Independent Greeks Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | ANEL |
| President | Panos Kammenos |
| General Secretary | Kostas Karabelas |
| Spokesperson | Theodoros Tosounidis |
| Founded | 24 February 2012; 13 years ago (2012-02-24) |
| Dissolved | 2020 |
| Split from | New Democracy[1] |
| Headquarters | 196,Syngrou Ave. 176 71Athens |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| Religion | Greek Orthodox |
| Colours | Blue,red |
| Slogan | We are many— We are independent— We are Greeks |
TheIndependent Greeks – National Patriotic Alliance (Greek:Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες (ΑΝΕΛ),Anexartitoi Ellines,ANEL) was anational conservative[2][3][4]political party in Greece.
The party was the junior coalition partner to theCoalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) in thefirst andsecond Tsipras governments, from January 2015 until theJune 2019 parliamentary election, in which the party did not participate.
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The party was created on 24 February 2012 byPanos Kammenos, a formerMember of Parliament (MP) for the conservative partyNew Democracy (ND).[5] Kammenos had been expelled from the New Democracy parliamentary group after voting againstLucas Papademos' coalition government in a vote of confidence. The party's founding declaration was issued on 11 March 2012.[6] Ten former ND deputies were founding members of the party, namelyElena Kountoura,Christos Zois,Kostas Markopoulos [el],Dimitrios G. Stamatis [el],Spyros Galinos,Mika Iatridi [el],Maria Kollia-Tsaroucha,Panagiotis Melas andMichalis Giannakis [el][7]
On 17 April 2012, the small left-wing anti-bailout partyPanhellenic Citizen Chariot reached an election cooperation agreement with the Independent Greeks.[8]
Prior to theMay 2012 legislative election, the party had 11 MPs: 10 defectors from New Democracy and one fromPanhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).
The party won 10.6% of the vote and 33 MPs in the parliamentary election in May 2012.[9] In the snapJune 2012 legislative election, ANEL received 7.5% of the vote, which reduced the party's representation to 20 MPs.[9]
In the2014 European Parliament election held on 25 May 2014, ANEL received 3.5% of the vote, electing a singleMEP who sat with theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. The MEP,Notis Marias, left ANEL, however, and became an independent member of the ECR group.
In theJanuary 2015 legislative election held on 25 January 2015, ANEL received 4.75% of the vote and returned 13 MPs to theHellenic Parliament.[10] On 26 January 2015, ANEL agreed to form a governing coalition with theCoalition of the Radical Left.[11][12]
The second election of the year, theSeptember 2015 legislative election on 20 September 2015, returned ANEL to parliament with 10 seats from 3.69% of the vote.[13] Syriza again agreed to form a coalition government with ANEL,[14] with the returning cabinet sworn in on 21 September.[15]
On 13 January 2019, Defence MinisterPanos Kammenos and the Independent Greeks withdrew from Greece's ruling coalition over a deal struck on theMacedonia naming dispute, potentially leaving the governing coalition without a workable majority in parliament. However, the government was able to survive the confidence vote thanks to some ANEL dissidents.[16]
On 9 June 2019, party leader Panos Kammenos announced ANEL would not participate in the2019 parliamentary election.[17] ANEL did not run in theMay 2023 or theJune 2023 Greek legislative elections either.
The party has been described asconservative,[18]national conservative,[3][4]social conservative,[2][19]right-wing populist,[20][21][22]Greek nationalist,[23]Eurosceptic,[24] andright-wing.[25][26][27]
The party called for revoking thefirst andsecond memorandums, loan agreements between Greece, the EU and theInternational Monetary Fund.[20][21][5] Further, it considers the agreements illegal and calls for lifting immunity from and then investigating and prosecuting Greek ministers, parliamentarians, and officials who negotiated the agreements or who otherwise bear blame for Greece's economic crisis.[20][21][5]
In opposing the memorandums negotiated with'The Troika', party leader Kammenos said Greece had become a "laboratory animal" in an austerity experiment conducted by the IMF and EU, who "used the public debt as a means of control."[28] Kammenos has focused much of his fire on Germany, stating that "Germany is not treating Greece as a partner but as its master. ... It tries to turn a Europe of independent states into a Europe dominated by Germany."[29]
The party's official programme states it will repudiate part of Greece'sdebt because it was created by speculators in a conspiracy to bring Greece to the edge ofbankruptcy.[29] It announced in December 2012 that it would start working to create a patriotic Democratic Front, whose aim is to save "Greece from the neo-liberal avalanche."[30]
The party also calls for Germanwar reparations (for theinvasion and occupation of Greece in the Second World War).[6]
On social policy, Independent Greeks oppose multiculturalism and want toreduce immigration,[31][32] and support development of aChristian Orthodox oriented education system.[33]
According toThe Independent, the party has "a socially right-wing stance, supporting patriotism and the role of theGreek Orthodox Church in family life and education".[34]
| Election | Hellenic Parliament | Rank | Government | Leader | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Seats won | +/− | ||||
| May 2012 | 670,957 | 10.6% | New | 33 / 300 |  33 | #4 | Opposition | Panos Kammenos |
| June 2012 | 462,406 | 7.5% | -3.1 | 20 / 300 |  13 | #4 | Opposition | |
| January 2015 | 293,683 | 4.8% | -2.7 | 13 / 300 | 7 | #6 | Coalition government SYRIZA-ANEL | |
| September 2015 | 200,423 | 3.7% | -1.1 | 10 / 300 | 3 | #7 | Coalition government SYRIZA-ANEL | |
| 2019 | Did not run | – | -3.7 | 0 / 300 | 10 | – | extra-parliamentary | |
| European Parliament | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election | Votes | % | ±pp | Seats won | +/− | Rank | Leader |
| 2014 | 197,701 | 3.5% | New | 1 / 21 | 1 | #7 | Panos Kammenos |
| 2019 | 45,149 | 0.8% | -2.7 | 0 / 21 | 1 | #15 | |
The Independent Greeks most recently held three MPs in the 2015 (September)-2019 Hellenic Parliament:
| Name | Constituency |
|---|---|
| Panagiotis (Panos) Kammenos | Athens B |
| Maria Kollia-Tsaroucha | Serres |
| Artidis Fokas | Thessaloniki B |
On 19 November 2015Nikolaos Nikolopoulos was expelled from the Parliamentary Group of Independent Greeks.[35]
On 16 June 2018Dimitrios Kammenos was expelled from the party, because he voted to topple the government in a recentno confidence vote tabled by Official Opposition partyNew Democracy. On 26 JuneGeorgios Lazaridis left his party's parliamentary group and declared himself independent citing opposition to theGreece-Republic of North Macedonia naming agreement signed on 17 June 2018, as the reason for leaving the party.[36]
On 14 January 2019Elena Kountoura andVasilion Kokkalis were expelled from the party due to their continuing support for Tsipras government after Independent Greeks left it over thePrespa agreement dispute.[37]
On 15 January 2019Aristidis Fokas elected on the list ofUnion of Centrists joined Independent Greeks.[38]
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