By Vasiliki Siouti
In the explosive video released by Golden Dawn MP and spokesperson Ilias Kasidiaris, Takis Baltakos confirmed the worst suspicions about the government.
Namely it confirmed both the close relationship and cooperation between the government’s general secretary and the neonazi Golden Dawn party, as well as the government’s interference in the justice system. The issue does not, of course, end with Mr Baltakos’s role, as equally dangerous for the country is all that he revealed about the public order and justice ministers, as well as the prime minister himself, and their interventions in the justice system.
“We didn’t learn anything we didn’t know, but that which we suspected about New Democracy was confirmed,” constitutional expert Giorgos Katrougalos told TPP. “The first is that a significant faction – and one close to the prime minister – secured for a long time the non-punishment of the criminal actions of Golden Dawn, flirting with the possibility of a post-election collaboration against the left. The second is that when push came to shove, following the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, once again the strategic handling of Golden Dawn was not done on the basis of principle, but with the political aim of collecting its stray voters.” he explained.
As for what Baltakos said in the video regarding the justice system, Mr Karougalos said that it, “proves that the right has not forgotten its old practices of tightly embracing its leadership.”
SYRIZA MP Sofia Sakorafa spoke of the threat of the erosion of the separation of powers. “The prime minister and his far-right circle are dismantling instead of defending the democratic state and its institutions,” she told TPP. “The defense of the Republic is the duty of all of us, independent of our political affiliations,” she said stating that the situation is dangerous.
It is a fact that the relationship between Golden Dawn and the close adviser to the prime minister and general secretary of the government, Takis Baltakos, is not something new, nor unknown to the prime minister. Antonis Samaras knew well that his trusted adviser and ideological ally spoke with Golden Dawn officials, but believed that the close contact benefited him. Mr Baltakos was clearly playing on two courts and never went to great lengths to conceal his far-right leanings. It was he, for instance, that put forward the idea of forming a coalition with Golden Dawn, a scenario with which he threatened the MP Nikos Tsoukalis of the Democratic left party (DIMAR) in the halls of parliament, when the party was still part of the coalition government. “If you carry on like this we can govern with Golden Dawn,” he had said prompting the MP to worriedly communicate the message to DIMAR leader Fotis Kouvelis.
It was also Takis Baltakos who attempted to insert far-right provisions into a number of draft laws, including one in a bill drafted by the Justice Ministry which would have seen immigrants punished with sentences twice as harsh as those faced by Greek citizens convicted of the same crimes.
The general secretary of the government had then been met with the resistance of former Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis who he deemed a ‘dangerous communist’, and whose removal from the government he had demanded from the Prime Minister at least twice.
For a long time the Prime Minister and his circle had decided to keep Golden Dawn as ‘backup’ and play a double game. On the one hand there was the official line which espoused a hard-line stance against the party, while on the other unofficially and behind the scenes, Baltakos, the Prime Minister’s right-hand, was meeting with Golden Dawn officials and even talking about the potential of a power-sharing agreement (a fact which also highlights how the image of Golden Dawn as an ‘anti-establishment’ political force was inaccurate and manufactured).
From what he says in the video, Ilias Kasidiaris also appears to have had some other form of contact with Samaras’s circle given that he knew of the reaction the Prime Minister had had in the US when he learnt that Kasidiaris had been released from his pretrial imprisonment. A reaction that was confirmed by Baltakos.
So how did New Democracy go from unofficially discussing power-sharing scenarios to the aggressive pursuit and arrest of Golden Dawn officials?
The countdown began with the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in September by a Golden Dawn member, and the subsequent pressure from the lenders and international Jewish lobbies for the government to put an end to the enormous tolerance it had shown the party and its paramilitary activities. One fact that is indicative and was subsequently revealed is that the Public Order Minister then uncovered 30 case-files of criminal incidents in which Golden Dawn was implicated which he sent to prosecutors, case-files which until that point had been held by the police without the minister having passed them on.
Aside from the international pressure (as it was revealed by Antonis Roupakiotis), a major part was played by polls which showed that New Democracy was hemorrhaging significant voter support to Golden Dawn which was ‘depriving it of its lead over SYRIZA,’ according to the Prime Minister’s analysts. Golden Dawn’s continued climb in the polls to almost 15% had made it dangerous.
In meetings that then took place over the handling of Golden Dawn, the strategy of Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias won the day. Supporters of the strategy included Makis Voridis who was initially ambivalent, but who wanted to distance himself from his own far-right past and become more acceptable to various foreign groups. The strategy was a favourite of Mr Dendias: that of (selective) zero tolerance which sought the prosecution of not only the paramilitary wing of Golden Dawn, but its MPs as well who needed to be put in prison. The view which rose to predominance in the Prime Minister’s circle sought to criminalize Golden Dawn and dismantle the party. Baltakos disagreed with this approach and did everything in his power to reverse it. But he could only do so much. “Only the political death of Golden Dawn will secure the survival of New Democracy,” a high ranking government official said at the time.
And while in the end the Baltakos approach to Golden Dawn may have been defeated, he continued to have a close relationship with them. The party members who spoke with him continually demanded explanations and he tried to reassure them. So along these lines at this time, the indicted and cornered Ilias Kasidiaris, who saw a prison cell looming for him on the horizon, set about secretly recording his conversation(s?) with Baltakos in order to secure a weapon for his defense and reveal the political machinations. According to sources, Ilias Kasidiaris did not want to harm Takis Baltakos as he was their man in government. But his room for maneuver was shrinking, he was proving unable to rescue the party and he felt that he had no option but to destroy Baltakos in a desperate attempt to save himself.
The political scandal that has come to light is enormous. More developments are expected.