G. Katrougalos: The foreign policy of the country in 2022

Greece’s foreign policy for 2022 is commented in an article in the newspaper “PARON” by the Foreign Minister of SYRIZA-PS George Katrougalos, where among other things he emphasizes that “in the two and a half years of its rule, ND has weakened instead of strengthening its role Greece as a pillar of peace and stability in its region ”.

He adds that “he is gradually abandoning the multidimensional and active foreign policy of the SYRIZA government, returning to the traditional perception of the Greek right”.

Detailed article by George Katrougalos

We live in a multipolar world, where American hegemony is being challenged by rising China, while Russia’s growing geopolitical role is maintained, especially in areas such as North Africa and the Middle East, where Western intervention has failed. At the same time, the European Union has not acquired an autonomous, unified and solid foreign policy, as a result of which it cannot even contribute to the peace and stability of its neighborhood – in the Balkans, in the Mediterranean and especially in the Cyprus issue, or in Ukraine. In the two and a half years of its rule, the ND has weakened instead of strengthening the role of Greece as a pillar of peace and stability in its region. It is gradually abandoning the multidimensional and active foreign policy of the SYRIZA government, returning to the traditional perception of the Greek right for the country as an “advanced western outpost”, beyond and regardless of convergence of interests. Instead of being a central factor in upgrading European policy in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, it chooses mobility around a “new foreign policy geography” that engages Greece militarily in conflicts beyond our region, in line with the interests and priorities of others.

It is sending combat forces outside the operations of international organizations, for the first time since the Korean War, to the Sahel and Saudi Arabia where the situation is deteriorating daily. At the same time – in a tumultuous period for NATO-Russia relations – he declares that Alexandroupolis is now a front line for American companies in the Black Sea with the assignment of facilities there in the US while the Prime Minister himself in the FT stresses the need for further sanctions in Russia. He is indifferent both to Putin’s message of “restraint” expressed during Mitsotakis’ visit and to the intense concerns expressed by the Russian’s diplomatic adviser, Peskov.

Mainly, the Government emphasizes the communication management of the foreign policy with party criteria. The large diplomatic capital that the country gained from the Prespa Agreement was not used, neither in the wider Balkan region nor even in the bilateral relations with Northern Macedonia. The government is still indebted to the Agreement, which it had so democratically accused at the time of its negotiation and ratification. It is not too late to bring to Parliament the three memoranda of cooperation that promote our national interests (one of them concerns the air coverage of Northern Macedonia by our air force), due to its intra-party opposition and the reactions of its nationalist wing. It refuses to convene a Supreme Cooperation Council to conclude new agreements and avoids pressuring the neighboring country to implement the Agreement on a roadmap basis, even on issues of national interest such as the elimination of redemption from textbooks or trademarks.

In Greek-Turkish, the Government focuses on a logic of stopping Turkey through axes, creating the misleading communication dipole “shielding Greece / isolation of Turkey”. In this way it oversimplifies the complex regional developments of our region and legitimizes the “need for the country to participate in an arms race”, as described by the ND rapporteur, with defense spending reaching 3.5% of GDP, higher than any other NATO country and above all beyond the logic of “adequate defense”, which must always be based on the proposals of the staffs, the institutional planning and the financial capabilities of the country. Without seeking pressure from Turkey to accept a meaningful dialogue aimed at a solution or, at least, in a real recession, it follows the logic of the procrastination of previous periods, to put the big problems of foreign policy “in the bowl”, to receive it. next.

And yet, this time when Turkey, being tested by the economic crisis, seeks to return to the international arena in new terms and hopes to have an upgraded positive agenda in the European Council, was the right time to effectively advance our national positions. through their integration into the Euro-Turkish context. SYRIZA-PS had timely submitted concrete proposals on how we should prevent a possible escalation of the Turkish provocation in Cyprus or in the Aegean. We had asked the Government to link to the June European Council the upgrading of the EU-Turkey Customs Union with the latter’s commitment to the Hague Economic Zones. New Democracy, however, agreed to order the start of negotiations on a new agreement without asking for any commitment from Ankara.

And on other levels we have setbacks. Recently, for example, ND torpedoed a joint bill in which almost all parties had agreed on Greece’s compliance with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. With this proposal, our country would be saved millions of compensations, one that would be immediately archived 1/3 of the unenforced decisions and would be entered in the archive of almost 600 of the pending ones. Most importantly: we would be fully in line with European legal culture. It is obvious that the far-right wing of New Democracy does not allow it to be “sanctified”, even in cases where, I heard it, it had initially given its consent.

SYRIZA-PS will continue to pursue a patriotic policy of principles in the field of foreign policy, trying to have a national strategy and a national front. Final decisions, however, are always the prerogative and responsibility of the government, not the opposition.