Greece celebrates 50 years of democracy
Greece is celebrating 50 years of democracy, the restoration of which followed the collapse of the seven-year junta that ended disastrously with the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974.
The return of the exiled former prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, who was to serve an additional six years as prime minister and then 10 as president, marked the period described as the Metapolitefsi, which however one sees it, has been the most free and democratic one in the nation’s history, both for the lives of individual citizens as well as the functioning of institutions.
This success is largely due to Karamanlis, who, in the eyes of most (including his political opponents), embodied the characteristics of a statesman who saved his country; who took it from the brink of the abyss and, in record time, transformed a divided nation still living with the scars of civil war into an equal member of the European Union (the then European Economic Community).
He also pushed through a new liberal Constitution in 1975, a major achievement that has in the meantime proved critically important.
Throughout the five decades that followed, all the elections that took place regularly were free and fair, and despite periods of increased polarization – what has become the norm in most western democracies – the institutions have endured.
Even during the deep financial crisis of the previous decade, and despite the unfortunate, but unavoidable heavy dose of populism that prevailed, the political system showed reassuring maturity. Different parties came to power democratically and, at the end, the country positively surprised many of its critics.
An independent judiciary and a free media landscape are also major developments of this period. Obviously, a lot remains to be done to get to the level the country aspires to and deserves. The rule of law has not been a priority, to put it diplomatically, and for journalists being free does not necessarily translate into being factually correct in their reporting or objective in their analyses.
It is true that in assessing these 50 years one can easily identify numerous misgivings: the abuse of political power that remains entangled with economic power, institutional deficits, processes that have to be fixed, and the need for transparency.
But overall, this is a different country: Socially modern, politically stable, economically growing, militarily strong and able to defend itself against any potential aggressor.
The Greek Republic can be proud of its successful and smooth transition from authoritarianism to democracy. That is not to say that everything has been right, let alone ideal. But, compared to the past, the last 50 years can easily be described as the best we have ever experienced.
