AthensLive Wire | Targeting migrants’ infants

And now, the news from this week.

Greece hosted the EU Mediterranean countries summit emphasizing climate change while promoting yet another anti-environmental bill.

Promises to the people were made at the PM’s keynote speech at Thessaloniki International Fair, yet the government is prioritizing spending on defense, the Church, and… on assisting foreign billionaires.

Government MP and ex-journalist Bogdanos reproduced a list with names of kindergarten migrant kids, initially published by a website owned by his wife (previously owned by him). The site published the list pointing towards a supposedly demographic risk. After backlash, he apologized. This was “a mistake,” the government said.

EUMED Climate Change Summit hosted by a country that sacrifices the environment over “investments”.

Nine European countries on the Mediterranean held a summit in Athens on Friday to discuss issues ranging from climate change and its effects on the region to migration and Afghanistan.

The one-day gathering, dubbed the EU-MED 9, brought together the leaders of Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Greece, and Cyprus, and recent additions Slovenia and Croatia. Portugal sent its foreign minister, while European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen also attended the meeting.

The climate crisis is a fight that “will be difficult” but one which countries don’t have the right to lose” for the sake of future generations, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an op-ed article published by the Spanish newspaper El Pais on Friday, penned on the occasion of the EU-MED9 summit.

This is what PM Mitsotakis says in public. But let’s get a glimpse if his words match his actions.

It is illustrative that with a PM’s decree listing the ministries according to their importance for the Prime Minister, dated 9 September 2021, the Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection is listed last (19th) of all ministries.

We shall also remind you of the so-called “anti-environmental law” that the ND government passed amidst lockdown, a law that enraged the civil society and environmental NGOs for even putting Natura protected areas in danger as it prioritizes “investment.” Furthermore, as we have analyzed in previous newsletters, the government has done next to nothing for fire prevention and protection.

But there are more recent environment-threatening developments.

On 16 September, as Mitsotakis was preparing to welcome foreign officials at the EU-MED9, it was reported that a new bill regarding investments at the coast, promoted by the Development Ministry, has caused fierce reactions by scientific institutions and environmental NGOs. They demand that the bill will not be tabled in the Parliament. According to the bill, the investor will have the right to proceed with his works at the beach, the coast, and the continuous sea space as he/she wants - including heavy works. Moreover, the investor would be able to be granted exempt status from urban planning laws and regulations in the area!

As the report notes, “this bill is the last in a series of bills in the last decade with which urban planning and environmental laws are bypassed a la carte in favor of private investment.”

The most problematic part of the bill provides that so-called “strategic investments” could be granted not only the right to simply use the coast and the beach (like it happens e.g. with hotels) but full rights for permanent or temporary interventions, even heavy projects.

As one of the commentators in the public consultation, the Environment and Sustainable Development Chamber emphasized: “The lawmaker now states clearly that the coast, the beach, and the sea cease being ecosystems and common public goods. They cease being subjected to the scientifically recognized laws of nature and to the constraints imposed by the international law that the country should abide by. Henceforth, the coastal zone is treated as the attractive trade-off offered to wanna-be investors, strategic or not, to make it appealing to them.”

The Development Ministry defended the bill, saying that all these would not happen at a glance, that environmental licensing is a prerequisite, and that these investments “create jobs.

Last but not least, Athens has been turned into a fortress for the Summit. In their habitual now decisions, the police (that is, the government) banned public gatherings in Athens city center until Friday midnight. Public transportation schedules have been changed and even the archaeological site of Acropolis would remain closed for visitors on Sunday 19 September 8.00-10.000 “for reasons of security of the high-ranking foreign delegates.”

A climate change discussion banning all public participation.

The Greek PM prioritizes Rafale jets, the Church, and a Russian billionaire over the country’s struggling population.

