The Far Right in Greece and the Law

Natalie Alkiviadou

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000603651
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Jura
• Categoria: Rechtstheorie & -praxis

This book critically evaluates the rise of the far-right in Greece, detailing the legal context in which to understand both the emergence of Golden Dawn, the far-right's largest grouping, and the 2020 court decision, in which it was deemed to be a criminal organisation.

Golden Dawn was a political party which, for years, also functioned as a violent subculture movement, with limited to no interference by the state. This book sets out the background to its rise in Greece, tracing its development from the post-Junta era. At the same time, the book provides an assessment of the legal framework within which the far-right has operated, and the legal tools available to tackle it – including criminal law, non-discrimination law, the laws governing political parties and the public order framework, and the country's international and European obligations. Golden Dawn functioned as both a political party and violent entity until its leadership and parliamentary members were found guilty of leading and participating in a criminal organisation. This book demonstrates that the state of impunity in which Golden Dawn's violent hit squads functioned was both a facilitating factor for its rise, and potentially for its demise, as the group potentially felt untouchable. And its attention to how Greek Law has tackled, and failed to tackle, Golden Dawn offers a timely and more generally useful assessment of how legislation, courts and policies can best challenge the far-right.

This book will be of interest to those teaching and studying in law and politics, as well as more others, concerned with the rise of the far right and violent organizations, especially in Europe.

Chapter 1 Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9781003289302-1

1.1 General Introduction

1.1.1 Aims and Structure

This book will map out the legal framework that can be utilised to challenge the far-right in Greece. The analysis will be effectuated against the backdrop of a contextual discussion, composed of three spheres. Namely, an overview of the country’s legal and political system, as established by its constitution, which will facilitate an understanding of the subsequent analysis, looking at issues such as primary sources of law and the functioning and powers of the judiciary. Furthermore, given Greece’s experience under a military dictatorship, and the ramifications this has had on the development of its legal framework and the far-right as a phenomenon, an insight into this period of history will be provided. An insight into the military dictatorship and the civil war will inform the discussion on the current treatment of political parties by the Greek legal system. The book will also set out the context of the far-right in Greece, looking at its development following the post-dictatorship period and its composition today. Once the contextual setting has been established, there will be an overview of the definitional framework of key terms, including racial discrimination and incitement to racial and religious violence, as these emanate from the country’s legislation. There will then be an assessment of the treatment of political parties in the Greek legal order. Instead of integrating this in Chapter 3 on human rights (within the framework of the freedom of association), it will be a standalone chapter, given the centrality of the treatment of political parties in the Greek legal order to the substance of the book, the handling of Golden Dawn by the state and the impact an understanding of this treatment has on subsequent analyses and themes. The book will then look at the country’s domestic legal framework in the realm of challenging the far-right. To this end, it will firstly pinpoint how the key freedoms of expression, assembly and non-discrimination are established therein. The role of criminal law will then be appraised in relation to the far-right, looking particularly at Law 927/1979 on Punishing Acts or Activities aiming at Racial Discrimination, as revised by Law 4285/2014 on Amending Law 927/1979 and the Transposition of Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA on Combating Certain Forms and Expressions of Racism and Xenophobia by means of Criminal Law. It will assess the relevant provisions of the Greek Criminal Code, such as those on racial aggravation and criminal and terrorist organisations. After examining the relevant aspects of the national legal framework, the book will consider the interpretation and incorporation of the country’s obligations as these emanate from international and European documents. More particularly, it will look at the status of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) in national law. In order to determine the state’s adherence to international obligations, potential reservations and/or declarations made on provisions of international conventions will be assessed. On a Council of Europe level, it must be noted that Protocol 12 (general prohibition of discrimination) to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was signed by Greece in 2000 but has not yet been ratified. On a European Union (EU) level, the analysis of the Framework Decision on Combating Certain Forms and Expressions of Racism and Xenophobia by Means of Criminal law¹ will not be discussed in the section on international and European obligations but, rather, in the national legal framework as this tool has amended the principal legal instrument that tackles issues relevant to challenging the far-right, namely Law 927/1979 mentioned above. This is also the case for Law 3304/2005 on the Implementation of the Principle of Equal Treatment regardless of Racial or Ethnic Origin, Religion or other Beliefs, Disability, Age or Sexual Orientation, which transposed EU anti-discrimination directives. Law 3304/2005 will be dealt with in the national legal framework even though it transposes EU law given that it is the only anti-discrimination legislation which exists in Greece. By considering all of the above frameworks, this book incorporates all means and methods directly or indirectly available to Greece for the purposes of challenging the far-right. The book concludes on key themes, making reference to the compatibility between national law and international and European law and, more generally, appraising whether the current system is well-equipped to confront the far-right.

1 Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA of 28 November 2008 on Combating Certain Forms and Expressions of Racism and Xenophobia by Means of Criminal Law.

