorship in Greece. In his visit to the island of Agios Eustratios, where communists where deported during the Greek Civil War, Mr Karamanlis said that “he pays homage to the citizens who were persecuted and suffered at this place” and pledged to secure the necessary funds (440.000 Euros) to convert the place to a … “Museum of Democracy” (12).
The conservative ideological character of the New Democracy government is an illusion in the minds of those who cannot or do not wish to face the reality. Judged by the international ideological standards, New Democracy is a center-left party. New Democracy has abandoned the Greek conservatives and the struggle for the values of the Nation and the Tradition should be continued from another party bastion.
References