A small far-right party that unexpectedly entered the Greek Parliament last year will not be allowed to put forward a candidate for the European Parliament this summer after the Greek Supreme Court found that the party was essentially version is the reincarnation of the banned neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
In its decision on which parties can run in the European Parliament elections, delivered on Wednesday, the court found that the Spartans, “offered their party as the mantle of the main party new rule by Ilias Kasidiaris,” former spokesman for Golden Dawn who is currently in prison.
The court said Mr. Kasidiaris was the real leader of Spartans, the “alternative” organization to Golden Dawn, which acted as a front allowing him to circumvent restrictions on participation.
The decision was announced weeks after a Greek Supreme Court prosecutor indicted several Spartan lawmakers on election fraud charges and ahead of an expected ruling from another court that could lead to leading to this party losing seats in the Greek Parliament.
The decision comes as mainstream parties in the 27 countries that make up the European Union become increasingly concerned about the apparent growth of far-right and far-right movements, some of which have drawn inspiration from Golden Dawn's success a decade ago.
The EU-wide election, scheduled for June 6-9, will determine more than 700 lawmakers in the next European Parliament. The organization has seen its influence grow in recent years as it blocked legislation and emerged as a forum for high-level debate.
EU elections tend to be a kind of public barometer of the mood of millions of Europeans and how they feel about their leaders. Most recent polls suggest mainstream conservatives will dominate the new house, followed by mainstream democrats and social liberals.
But polls also point to a rise in power between far-right and far-right parties, which represent a core ideological coalition that is nativist, anti-immigrant and sometimes vocal. anti-European in favor of strong national governments.
In its decision Wednesday, the Greek Supreme Court said the Spartans “aimed to weaken and collapse the democratic political system, in particular through the use of violence or incitement to violence.” It also covers totalitarian ideologies, bigoted ideas, xenophobia and crimes against humanity, the court said.
Vassilis Stingas, nominal leader of the Spartans, rejected the decision, noting that it was not based on a trial. “Because the Supreme Court said, it is the word of God?” he say. “I will accept without complaint any decision of the judiciary, as long as there is a trial with evidence and witnesses. I do not respect this decision.”
Mr. Kasidiaris and other Golden Dawn leaders was found guilty in October 2020 of running a criminal organization that attacked left-wing critics and migrants, and the party, which rose to prominence in 2012 during Greece's economic crisis, was disbanded.
Since then, Mr. Kasidiaris, who is serving a 13.5-year prison sentence, has been campaigning from his prison cell in a bid to re-enter Greek politics. Last year, the Greek government moved to block the Greek-National Party founded by Mr. Kasidiaris from Parliament by pushing through the law. barred from participating in the legislature parties whose leaders have been convicted of serious crimes.
A few months later, Mr. Kasidiaris publicly supported the then-obscure Spartans, and the party won 12 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly, paving the way for a legal battle on two fronts. .
A special court is expected to rule before the European Parliament elections on citizen complaints that the Spartans were involved in election fraud. If the Spartans lose the case, their seats will most likely be reallocated to other parties or new elections will be held in districts where the seats are held by the Spartans.
Separately, a Supreme Court prosecutor this month indicted 11 of the 12 lawmakers elected to Congress under the Spartan banner, along with Mr. Kasidiaris. Five of those lawmakers are no longer affiliated with any party and that case has not yet gone to trial.
Mr. Stingas has not yet been charged, and in Wednesday's decision the Supreme Court suggested that he was merely a figurehead. “The truth is that they were chosen by Ilias Kasidiaris,” the court said Wednesday, “and not by Vassilis Stingas.”
Nikos Alivizatos, a renowned expert on constitutional law who was grabbed and verbally attacked by members and supporters of Golden Dawn in 2010, said the court's reasoning seemed reasonable, but he also expressed concern about how the law might be interpreted in the future. .
“It is one thing to prohibit a convicted person from running away,” he said. “Banning his friends and supporters is a completely different matter.”
Matina Stevis-Gridneff Contributing reports from Brussels.