1.1.2 Contribution of the Book

Literature to date has looked at certain angles of the far-right in Greece, predominantly through the spectrum of political science. For example, Vasilopoulou and Halikiopoulou’s 2015 The Golden Dawn’s Nationalist Solution – Explaining the Rise of the Far-Right in Greece² contextualises the rise of Golden Dawn within the Eurozone crisis. The authors argue that the movement’s success may be explained by the extent to which it was able to respond to the crisis of the nation-state and democracy in Greece with its ‘nationalist solution.’ In a 2020 book by Ellinas, Organizing against Democracy: The Local Organizational Development of Far Right Parties in Greece and Europe, the author explores how and why extreme parties succeed in some local settings while, in others, they fail. Several relevant books published in the Greek language include Psarras’s The Black Bible of Golden Dawn,³ which documents the history of this group and Hasapopoulos’s Golden Dawn – History, Personalities and the Truth.⁴ There have also been journal articles on Golden Dawn, such as Xenakis’s ‘A New Dawn? Change and Continuity in Political Violence in Greece’ and Ellinas’s ‘The Rise of Golden Dawn: The New Face of the Far-Right in Greece.’ The present book brings an added value since it looks at the far-right through a legal point of view by assessing the legal tools available on a national level in Greece to tackle the far-right as well as providing a critical overview of Golden Dawn, its rise and its demise. This is conducted against a contextual backdrop of the history and development of the far-right in Greece.

2 Sofia Vasilopoulou & Daphne Halikiopoulou, ‘The Golden Dawn’s Nationalist Solution – Explaining the Rise of the Far-Right in Greece’ (1st edn. Palgrave, London 2015). 3 Dimitris Psaras, ‘The Black Bible of Golden Dawn: The Documented History of a Nazi Group’ (‘Η Μαύρη Βίβλος της Χρυσής Αυγής, Ντοκουμέντα από την Ιστορία και τη Δράση μιας Ναζιστικής Ομάδας’) (1st edn. Polis, Athens 2012). 4 Nikos Hasapopoulos, ‘Golden Dawn – History, Personalities and the Truth’ (Χρυσή Αυγή - Η Ιστορία, τα Πρόσωπα και η Αλήθεια) (1st edn. Livani, Athens 2013).

1.1.3 Contextual and Definitional Framework

1.1.3.1 Overview of Greek Political and Legal System

Greece is a parliamentary republic and adopts a civil law system. In 1924, following a referendum, the Monarchy was abolished and a new constitution was adopted in 1927 which, amongst other things, established Greece as a parliamentary republic for the first time. However, in 1936, this form of government was abolished following the authoritarian rule of Ioannis Metaxas (4 August regime resulting from a self-coup).⁵ The requirement of a new constitution following the socio-political turmoil created by the invasion and occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany in 1941 and the civil war that occurred from 1946 to 1949, led to the adoption of a new constitution in 1952, which established a constitutional monarchy. Following the fall of the military dictatorship which ruled between 1967 and 1974, the country went through a period of reform known as metapolitefsi (μεταπολίτευση). This period planted the seeds of public will and democracy, promoted political and individual rights as well as principles such as social solidarity, as reflected in the 1975 constitution in force today, amended in 1986, 2001, 2008 and 2019. The 1986 amendment focused on limiting presidential competences and, in 2001, the amendment was broad ranging, establishing new institutions and guarantees, which advanced the political and administrative system of the country and the ambit of human rights protection. The basic aim of the 2001 amendment was to bring the Greek constitution in line with European and international realities and obligations, which had emerged at the beginning of the century. The 2008 amendment included the repeal of the prohibition of any professional occupation of members of parliament (MPs) and allowed parliament to amend allocations to the state budget and monitor their implementation. The 2019 amendment incorporated nine changes, some of those dealing with the parliament, such as bringing the doctrine of parliamentary immunity in line with ECtHR case law on the matter.

5 Ioannis Metaxas is a controversial figure in Greek history because, on the one hand, he was a dictator but, on the other, he is admired for his famous rejection of Mussolini’s Italy’s request to allow the Italian army passage to occupy certain strategic places in Greece. This event continues to be commemorated with national parades in Greece and Cyprus.

The constitution provides that Greece is a parliamentary republic.⁶ The legislative powers reside with the parliament and the president, the executive powers with the president and the government and the judicial powers with the courts.⁷ The courts are not obliged to comply with legal provisions which they deem to be unconstitutional.⁸ Article 30 provides that the president is the regulator of the state, elected by the parliament for a period of five years. The constitution is the primary source of law. Legislation may come from the parliament as well as from other authorit...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Treatment of Political Parties in the Greek Legal Order
• 3 Human Rights Law
• 4 The Far-Right Movement and Criminal Law
• 5 The International and European Frameworks
• 6 Conclusion
• Index