The Greeks are the third most financially stressed people in the world: this is the conclusion of the website Compare the Market research, in which the country comes after Costa Rica and Colombia. “While Greece was one of the cheapest European countries to live in, it also had a high level of unemployment, with 16.20% and a low average monthly wage of just $881,” the report mentions among others. The Greeks struggle to pay the rent (average $626) and to the cost of living (average $2,545) according to the site.

The unemployment rate in the country might have slightly fallen in July to 14.2% from 15% a month earlier, but it remains the highest in the 19 Eurozone countries.

It is in this country that the Prime Minister announced right at the beginning of his keynote speech at Thessaloniki International Fair last Saturday the purchase of another six French Rafale fighter jets that will enhance the fleet of 18 to 24. “The first of them will fly in the Greek skies before the end of the year,” he cheered.

His promise to the youth of the country where youth unemployment reached 37.6% in July (first in the EU), was 50GB for free in their smartphones to those aged 15-17 who will be vaccinated. In addition, he promised that youngsters up to 29 years of age with no previous working experience will be subsidized for six months from the state with a total (for all six months) of 1,200 euros (shared between the employee and the employer.)

He went on to announce a set of measures supposedly aimed to alleviate society from the financial hardship exacerbated by the crisis and the pandemic. The promises included a range of tax reductions and spending targeted at young people, small businesses, and the middle class (You can read a summary of the measures announced here.)

It shall be noted that more often than not promises made at Thessaloniki International Fair prove empty shells and have often served as electoral promises.

While the PM was offering free GBs and promises to the people, these important events happened:

- On 10 September, the government sold one of the most profitable public enterprises: That is, they sold 49% of shares of the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO) for just 2.116 billion euros to Spear WTE Investments Sarl, a member of Australian Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets Group (MIRA), which was declared the highest bidder in a tender. The Public Power Corporation DEI, in an announcement said that the offer was valuing the company at 151% of its adjusted asset base, while DEI is expected to have a final decision. DEI sources said it was the biggest privatization in Greek history and noted that DEI will be able to significantly reduce its borrowing, while it will also fund its investment program on renewable energy sources. It should be noted that 804 million from the selling price will go to the net debt worth of the company. It should also be noted that according to the company’s union GENOP, by selling HEDNO, “DEI loses one of its most valuable assets, the one which is responsible for its revenues and ultimately the company’s and the Group’s power in general”. It is estimated that as of today (without even the technological upgrade underway) HEDNO revenues for DEI is 400 million euros annually. What a carve-up.

- The PM at his Thessaloniki International Fair speech announced unspecified reductions in the unified property tax ENFIA for 2022. Finance Minister Staikouras provided later details on the changes in the way ENFIA is calculated, to include more criteria such as property age, environmental aspects, etc. However, it seems clear that the changes will favor property owners that own real estate of a value higher than 250,000 euro, who will not be paying anymore the so-called “supplementary tax” they were paying until today. It is estimated that the state will lose up to 580 million euros. For example, a person who owns three houses of 200,000 euros value each, was paying supplementary ENFIA of 1,550 euros. Now, he/she will not pay any supplementary ENFIA. This is happening while at the same time the government has increased the so-called “objective real-estate value” that will result in an increased ENFIA tax for thousands of property owners, according to reports.

- The government published a decree in the Government Gazette on 10 September with which they give an “emergency grant” of 4.5 million euros to the Church and religious institutions.

- The government decided to subsidize with 4.3 million euros the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev (he is the 391st richest man on the planet with a 6.7 billion fortune) for the construction of a five-star hotel of a total 26.6 million euros cost. The hotel would be part of a wider project as Rybolovlev plans to turn his privately owned island of Skorpios (famously owned previously by late Greek billionaire Onasis) into a luxury resort. Since when do governments subsidize private investments on privately owned land?

ND covered alt-right MP who targeted migrants’ infants.

Yet one more inconceivable incident for a democratic country took place this week.

