Deciphering the social and political situation in Greece, with journalist Thomais Papaioannou, correspondent for Greek radio and television ERT, guest of José-Manuel Lamarque.
Thomais Papaioannou, Greek journalist, correspondent for the Greek radio and television ERT, speaks today in European microphonethe news of his country, the re-election of the Prime Minister, Kyriákos Mitsotakis, conservative. Greece also has three far-right parties, a left which is not doing very well, a country which has been affected by fires, floods, by the typhoon, with social problems such as labor reform.
franceinfo: The Greeks were in the streets and they are still in the streets, and what’s more, are we fed up with tourism?
Thomais Papaioannou: Exactly, unfortunately this is the gloomy reality. The country is not doing very well, we all saw that this summer. A state that did not function, did not know how to protect citizens. We see that the parties remain as you described them, that is to say the majority on the classic right. Then we have Syriza, the left, with leader Alexis Tsipras, who resigned, and gave the baton to an ambitious young man, un trader at Goldman Sachs, Stefanos Kasselakis. UA very handsome guy, the media adore him, but we still don’t know what his agenda is.
A sick left…
A galso sick, with a people sick in their choices in general, sick of an economic crisis which continues, despite appearances, sick of inflation and the very high cost of living in Greece. For salaries of 500, 600 euros, electricity and food are much more expensive than in France, it was still unimaginable not 10 years ago.
The state has not been present for the wildfires. After the floods, there was a typhoon. But do the Greeks want to take control of their destiny?
The country failed to protect its inhabitants. HASApparently, when we see the results of the floods, the fires, which are repeated every summer, nothing is done, nothing moves, and in the elections, we always vote, locally, but we always see the same people, regardless mistakes, regardless of the behavior of some. And that raises questions.
Is it still clientelism?
Yes, the country is built like that. Its DNA is clientelism. It’s a southern country. The State has never been strong in Greece, has never been present, cannot be. It’s an addition of private interests.
And the other phenomenon is that tourists are fed up?
The other phenomenon is really hyper tourism. This is unheard of. And I understand that the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Italians, the Greeks experience summers with a doubling of their population, on the Cyclades islands for example, not only is it very expensive, but it is no longer the Cyclades , with the big cruises arriving, 40 boats in front of Santorini, with 400 passengers minimum, per boat, you imagine that it is untenable, qquestion of water resources above all, there is no more water on the Greek islands.
There is no more agriculture, because all the land is sold to foreigners, or to build small two-story houses, to rent rooms or Airbnb, there is no longer any pleasure, a change of scenery. Even food, and that’s really a huge waste for me. Greek food, like Italian, one of the greatest gastronomies in the world, along with French cuisine, no longer has any place to be en Greece; we imported Japanese and American exotics, fast food, burgers. And we have slowly seen this delicious Mediterranean food disappear, the Cretan diet, which everyone knows.
There, you go to the Cyclades, or you go to Majorca or Portugal, you will find exactly the same hotels, exactly the same services, exactly the same music, thee same behavior, the same deck chairs for the precious tourists to lie down, and spend the whole day eating tapas that look like nothing, or waffles, Belgian style, in Greece.
Conclusion, for Greece?
I think it’s not really a Greek problem, it’s a European problem. Somehow, we lost our identity, we don’t know where we are going. Moreover, it is no coincidence that the commissioner for European quality of life, literally, that’s his title, is a Greek, Margaritis Schinas. So here is a challenge for Margaritis Schinas, it is to do something to assert European identities, not an identity, but European identities, to safeguard them as much as we can.