Independent Greeks

The Independent Greeks - National Patriotic Alliance (Greek: Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες (ΑΝΕΛ), Anexartitoi Ellines, ANEL) is a national-conservative[4][14][15] political party in Greece.

Independent Greeks Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες
Abbreviation	ANEL
President	Panos Kammenos
General Secretary	Kostas Karabelas
Spokesperson	Theodoros Tosounidis
Founded	24 February 2012 (2012-02-24)
Split from	New Democracy[1]
Headquarters	196, Syngrou Ave. 176 71 Athens
Ideology	Greek nationalism[2] Conservatism[3] National conservatism[4] Social conservatism[4][5] Right-wing populism[6][7] Euroscepticism[8]
Political position	Right-wing[9][10][11]
Religion	Greek Orthodox
European affiliation	None
International affiliation	None
European Parliament group	No MEPs
Colours	Blue, red
Slogan	We are many— We are independent— We are Greeks
Parliament	0 / 300
European Parliament[12]	0 / 21
Regions [13]	51 / 703
Website
anexartitoiellines.gr
Politics of Greece Political parties Elections

The party was the junior coalition partner to the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) in the first and second Tsipras governments, from January 2015 until the June 2019 parliamentary election, in which the party did not participate.

History

The party was created on 24 February 2012 by Panos Kammenos, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the conservative party New Democracy (ND).[16] Kammenos had been expelled from the New Democracy parliamentary group after voting against Lucas Papademos' coalition government in a vote of confidence. The party's founding declaration was issued on 11 March 2012.[17] Ten former ND deputies were founding members of the party, namely Elena Kountoura, Christos Zois, Kostas Markopoulos, Dimitrios G. Stamatis, Spyros Galinos, Mika Iatridi, Maria Kollia-Tsaroucha, Panagiotis Melas and Michalis Giannakis[18]

On 17 April 2012, the small left-wing anti-bailout party Panhellenic Citizen Chariot reached an election cooperation agreement with the Independent Greeks.[19]

Prior to the May 2012 legislative election, the party had 11 MPs: 10 defectors from New Democracy and one from Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).

The party won 10.6% of the vote and 33 MPs in the parliamentary election in May 2012.[20] In the snap June 2012 legislative election, ANEL received 7.5% of the vote, which reduced the party's representation to 20 MPs.[20]

In the 2014 European Parliament election held on 25 May 2014, ANEL received 3.5% of the vote, electing a single MEP who sits with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. The MEP, Notis Marias, left ANEL, however, and is now an independent member of the ECR group.

In the January 2015 legislative election held on 25 January 2015, ANEL received 4.75% of the vote and returned 13 MPs to the Hellenic Parliament.[21] On 26 January 2015, ANEL agreed to form a governing coalition with the Coalition of the Radical Left.[22][23]

The second election of the year, the September 2015 legislative election on 20 September 2015, returned ANEL to parliament with 10 seats from 3.69% of the vote.[24] Syriza again agreed to form a coalition government with ANEL,[25] with the returning cabinet sworn in on 21 September.[26]

On 13 January 2019, Defence Minister Panos Kammenos and the Independent Greeks withdrew from Greece's ruling coalition over a deal struck on the Macedonia naming dispute, potentially leaving the governing coalition without a workable majority in parliament. However, the government was able to survive the confidence vote thanks to some ANEL dissidents.[27]

On 9 June 2019, party leader Panos Kammenos announced ANEL would not participate in the 2019 parliamentary election.[28]

Ideology

The party has been described as conservative,[3] national-conservative,[14][15] right-wing populist,[6][7] Greek nationalist,[2] and Eurosceptic.[8]

The party called for revoking the first and second memorandums, loan agreements between Greece, the EU and the International Monetary Fund.[6][7][16] Further, it considers the agreements illegal and calls for lifting immunity from and then investigating and prosecuting Greek ministers, parliamentarians, and officials who negotiated the agreements or who otherwise bear blame for Greece's economic crisis.[6][7][16]

