Rule of law ‘political football’: Casa breaks ranks with EPP on Greece

The European Parliament was a divided house on a vote held last week on 7 February that raised the alarm over worrying developments in Greece threatening the rule of law, and called on the Commission to act.

330 MEPs, backed mainly by the socialists, the Left, liberal Renew and the Greens, voted in favour of a resolution that expressed grave concerns about very serious threats to democracy in Greece, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the country.

The centre-right EPP backed its party-in-government there, by voting against the resolution, joined by the conservative and far-right of the EP with 254 votes.

But Nationalist MEP David Casa was one of a few EPP members to break ranks and vote together with critics of Greek rule of law shortcomings.

It was a vote that also brought to the fore the views of two Labour MEPs, namely Cyrus Engerer and Alfred Sant.

Engerer is the S&D’s negotiator on rule of law in Greece, while Labour MEP Alfred Sant was the only S&D member to abstain on the strongly-worded resolution on democratic shortcomings under the Kyriakos Mitsotakis administratioh.

“I am profoundly mistrustful of the approaches deployed in this House to review cases that are raised here about breaches of the rule of law in EU member states. I have my own reservations and negative judgements regarding the current Greek government’s treatment of media freedom,” Sant said, having regularly abstained on similar resolutions.

“That however is not the point. Agreed, rule of law issues are central to the identity of the Union and will need to remain like so whether the it is widened, deepened or consolidated on its present basis. Consequently, such issues need to be considered clinically and to the greatest extent possible, objectively. Which is far from being the case here.”

Sant said that rule of law matters are frequently considered in a polarised manner that is equivalent to playing political football.

“Serious problems are trivialised while trivial concerns are blown out of proportion according to which government is under review. This has been a repeated experience in the case of Malta. Unless the review of rules of law cases by EU institutions is reformed from the ground up, it will remain a flawed and unconvincing process.”

In their resolution, MEPs complained about the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of George Karaivaz in April 2021. They denounced that journalists are subject to physical threats and verbal attacks, also from high-ranking politicians, violations of their privacy with spyware, and abusive lawsuits – including from the Prime Minister’s entourage. MEPs also have concerns over the independence of the national audiovisual regulatory authority, the concentration of media in the hands of oligarchs, and the distribution of state subsidies.

MEPs demand that democratic safeguards should be strengthened and call for effective investigations from Europol to reverse legislation that placed the GReek intelligence service under the direct control of the Prime Minister.

The treatment of migrants and systematic pushbacks also worried MEPs, as well as the attacks against civil society, particularly the smear campaigns and judicial harassment against human rights activists.

MEPs suspect a lack of political impartiality in the parliamentary inquiry into the Tempi train disaster – which caused dozens of deaths in February 2023 - and were concerned with the pro-government parliamentary majority’s refusal to conduct an investigation into two former ministers for transport as requested by the EU Public Prosecutor’s Office.

MEPs have repeatedly raised concerns about the state of media freedom in Greece, based on the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform and the World Press Freedom Index. Further, the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index shows a worrying decline in issues concerning the rule of law.

Engerer  negotiator on the Rule of Law in Greece

The Group of Socialists and Democrats appointed Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer to lead negotiations on rule of law in Greece. 

Since his election to the European Parliament in 2020, he was also tasked with negotiating the reports on Rule of Law in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Malta.

 “We encountered significant resistance from the European People’s Party side, even to just discuss the issue of Greece, despite the country facing systematic Rule of Law problems. There is a government that, disturbingly, uses the Pegasus software to spy on the mobile phones of journalists, activists, and opposition politicians. This is while journalist Giorgo Karaivaz was killed three years ago with no progress in the investigation,” Engerer said.

Despite all this, it is the first time in years that the EP was preparing a report on the situation in Greece.

“This is because we have consistently faced obstacles from the European People’s Party, which leads the Greek government,” said Engerer.

 “I have always approached the work on the rule of law seriously and carried out my duties in a far and just manner. I’m honoured that, through my work in the field, the Group of Socialists has entrusted me as one of its leading voices on justice, democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights,” Engerer said.