Greek far-right site meaculpa.gr published a list with the names of the children and teachers of an Athens kindergarten. The list was published because it included names of many migrants’ children and only two Greek. It was characterized as “shocking” and the report was referring to the supposedly acute demographic and societal problem created by the high number of migrants living in Greece’s capital. The website was mentioning that only ND MP Konstantinos Bogdanos has prioritized the issue. This despicable article was quickly reproduced on social media by Bogdanos, who is also an ex-journalist. After the fierce reactions that followed, the website deleted the article and claimed in a post that it was published “by mistake” and attempted to apologize.

It is important to note that the meaculpa.gr website was owned by Bogdanos himself until November 2019. It has been reported that his stocks were then transferred to his wife because it would have been a conflict of interest as he is an MP. Strangely enough, this rather marginal site has attracted advertisements, including advertisements from major banks.

Apart from the apparent fascist underpinnings of the move, Bogdanos also clearly violated article 9, paragraph 1 of GDPR.

Main opposition SYRIZA and DiEM25 demanded that ND suspend Bogdanos from his duties as an MP for targeting infants. Among others, SYRIZA mentioned that the post encourages violent acts against children and that PM Mitsotakis is solely responsible for all these as he has turned his government into a “Holocaust deniers’ government” (note that the ministers of Health, Interior and Development have been Holocaust deniers called to apologize by the Greek Israeli Communities Council KIS). DiEM25 called the report “Golden Dawn-ish and freaky.” The Communist Party of Greece KKE in its press release stated that Bogdanos “is evolving to a professional and serial grass, publishing personal data and targeting specific people by breaching the law” and called the government to give explanations for the incident. KKE has never used such harsh language against an MP as far as we can remember.

Initially, Bogdanos even threatened to sue journalists and citizens who exposed him, even falsely claiming that no such list had been published. Later, he was pushed to an apology.

The government remained untouched by the reactions. After two days of silence on the matter, government spokesman Yannis Economou just stated that this was “a mistake.” “Mr. Bogdanos’s act was a mistake,” he said. “A mistake he recognized... However, I ought to clarify that similar mistakes will not be tolerated in the future.”

Was there much more to be expected from a government that the previous week signed an agreement to send 16-year-old orphans to work in hotels?

On Thursday a prosecutor ordered an investigation into the publication of the list of names of migrant children. The Hellenic Data Protection Authority also investigates the matter.

It is worth noting that ex-PM and ex-ND president Antonis Samaras had adopted aggressive rhetoric against migrants’ infants some years ago. “The migrants have filled the kindergartens and there is no space left for the Greeks there. This is it. Full stop,” he had stated back in 2012.

It is also worth noting that Konstantinos Bogdanos’s act (in Greek Twitter, he has been trending from time to time under the hashtag #the national grass) reminds of a similar one of the then Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panagiotaros. In October 2012, Panagiotaros tabled a Parliamentary question, asking from the ministries responsible the exact data of migrants’ infants and babies that were serviced in the country’s nursery schools, categorized by country of origin.

It is important to note for the record that it was just this week that Save the Children and the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) called for urgent action by the Greek government and the European Union to address the shockingly low numbers of refugee children attending school in Greece. According to a new report by the aforementioned organizations, less than 15% of children in refugee camps attended formal school. In the notorious Reception and Identification Centres (RICs), the attendance rate drops to 0.3%, with only seven children out of 2,900 attending class. While the education crisis on the Greek islands is particularly acute, refugee children in the mainland of Greece also face dire prospects of receiving a quality education. Education actors say children from Afghanistan and Iraq had the lowest level of education, with more than a third of those never having been to school.

This happens although, as reported, Greece has received millions of euros in education funding and recently committed to providing learning opportunities to over 20,000 school-aged children in its territories.

On top of all these, it was reported this week that Greece’s Migration and Asylum Ministry assigned a company for a campaign to convince Afghan citizens not to try and reach Greece. The campaign is financed at 75% with EU funding.

This is all to say that Bogdanos is the extreme “symptom” of a government that slips into fascism - with EU assistance.

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