In opposing the memorandums negotiated with 'The Troika', party leader Kammenos said Greece had become a "laboratory animal" in an austerity experiment conducted by the IMF and EU, who "used the public debt as a means of control."[29] Kammenos has focused much of his fire on Germany, stating that "Germany is not treating Greece as a partner but as its master. … It tries to turn a Europe of independent states into a Europe dominated by Germany."[30]

The party's official programme states it will repudiate part of Greece's debt because it was created by speculators in a conspiracy to bring Greece to the edge of bankruptcy.[30] It announced in December 2012 that it would start working to create a patriotic Democratic Front, whose aim is to save "Greece from the neo-liberal avalanche."[31]

The party also calls for German war reparations (for the invasion and occupation of Greece in the Second World War).[17]

On social policy, Independent Greeks oppose multiculturalism and want to reduce immigration,[32][33] and support development of a Christian Orthodox oriented education system.[34]

According to The Independent, the party has "a socially right-wing stance, supporting patriotism and the role of the Greek Orthodox Church in family life and education".[35]

Election results

Hellenic Parliament

Election	Hellenic Parliament					Rank	Government	Leader
	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−
May 2012	670,957	10.6%	New	33 / 300	33	#4	Opposition	Panos Kammenos
June 2012	462,406	7.5%	-3.1	20 / 300	13	#4	Opposition	Panos Kammenos
January 2015	293,683	4.8%	-2.7	13 / 300	7	#6	Coalition gov't SYRIZA-ANEL	Panos Kammenos
September 2015	200,423	3.7%	-1.1	10 / 300	3	#7	Coalition gov't 2015-2019 SYRIZA-ANEL	Panos Kammenos
2019	Did not run	–	-3.7	0 / 300	10	–	extra-parliamenary	Panos Kammenos

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−	Rank	Leader
2014	197,701	3.5%	New	1 / 21	1	#7	Panos Kammenos
2019	45,149	0.8%	-2.7	0 / 21	1	#15	Panos Kammenos

Members of Parliament

As of 25 January 2019 the Independent Greeks have six MPs in the Hellenic Parliament:

Name	Constituency
Panagiotis (Panos) Kammenos	Athens B
Maria Kollia-Tsaroucha	Serres
Artidis Fokas	Thessaloniki B

On 19 November 2015 Nikolaos Nikolopoulos had been expelled from the Parliamentary Group of Independent Greeks.[36]

On 16 June 2018 Dimitrios Kammenos was expelled from the party, because he voted to topple the government in a recent no confidence vote tabled by Official Opposition party New Democracy. On 26 June Georgios Lazaridis left his party’s parliamentary group and declared himself independent citing opposition to the Greece-Republic of Macedonia naming agreement signed on 17 June 2018, as the reason for leaving the party.[37]

On 14 January 2019 Elena Kountoura and Vasilion Kokkalis were expelled from the party due to their continuing support for Tsipras government after Independent Greeks left it over the Prespa agreement dispute.[38]

On 15 January 2019 Aristidis Fokas elected on the list of Union of Centrists joined Independent Greeks.[39]

