Introduction & Updates in National Landscape
The Greek far-right political scene is undergoing shifts and changes.
- Kyriakos Velopoulos and his parliamentary far-right party “National Solution” seem to maintain, according to opinion polls, their influence (around 4,5% according to Pulse )
- The new party “Ethniki Symfonia” (“National Agreement”) announced by former ND parliamentarian, Konstantinos Bogdanos, was joined in a coalition by two other actors, Thanos Tzimeros and Failos Kranidiotis.
- The trial of the Golden Dawn in the Court of Appeals is set to begin in June. Most of the GD members convicted and condemned to prison in the Court of the First Instance will face trial again, in a higher Court. The process is expected to last a few years, and the outcome is still open, ranging from exonerations to even higher sentences for the leader and heads of the criminal organization.
- Three consecutive racist attacks in three different parts of Attica ( 1, 2, 3 ), raise concerns about possible reorganization of violent racist cells. The incidents are said to be investigated by the Hellenic Police. The perpetrators are, as of the end of May 2022, unknown.
Transnational Activities & Group Interactions
As there have been no real developments in the transnational level during May 2022, such as public events, meetings or other activities, the Greek far-right groups seem to be simply maintaining and not expanding their occassional connections to far-right groups in other European countries (see previous months’ reports).
The two far-right parties holding seats in the European Parliament is ELASYN (the party founded by former Golden Dawn local head and MEP, Ioannis Lagos) and Greek Solution (MEP Emmanouil Fragkos. Another MEP elected with Golden Dawn is Athanasios Konstantinou. He is currently non-affiliated (since August 2020), but he has expressed support for I. Lagos on more than one occassion ( 1, 2 ).