May 8, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

US concerns about possible entry of the party "Nicky" to parliament: “They are Russophiles – they cannot be informed about NATO’s actions”

The Americans have raised the issue of the Nika party entering parliament, as they believe that it supports the Russian Federation at all levels and is financed by Russia through the monasteries of Mount Athos.

Their concern about Nika’s possible passage to parliament is that in this case they will be able to be informed about NATO’s moves. It is possible that the visit CIA Director William Burns in Athens was also associated with the future participation of “Nika” in the work of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense of the House of Representatives, whose meetings are secret.

The Committee discusses all issues of arming the Greek armed forces, as well as cooperation with other NATO countries, training Ukrainian military in Greece and military assistance sent to Ukraine. The US is also very concerned about the F-35 fighter program, since the agreement with all financial and technical details will go through the Armaments and Defense Committee. Americans have not yet faced such a question. That is, in their opinion, a pro-Russian party of this magnitude in the Greek Parliament poses a huge danger to NATO.

Of course, some will say that the Greek Solution supports pro-Russian positions from time to time, but Velopoulos’s party has never done this in full. After all, A. Milonakis, a former officer and protege of the Americans, was the representative of the “Greek Decision” in the Armaments and Defense Committee in the previous parliament.

With regard to “Nika”, however, the Americans believe that everything of value that passes through the committee will be transferred directly to Moscow. All NATO assistance to Ukraine, as well as types of weapons and training of Ukrainian units, pass through the approval of the parliamentary committees of all countries, as is the case in Greece. For your information, in Greece there was once the notorious Russian Party (1827-1865), which was the Greek political party of the first years of the existence of the Greek state, friendly to the Russian Empire.

As for the USA, participation of “NIKI” in the parliamentary committee, if it enters the parliament, is obligatory and cannot be limited. A situation is starting to emerge, like with Golden Dawn, which was isolated from government funding primarily because of its stance towards Russia. Now they want to be eliminated from politics altogether.

As regards funding for NIKI, the “Income-Property” section of the party’s charter simply states that “the movement may earn income from membership fees, donations, government subsidies, and any other legitimate activity consistent with its character and ethics.” However, 2-3 monasteries on Mount Athos reportedly have pro-Russian monks who are reportedly supporting NIKI’s efforts financially, either materially or by providing real estate for the party’s events, mostly in Northern Greece.

According to the same information, there are also large church parishes, including those in Athens, as well as the Holy Elders, who do not agree with their metropolitans and have their own audience, which they can influence. The party itself released a statement yesterday titled “Where does Nicky get the money” in which she attributes rumors of her funding to political opponents and speaks of fiction and paraphilia.

The statement reads in part as follows:

“The question of ‘where does Nika get the money’ for campaigning and running in the elections was launched by our political opponents, who, instead of self-criticism, are looking for an alibi for their election failure in an unprecedented fabrication and paraphology about the sources of Nika’s income and her alleged connections with government officials and ship owners. (…) The democratic patriotic movement “Niki” declares to everyone that the only financiers are its friends, members and candidates, whom it thanks for the trust and love with which they have surrounded all efforts. We call on the relevant authorities to check our bank account and carry out similar checks of other parties that participated in the elections, so that the truth will shed light and stop the malicious slanderous attacks against us.”

PS It would be interesting if Russia announced that there is a party in Greece that they do not like, since it acts in the interests of the United States and is financed from America. How would the Light of Democracy react to this? The question, of course, is rhetorical, that is, it does not require an answer …

Party “Niki”. Reference:

Δημοκρατικό Πατριωτικό Κίνημα – Νίκη (The Democratic Patriotic Movement – “Victory”, or simply “Niki”) is a Greek political party operating in a conservative space and focusing on Orthodox Christian traditions. It was founded by educator – theologian Dimitrios Natsios in 2019. In the May 2023 elections, the first in which the party took part, it won 2.92% of the vote, remaining literally 0.8% from entering parliament.

Its main programmatic positions are defined as the abolition of the Prespan Agreement (the name of North Macedonia for FYROM), a radical restructuring of education, a change in the acquisition of Greek citizenship by immigrants and refugees, the separation of the state and parties, as well as economic and moral rewards for having many children and supporting the traditional family.

The party was founded by theologian and educator Dimitrios Natsios on June 17, 2019 in Thessaloniki, after the signing of the Prespa Agreement and a month before the 2019 parliamentary elections, in which he did not participate. The party appeared in the polls shortly before the May 2023 elections, boosting its strength after far-right parties were excluded from the elections. NIKI collected the highest percentages in pre-election polls in Northern Greece and especially in Macedonia.

Two people included in the ballots have a common reference to St. Paisios the Holy Mountaineer. It is reported that the Nika party receives support from Athos monasteries and Christian Orthodox brotherhoods. However, the Philotheus Monastery, in particular, denied any connection with the party, while the Caracalla Monastery cited “non-existent reports”. Archbishop Jerome expressed his disagreement with “the use of the Church and its appropriation by any falsifiers of the faith…”, while Metropolitan Antim of Alexandrupol referred to “the provocative interference of monastic and church organizations in support of the parties.”

Ideology and positions

Nicky has been described as a party belonging to a wider range of right-wing movements with an emphasis on religion, homeland and family as its main goals. She does not consider herself to be on the left-right spectrum, suggesting a “Christian-centric government” with a parallel separation of political parties from the state. According to the ideology of “NIKI”, former politicians, government officials or Masons are not accepted as members of the party. Also, the party’s position includes a demand to bring to justice those politicians who participated in governments accused of embezzling public money and increasing the public debt, as well as limiting their right to re-election.

In matters of foreign policy, the party completely rejects the Prespa Agreement. Maintains a neutral attitude towards third countries, giving preference to Orthodoxy, as a unifying element of the Balkan peoples. The party does not agree that Greece supports Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion. Regarding Greece’s relations with Turkey, she argues that issues between them can only be resolved through a show of force.

“NIKI” pays special attention to education, criticizing the content of textbooks, while speaking out against the so-called. “sex education course” focused on LGBTQ+ ideas. The party maintains a negative attitude towards the LGBTQ+ community and opposes proposed reforms such as the legalization of same-sex marriage. In addition, the party opposes abortion. “NIKI” declares its opposition to mandatory medical procedures, such as vaccination, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, and also questions the safety of vaccines against this virus.



Source link

Verified by MonsterInsights