Ecology has become a concern for far-right parties in Europe not least because of the structure of opportunities offered by The European Green Deal and the voters’ increasing apprehension about environmental degradation. In various European countries, a common pattern has been for a far-right party to enter Parliament and play a significant role in politics, including dealing with ecological issues and conflicts.

In an unprecedented turn of events, the 2023 Greek elections witnessed not just one but three far-right parties—Greek Solution, Spartans, and Victory—securing seats in Parliament. They stepped into the vacuum left by the banned neo-Nazi Golden Dawn in 2019, appealing to an even broader spectrum of far-right sensibilities. Moreover, in a society still recovering from an economically traumatic crisis, these new far-right parties, though distinct, have not fully developed a comprehensive ecological agenda, even though they hold firm positions on environmental issues.

1. Background: from the Golden Dawn to the 2023 elections

Golden Dawn (Χρυσή Αυγή) entered the Athens City Council in 2010 and the Greek Parliament in 2012, where it remained until 2019. Golden Dawn was marked by ideological extremism rooted in National-Socialism, a hierarchical model, and the use of violence as a political tool. While the party secured a place in the Greek Parliament in the double elections of 2015, its trajectory was interrupted by the arrests of many of its leaders and members on a series of charges, including murders and arms possession. On October 7, 2020, Greece’s Supreme Court sentenced eighteen Golden Dawn leaders from five to fifteen years for forming a criminal organization. After the sentencing, Golden Dawn was dismantled, and some of the high-rank members formed their own political alliances.

While the three new far-right forces belong to the same political family, they are grounded to varying degrees in exclusivist nationalism, assertive masculinity, and traditional Greek Orthodoxy. Spartans echoes one extreme of the far-right spectrum; in turn, Greek Solution and Victory are more “moderate” populist-nationalist forms of far-right politics.

Firstly, Spartans (Σπαρτιάτες) demonstrates ideological proximity and close ties to high-ranking members of Golden Dawn, resonating with its assertive, militaristic, and masculine nationalism. Furthermore, Spartans’ leader used to be a TV show host for the nationalist program Epanellinisi, combining nationalism with entertainment and a spectacle-like presentation. In his show, he invited nationalist public figures, ranging from Golden Dawn leaders to more moderate figures, such as Vasilis Leventis of the Union of Centrists. The party's name itself echoes a blend of mythical-historic and cinematic references. Spartans were founded in 2017 but became widely known after the former Golden Dawn spokesman, Ilias Kasidiaris, openly supported it from his cell in the Domokos prison. In fact, the party managed to enter the parliament with 4,68 per cent of the vote (12 seats) after an extremely short three-week long pre-electoral campaign. Although Spartans leader, Vasilios Stigkas, a self-declared national-patriot, denied being Golden Dawn’s successor party during his first speech in the Greek Parliament, he publicly thanked Kasidiaris for his support. Spartans are unmistakably an anti-immigration party, portraying immigrants as a threat to Europe’s societies due to their perceived refusal to adopt the “European lifestyle”.

Second, the Greek Solution (Ελληνική Λύση) amalgamates conspiracy theories with national populism. The party made it to the Parliament in 2019—three years after it was founded—with 3.7 per cent of the vote. Its leader, Kyriakos Velopoulos, is a telemarketing shows entertainer who combines “his ability to sell and to express a nationalist discourse”. As a TV showman, he gained prominence for promoting a book containing supposedly authentic manuscripts that reveal the unknown sides of Jesus Christ, alongside herbs for Alzheimer's, creams for baldness, and creams for coronavirus. His assertive marketing strategy, laced with conspiracy theories and built upon a strong sense of masculinity (describing Putin is “a tough guy”) elevated him to a recognizable figure, catching the attention of seasoned nationalist politicians. Velopoulos holds strong anti-immigrant and Islamophobic stances, such as the creation of a wall and the use of landmines to protect Greece from illegal immigrants and the Turks. In a TV interview after the 2019 European elections, he stated he would like his party to attract the Gold Dawn  voters who “think properly and Greek”, but is against “that very Nazi stuff”.

Third, Victory (Νίκη) was founded by theologian Dimitris Natsios in 2019, following Greece's endorsement of the Prespa Treaty, which acknowledged the naming of Northern Macedonia. Natsios has been a talk-show presenter on the religious TV station 4E, gaining fame in Central Macedonia for over a decade. Natsios is also a proponent of entertainment-based national populism; however, his discourse is infused with references to religion. In June 2023 general election, Greek Solution garnered 4.44 per cent of the vote (12 seats), while Victory entered for the first time the parliament with 3.70 per cent (10 seats). Victory identifies itself as a patriotic party that belongs “neither to the right nor the left, but forwards”. In contrast to the Golden Dawn and Spartans, the rhetoric of Victory rejects any appeal to political violence and pivots on Greek tradition and the Christian Orthodox religion as an indispensable part of the “civilizational DNA” of Greece.

