Populism

The threat of natural disasters looms large in the current era, as exemplified by the events unfolding in Greece and across the globe. 

This should provide an additional incentive for us voters, to thoughtfully deliberate on our choices for local leaders or lawmakers.

Social media is an amazing political tool, but it is also a dangerous trap. It is a tool because - as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' last successful electoral battle showed - it allows politicians to reach out to young and other voters who have never taken an interest in politics.

Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said the government will "seek consensus" on issues of national importance, during a three-day plenary discussion on the new government's policy program on Saturday.

The entry of three far-right parties into Parliament was a first for Greece since the end of the dictatorship era in 1974.

The Spartiates (Spartans), Hellenic Solution and Niki won the confidence of 12.77% of voters, receiving a total of 34 seats.

The man who changed the face of Italy and paved the way for the ruling far right died on Monday, but Berlusconism has risen. After Silvio Berlusconi's death, my country seems to have fallen under a spell. The major TV channels broadcast hagiographic reports of the four-time prime minister, with nostalgic music playing in the background.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted Tuesday that Greece will be able to regain investment grade with a strong New Democracy government and that his "his victory over populism in Greece" serves as a lesson "for other liberal democracies."

"If you deliver real change for people, people will reward you," he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

It is no secret that Europe has been struggling to come to an agreement on a pan-European migration policy since the 2015 migration "crisis." Public and political sentiments on the topic have swung from the left to the right over the years, resulting in the latest, trimmed-down New Pact on Migration and Asylum proposal that is currently being debated in Brussels.

Consensus is crucial in certain key sectors for a country to achieve its full potential, and education is undeniably one of the most critical. Without a modern and competitive educational system, progress is limited. However, the education sector is also one where consensus is lacking.

It is not a good sign for the strongest Western democracy that in 2024 an 81-year-old and a 77-year-old may be the two rivals for the presidency. It shows the inability of the American system to look for new, dynamic leadership that can inspire Americans and the West. The US establishment was able to discover a John F. Kennedy, a (not young but still dynamic) Ronald Reagan, and a Bill Clinton.

From a purely mechanistic and rather arbitrary point of view, the voting public is the sum total of "the people" who have close or loose ties to political parties of all stripes, plus the unaffiliated, the indifferent, and those who reject politics. Of course, every party and every party leader believes that under their banner they have amassed the genuine and virtuous people.