Wall Street Journal
May 4, 2012
With everyone from Socialists, conservatives, Communists, nationalists and even neo-Nazis likely to be represented in the Greek parliament following the May 6 election, some are asking: why are there so few Greek liberals?
Greece’s two liberal parties—who preach a gospel of small government and private initiative—are struggling for attention. Neither the Democratic Alliance party of former conservative foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis, nor the Drassi (Action) party of Stefanos Manos, a former conservative finance minister, are more than a blip in public opinion polls. And it’s not clear either will garner enough votes to cross the 3% threshold needed to enter parliament, while an effort to join forces has run into trouble.
Vivian Efthimiopoulou, a communications strategist who’s been a liberal activist in Greece since the early 1990s, says it’s Greece’s deeply-rooted statism that makes Greeks so unreceptive to the liberal, small-state message.
“The main reason that a liberal wave hasn’t formed is because that it opposes the paternalistic, statist tradition in Greece. There’s an expectation for the state to give often magical solutions, and going against this culture is very tough because it’s so deep-seated,” Efthimiopoulou says.
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