2. Far-right parties and ecology

Extreme far-right parties such as Spartans and Golden Dawn do not give equal importance to environment in their party programs. For Golden Dawn, environmental crisis is the result of “the crisis of our civilization and its values”, nature is closely linked to race (“as everything national, our Idea belongs to Nature”) and, thus, naturism becomes a priority: “the return to the Principles and Ideals of Naturism is […] an integrated choice of Lifestyle that brings back the eternal link of Human with Nature, of Blood with Soil”. In turn, Spartans do not adopt either this diagnostic or Golden Dawn’s naturist eco-fascist rhetoric. Instead, they confine themselves to occasional denialism and policies that undermine substantive environmentalism. In a 2023 parliamentary speech, Stigkas declared that “climate changes, as it always had” and “we, finally have to take out of our minds the childish impression that once the weather was ideal”. He also accuse journalists aligned with the “system” of instilling fear through their articles on climate change. His speeches are replete with references to conspiracy theories about the “world elite” that guides “governmental puppets” and has created the term “permacrisis” to scare people off. Stigkas also accuses the government of blaming climate change to waive its responsibilities for both the wildfires in summer 2023 and the floods in Thessalia in autumn 2023.  

Regarding energy policy, Spartans proposes that Greece should utilize its lignite sources, disregard the EU directive to shut them down by 2027, and only transition to green energy sources after ensuring self-sufficiency. Additionally, they suggest making the use of domestic green energy sources mandatory to generate employment for the Greek population. Spartans briefly discusses Greece's energy self-sufficiency in their section on the European Union. They propose ending Greece's energy dependency and its role as a strategic junction for transferring energy resources from the East of the Mediterranean Sea. The most relevant mentions to the environment regard the reforestation of burned forests in Attica and Corinth.

The Greek Solution combines a similar denialist stance while also undermining Green Deal policies.. advocates for the operation of Lignite Energy Production Units until 2038, gradually replacing them with modern natural gas units to achieve the country's energy independence. When asked about Environment and Energy in the 2023 pre-electoral debate, Velopoulos insisted on extracting natural gas and oil in Greece. He pledged that if his party wins the election, they will follow Norway's example by extracting natural gas and oil, connecting it to wages and pensions to directly benefit the Greek people.

Victory’s view on nature and society is Christian-Orthodox: nature is God’s creation. Victory’s members must behave towards nature animals and plants “with an attitude of self-sacrifice and selflessness stemming from the lessons of our saints and the way of life of our Christian ancestors”. At the same time, Victory is climate change denialist and anti-vaccine. To illustrate, a guest article on Victory’s official website maintains that “the release of CO2 through the use of fossil fuels enabled humanity to increase the concentration of this beneficial particle and may prevent a real climate apocalypse”. The article concludes that attempts to diminish CO2 concentration have adverse effects on plants and animals and are destructive for humanity. In the energy field, Victory condemns the government for “exclusively serving Brussel’s aims” with its national plan for energy and the climate. The party is also critical of the replacement of lignite mines with government-promoted wind parks. Victory advocates for the immediate extraction of oil from the Aegean Sea, the continuous extraction of lignite until the reserve is exhausted, the promotion of renewable energy sources—especially solar energy—and the attraction of investments to establish Greece as a hub for "green" hydrogen production.

Conclusion

While ecology has timidly entered Greece’s far-right politics, it has not (yet) assumed a position of priority, even if 83 per cent of Greeks think that climate change and its consequences are the biggest challenge for humanity in the 21st century. Despite their disparities, all three parties express skepticism regarding the existence of a climate crisis and the role of humans in causing it.

As the far right in Greece has splintered into three parties, it has simultaneously diversified and extended beyond the Golden Dawn alternative. Each faction embodies elements of a global far-right politics that intertwines male (populist) nationalism, religion, entertainment, and a deep-seated skepticism towards climate science, and the promotion of "alternative" epistemic authorities. The emerging Greek far-right movement signifies a troubling trend, the strength of which will be put to the test during the upcoming 2024 European elections.

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* Support for this blog was given by the Centre for Studies on Planetary WellBeing, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Planetary Wellbeing-Segment PLAWB00722 (2022-2024) (Coord: Camil Ungureanu).

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