References

1. "Kammenos attracts another New Democracy breakaway", Athens News, 20 March 2012, archived from the original on 2 April 2012
2. Loizides, Neophytos (2015). The Politics of Majority Nationalism: Framing Peace, Stalemates, and Crises. Stanford University Press. p. xxv.
3. Tom Lansford (2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. SAGE Publications. p. 549. ISBN 978-1-4833-3327-4.
4. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Greece". Parties and Elections in Europe.
5. "Venizelos draws battle lines for general elections", Ekathimerini, 15 March 2012
6. Boyka M. Stefanova (2014). The European Union beyond the Crisis: Evolving Governance, Contested Policies, and Disenchanted Publics. Lexington Books. p. 261. ISBN 978-1-4985-0348-8.
7. Christian Karner; Bram Mertens (2013). The Use and Abuse of Memory: Interpreting World War II in Contemporary European Politics. Transaction Publishers. p. 168. ISBN 978-1-4128-5203-6.
8. Mannin, Michael (2013). Evaluating the Europeanization Effect. The Europeanization of European Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 210.
9. Susana Salgado (2019). "Not All About Trends: Persistent Singularities in Election News Coverage". In Susana Salgado (ed.). Mediated Campaigns and Populism in Europe. Springer. p. 173. ISBN 978-3-319-98563-3.
10. Squires, Nick. "Greek election: who are Independent Greeks?". The Daily Telegraph. London.
11. Chu, Ben. "Greece elections: Who are Syriza and what effect will their new government have on Europe?". The Independent. London.
12. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/search.html?country=GR European Parliament: Greek MEPs
13. The counselors of the Regions.
14. Babak Amini (2016). "A Chronology of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis". In Babak Amini (ed.). The Radical Left in Europe in the Age of Austerity. Taylor & Francis. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-317-20251-6.
15. Dylan Taylor (2017). Social Movements and Democracy in the 21st Century. Springer. p. 239. ISBN 978-3-319-39684-2.
16. "Ousted New Democracy MP starts own party", Ekathimerini, 24 February 2012
17. "Kammenos introduces Independent Greeks", Athens News, 11 March 2012, archived from the original on 14 March 2012
18. "Ten former ND MPs move with Kammenos", Capital, 14 March 2012
19. "ekathimerini.com - Profile of parties running in May 6 Greek elections". ekathimerini.com.
20. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (1 March 2013). Britannica Book of the Year 2013. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. p. 427. ISBN 978-1-62513-103-4.
21. "Parliamentary Elections January 2015". Archived from the original on |archive-url= requires |archive-date= (help). |archive-date=26 January 2015 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |url-status=live }}
22. "Greece anti-bailout leader Tsipras made prime minister". BBC News.
23. "Syriza and Independent Greeks agree Greece coalition". BBC News. 25 January 2015.
24. Anastasios Papapostolou. "Greek Elections: Official Final Results". greekreporter.com.
25. "SYRIZA chief confirms plan to form government with Independent Greeks". ekathimerini.com.
26. Helena Smith. "Alexis Tsipras takes oath of office after victory in Greece general election". The Guardian. London.
27. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/greek-government-splits-macedonia-change-190113183705772.html
28. Chrysopoulos, Philip. "Independent Greeks Out of Parliamentary Election Race | GreekReporter.com". Retrieved 7 July 2019.
29. "Greek election: who are Independent Greeks?". The Daily Telegraph. London. 26 January 2015.
30. "Greek conservative rebel battles German "domination"", National Post, 23 April 2012
31. Independent Greeks respond to the scenarios for the collapse of the party with a founding congress grreporter.info
32. "ΔΗΛΩΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΒΟΥΛΕΥΤΟΥ Α΄ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ΧΡΥΣΟΥΛΑΣ – ΜΑΡΙΑΣ ΓΙΑΤΑΓΑΝΑ". Anexartitoiellines.gr. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
33. "ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΙΔΙΚΗΣ ΑΓΟΡΗΤΡΙΑΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ, ΒΟΥΛΕΥΤΟΥ ΜΑΓΝΗΣΙΑΣ ΜΑΡΙΝΑΣ ΧΡΥΣΟΒΕΛΩΝΗ ΣΤΗ ΒΟΥΛΗ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗ ΣΥΖΗΤΗΣΗ ΕΠΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΡΧΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΣΧΕΔΙΟΥ ΝΟΜΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟΥ ΕΣΩΤΕΡΙΚΩΝ ΓΙΑ ΤΗ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΥΣΗ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΗ ΕΝΤΑΞΗ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΩΝ". Anexartitoiellines.gr. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
34. "Η παρουσίαση του κόμματος ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ από τον Πάνο Καμμένο στο Δίστομο στις" (PDF). Anexartitoiellines.gr. 11 March 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
35. Lizzie Dearden (26 January 2015). "Independent Greeks: Who are Syriza's right-wing coalition partners and what do they want? -". The Independent. London. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
37. Οnline, Τα Νέα. "Independent Greeks MP resigns party after grass roots pressure on FYROM". Τα Νέα Οnline (in Greek). Retrieved 27 June 2018.
38. "Κουντουρά - Κόκκαλης στηρίζουν την κυβέρνηση και διαγράφονται από τους ΑΝΕΛ". ΑΘΗΝΑ984 (in Greek). 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
39. Στην ΚΟ των ΑΝΕΛ ο Αριστείδης Φωκάς

External links

• Official website