Will the Metapolitefsi cycle come to a close?
Greece marks 50 years since the fall of the 1967-74 dictatorship and the restoration of democracy – a process known as the “Metapolitefsi” – next year. We will take stock of what has been accomplished and where we failed. It should also signal the close of a cycle.
The real question – in my mind at least – is whether that cycle will really come to a close and how. As odd as it may sound, the answer depends on the decisions taken by one man: Kyriakos Mitsotakis. All the signs point to him earning something next Sunday that history rarely bestows on leaders: a second term with a strong mandate, a comfortable majority, a nonexistent opposition and a huge opportunity. He will have the opportunity to carry out those reforms that will unroot the accumulated ills of the Metapolitefsi: in the justice system and the public administration, in education and public safety, and in the crackdown on corruption. Facing no challenger inside or outside his party, it will be up to him. Society appears ready to accept radical changes in crucial sectors. The pendulum is in the middle; perhaps even quite to the right of it. It took 50 years, but it moved.
Caution is now called for. Many of us have talked about a “paradigm shift.” There was a paradigm shift because the left triumphed for a short while and was then strategically defeated. The “SYRIZA episode” moved society to the right, to realism. And yes, the country has progressed, but there is still a lot holding it back that cannot be simply shrugged off. Populism lurks in every corner, including inside New Democracy. Rot, cronyism and corruption have eaten away at key pillars of public life. The inequalities are startling and may easily send the euphoria over the country’s prospects crashing. Resistance to every bold reform of the justice system, of universities, security and health will be enormous. A lot of people are sitting pretty and there are a lot of small and big interests at stake, which have everything to lose from a shake-up of the status quo.
If Mitsotakis wants to close the Metapolitefsi cycle and open a new one, he needs to start doing so on June 26. The opportunity will slip through his fingers if he waits even a few months. Second terms tend to be cursed. What with fatigue and the arrogance of power that can cause confusion between dominance and permanence, it is easy for the prime minister to slip into the Greek routine of mere management. But in politics, time rushes ruthlessly on and it cannot be made up. Will the Metapolitefsi cycle be closed, or have we grown comfortable with the role of Sisyphus, seeing how far we can reach, taking the risk, and sliding back? By December we’ll know.
