[Nikos Halkiopoulos/Intime News]
In a weird way, Thursday’s parliamentary debate “on the state of the rule of law, the institutions and the functioning of the Parliament in Greece,” exuded something comforting: Even if everything around us is falling apart, we don’t feel the need to change.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis defended his government’s achievements, expressed anger at the opposition’s claims and attacks, and disagreed with the subject of the debate “at a time when dangers around us multiply, at a time when the global economy is shaken, at a time when predictions on the future of the economy … are exceptionally dark, perhaps even tragic.”
PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis, who had called the debate, responded aggressively, focusing on issues where the government is on the back foot – including the wiretapping and farm subsidy scandals – calling on the prime minister to resign so that national elections can be held. In the midst of global uncertainty, the prime minister puts stability ahead of accountability, and his rivals reject anything to do with his government, portraying it as more dangerous than the possibility of post-electoral chaos.
As things always were, in other words. This is the political culture that we are used to. One where there is no space for minimal consensus where solutions could be hammered out. It’s not as if there is no progress. Governments generally do get things done (and this one has done more than most), and the opposition, news media and social networks do exert a level of control that leads to some kind of accountability.
But progress is less than it could be, and instead of our cultivating a culture of cooperation, the driving force in our politics remains the absolute rejection of rivals. That’s why Thursday’s debate was “business as usual.” As if our world is not in danger, as if our society does not need improvements in daily issues, in the rule of law, in people’s sense of justice.
Both Mitsotakis and Androulakis are right in what they focus on. The problem is that neither says all that he should, and neither hears the other. Parliament remains a theater of conflict, rather than becoming a space for synthesis. Seeing that we still have this luxury, all’s well, apparently.