A Greek Politician From the Macron School Rises in Athens

ATHENS — While “the biggest wave starts with the tiniest ripple” may not be an ancient Greek proverb, it could work to describe the resurgence of Greece’s Socialist party and the rise of a young politician who is emerging as the Athenian answer to France’s Emmanuel Macron. His name is Nikos Androulakis, and he is the fresh-faced leader of Greece’s iconic if long dormant Socialist party, Pasok, and a likely frontrunner in Greece’s next national elections. During a packed and widely publicized three-day party congress at Athens over the weekend, Mr. Androulakis laid out a vision not just for victory at the polls but also for Greece’s place in Europe that includes some gentle but unambiguous distancing from America. Domestic politics in Greece are heating up well ahead ahead of anticipated elections next year, galvanized in part by seismic shifts caused by the war in Ukraine: ”To authoritarian leaders, the answer cannot be complacency,” Mr. Androulakis said in a clear rebuke of Vladimir Putin’s military aggression. “There is no future for a Europe whose energy efficiency is in the hands of the Russians, its defense is in the hands of the Americans, and its economy is in the hands of the Chinese.” That kind of language puts the 43-year-old from Crete, who is also a deputy member of the European Parliament, behind the same ideological podium as Mr. Macron. The French president, now 44, has been a staunch advocate of a retooled and maybe refueled European security architecture even as he has been criticized for his reluctance to criticize the strongman of the Kremlin.Like Mr. Macron, Mr. Androulakis’s political rise is steeped in Eurocentric and socialist leanings. The antecedent to Mr. Macron’s La République En Marche party was En Marche, a centrist movement that Mr. Macron founded in the years following his membership in France’s Socialist Party.Mr. Androulakis similarly heads a Greek center-left parliamentary coalition made up of a recent creation called Movement for Change, better known by its acronym Kinal, and Pasok. But in his speech to the party congress and amid a sea of banners brandishing the green sun socialist party logo, Mr. Androulakis did not mention Kinal once. The message was clear: After years on the sidelines, Pasok’s star is again on the rise.There is much precedent for it. Greece’s Panhellenic Socialist Movement roared to power in 1981, and subsequently Pasok created a welfare state as it helped transform Greece into a more modern, European country. At its height it was backed by almost half the Greek electorate under what the BBC called the “adored leadership” of the party founder, Andreas Papandreou. Fast-forward to last December when Mr. Androulakis defeated a former prime minister, George Papandreou — Andreas’s son — by a wide margin to become the new leader of Kinal. Now, and with Mr. Papandreou’s full backing, Mr. Androulakis is positioning a newly energized Pasok as the best alternative to both the governing center-right New Democracy party, led by Prime Minister Mitsotakis, and the Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, the opposition party chaired by another former prime minister, Alexis Tsipras.These political shifts come on the heels of a well-received speech by Mr. Mitsotakis to a joint session of Congress earlier this month. What was remarkable about that was Mr. Mitsotakis’s emphasis on Greece’s ratification of a landmark defense agreement with America and underlining the strategic importance of Souda Bay, the joint Hellenic Navy and NATO naval base on the north coast of the island of Crete. Greece is widely seen as one of America’s closest partners in NATO. Underscoring how an appreciation for the significance of America’s security commitments to Europe crosses national lines in Europe, the Polish president, Andrzej Duda — described by the AP as “a right-wing populist leader” — said on Sunday that “Kyiv is the place from which one clearly sees that we need more America in Europe, both in the military and in this economic dimension.”Without having to be pressed too hard on the point, that is probably not a vision that either Mr. Macron or Mr. Androulakis share. “We want an autonomous Europe with common European policies,” said the latter in his party speech, adding that Greece is an equal partner and not a satellite. Greece has lately been buffeted by the same inflationary and cost-of-living pressures as are being felt elsewhere in Europe, and whether a future social democratic solution would bolster the country’s economy and recalibrate its general military posture vis-à-vis the EU is uncertain.Aside from Britain, and with the possible exception of Germany on the Continent, America probably has no more vital strategic partner in Europe than Greece, especially given the two countries’ deep historical and cultural ties. Greece’s location too makes it both a bulwark of dependability in the Balkans and a stepping stone to the Middle East. Exactly how the “patriotic active foreign policy” touted by Mr. Androulakis at Athens this weekend could affect Greece’s military cooperation with America in the future remains to be seen, but the unmistakable Grecian perfume of elections is already in the air.

A Greek Politician From the Macron School Rises in Athens

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