National Party – Greeks (Greek:Εθνικό Kόμμα – Έλληνες,romanized: Ethnikó Kómma – Éllines),[8][9][10] formerlyGreeks for the Fatherland (Greek:Έλληνες για την Πατρίδα,romanized: Éllines gia tin Patrída), is aGreek far-right[7][11] political party founded on 4 June 2020, byIlias Kasidiaris, a formerMP and spokesperson ofGolden Dawn, who is currently serving a 13-year prison term for his involvement in the criminal organisation[12][13][14][15] run by Golden Dawn, allegations for which he maintains his innocence.[16]
Similarly, on 21 May 2020[24] and after much speculation, Ilias Kasidiaris an MP of Golden Dawn for eight consecutive years, from 2012 to 2019, announced his resignation viaYouTube, and the creation of a new party led by himself, under the nameGreeks for the Fatherland.[25][26] However, he was arrested in October 2020 right after the announcement of his conviction.[27]
In May 2021, the Greek Parliament voted to impose partial bans on all convicted members of Golden Dawn, including Ilias Kasidiaris, which stripped them of some political rights.[28]
As of 2022, Kasidiaris remains in prison and maintains his right to be elected as party member, but is not allowed to stand for leader of a party.[29] Former Golden Dawn MPKonstantinos Barbarousis, who is also serving his prison sentence, and former Golden Dawn MEPLampros Fountoulis have joined the party. Ioannis Malandris, former general secretary and many other former members of the "Patriotic Radical Union" party joined Kasidiaris party in 2022.[30][31][32]In December 2022, the joint descent to the 2023 elections with theNational Front andLEPEN was announced.[33]
In March 2023, the cooperation withEAN of the former deputy prosecutor Anastasios Kanellopoulos was announced, who took over as head of the National Party – Greeks in the position of the political Council of the party.[1]
On 1 April 2023, it was announced that the cooperation of theNational Front with the National Party would end due to the ban on Ilias Kasidiaris stepping down as president.[34]
Following the exclusion of the National Party from both theMay andJune 2023 elections, Kasidiaris announced its "full support" for theSpartans political party.[35][36] The Spartans party won 12 seats in the elections. In his first public statement after the election, Stigkas openly thanked Kasidiaris for "[being] the fuel that has propelled us to [entering parliament]".[37]
In its official website, the party states it aims at reverting the demographic decline, develop the Greek national economy and that it favors anti-immigration.[38] The original logo was heavily inspired by theLeague from Italy[39] replacing theMonument to the Warrior of Legnano with a statue ofLeonidas I.[40]
The party has not openly embracedneo-Nazism and Kasidiaris' statement in 2020 rejectedNazism.[41] However, being an offspring of Golden Dawn, the party appears to share similar views with its core ideology,[42] mainly in terms of ultra-nationalism, anti-immigration, Islamophobia and rejection of globalization. As a consequence, its political ideology is being questioned in relation to the past events and recent split from Golden Dawn[43][44][45] and some academics, Greek and International media have describedGreeks for the Fatherland as extremist[7][46] and far-right.[43][47] The party is person-centric with Ilias Kasidiaris being the leading voice.[48]
A member ofGreeks of the Fatherland is associated with the fringeantivax groupThematofylakes tou Syntagmatos (Greek: Θεματοφύλακες του Συντάγματος). He was among a group ofThematofylakes tou Syntagmatos members that were arrested for insurrection, violence against public workers, and the kidnapping of a school headmaster inPieria.[49] Some youth neo-Nazi groups in Central Greece have also been linked to Greeks for the Fatherland in late 2021 after their involvement in violent student protests.[50][51]
In January 2023, efforts began by the Greek Government to ban Kasidiaris' party from running in the 2023 elections.[52] On 8 February 2023, an amendment was nominated by the Plenary of the Hellenic Parliament, which puts a brake on the descent of Ilias Kasidiaris in the 2023 elections, but also on other political figures whose leaders have been convicted of criminal acts.[53] The party was banned from running in the election by the Areios Pagos on 2 May 2023.[54]
