Greece Bails Out Its Political Parties

Not only is Greece hopelessly in debt, but its political parties are too. The two biggest parties, the center-right New Democracy party and the center-left pasok, hold nearly 80 percent of parliament seats and owe €240 million to banks. Some of their staff say they haven’t been paid in months.

To stay afloat, these two parties voted on April 9 to give themselves €29 million of government money. That money was scheduled to be released to fund Greece’s parties—some of the most generously funded political parties in the European Union—after the May 6 election. By bringing it forward, the established parties voted themselves a huge advantage over their rivals.

This creates a huge conflict of interest. Greece only has that money because of the EU bailout. So Greece’s two main parties owe their continuing existence to EU bailouts. That hardly makes them the impartial representatives of Greece’s people.

But the EU also benefits from this arrangement. These two main parties have, to varying degrees, supported the bailout and the EU’s interference in their country. As a result, they have seen their popularity plummet. Last election, these two parties received 77 percent of the vote. This time, polls put their combined vote at less than 40 percent. Small parties, opposing the EU’s bailout, are thriving.

Greece could emerge from the election with a more euroskeptic government, or a fractious coalition incapable of implementing the EU’s diktats.

So far, the European Commission has not commented on whether it approved this payment. If it did, it means it is using money that, ultimately, came from EU bailouts to Greece in order to sponsor its preferred political parties. The Commission would be attempting to buy an election.

Greece is under the control of the German-led EU. Watch for the EU to try to retain this control, no matter what the election results are.