The Evangelos Venizelos has come back with barbs on Greek-Turkish and political system, attempting to appear as a guarantor of “realism” and seriousness, targeting the government.
The familiar role of political “teacher” was again chosen by Evangelos Venizelos, delivering from conference of the Circle of Ideas yet another lecture on “realism”, geopolitical risks and national strategy, with spikes for the country’s long-standing stance on Greek-Turkish relations and with an obvious desire to appear as the logical counterpart to a political system that according to him- refuses to look reality in the face. The former president of PASOK spoke of “Zurich-London syndrome”, of inertia in the expansion of territorial waters, of a lack of honest accounting of the post-communist period and of a world that is becoming increasingly unstable and dangerous, with the aim of deconstructing the politics of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, using a covert populism.
However, behind the heavy-handed geopolitical analyses and constant warnings about “realism”, many see a representative of the old political system who is perpetually attempting to return as an authority, as if society has forgotten who ruled the country in the decades that led to the crisis and the complete disintegration of trust in political personnel.
The permanent political commentator
Evangelos Venizelos has evolved into a permanent commentator on developments, almost always appearing after the fact to explain what should have been done. With a style of technocratic superiority and academic certainty, he continues to deliver political lessons to a society that remembers well that he himself was a central figure in the most traumatic period of the post-independence period. The appeal to ‘realism’ sounds convincing until one remembers that it was the same political system in which he played a leading role that for years sustained illusions, deficits and clientelism.
The politics of fear and authority
The former PASOK president consistently attempts to build the narrative that only the “experts” know the truths of geopolitics and economics, leaving the impression floating that the rest of the political scene moves with recklessness or ignorance. But this political approach is increasingly reminiscent of an old school of power that invests in fear, technocratic authority and constant scaremongering to maintain influence in public discourse.
Society in 2026 is not easily moved
The problem for Venizelos is that society in 2026 is no longer in awe of heavy political analysis and complex geopolitical narratives. For a large part of citizens, the constant interventions of the “old guard” are more reminiscent of an attempt at political survival and maintaining a public role than of a substantial offer of new solutions. And as long as the former PASOK president continues to speak as a strict overseer of political life, the feeling that a part of the old system is unable to accept that the era of its political dominance is now over is reinforced.
