A Europe for each’s narrative

There is significant concern today regarding the lack of a robust official opposition. When the government faces accusations of covering up cases, leaking personal data, violating privacy, and engaging in illegal surveillance, one would expect that the country’s second-largest party would offer serious criticism and present a reliable alternative governmental proposal.

What is the current situation? According to the government, the main left-wing opposition presents a Trumpist narrative, questioning the transparency of elections, calling for international observers with a president dressed in khaki, attempting to appeal to the most conservative, nationalist instincts of the electorate. “It would be a blessing” if the EU’s chief prosecutor investigating the 2023 Tempe railway disaster brought the government down, said SYRIZA’s EU policy adviser and MEP candidate Nikolaos Farantouris.

We all recall SYRIZA’s ambivalence toward the European Union in 2015: allegations that the EU aims to turn our country into a “debt colony,” equating the troika of foreign lenders with Greece’s former military junta, widespread suspicion of the intentions of European politicians, and condemnation of those who opposed withdrawal from the EU as “Germanotsoliades” (a slang term used for Greeks who collaborated with the German occupying forces during World War II).

Less than a decade later, the same party pins its hopes on overturning the government in Europe, while former prominent members of the “Menoume Evropi” (We Remain in Europe) protest movement refuse even to consider the European Parliament, its resolutions, or European prosecutors.

Europe is exploited for political objectives by both sides at will. It is an abstract concept with flexible breadth, fitting into many molds. It may have been seen as technocratic, callous, and “junta-like” in 2015; democratic, socially sensitive, and liberal in 2024. Or vice versa: It may have been associated with modernization, transparency, and growth perspective a decade ago, and today be a pawn of leftist malicious actors who torment the democratically elected government and undermine its investment grade. Then hell, now hope, or vice versa: then the prospect, now the end.

Does this discussion, which tarnishes the idea of Europe, make sense just two and a half months before the European Parliament elections? Obviously not. However, no one is actually talking about Europe. Greek politicians discuss the imaginary relationship they have with it. As a bogeyman or as a savior.