Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos was a career diplomat with the Greek
foreign ministry. As a junior officer with the service in the 1970s, he
helped assure the then freshly democratic nation’s accession to the European Union
(at the time the EEC). He was at different times Athens’ ambassador to
Poland, Albania and Canada, and finally the director general of EU
Affairs in the ministry.
Last year, he finally resigned as secretary general of the Black Sea
Cooperation organisation, and entered the private sector, and now feels
free to speak openly about his fury at what he says Europe and
international lenders are doing to his country.
“At a certain moment, quite soon, there will be an explosion of
social unrest. It will be very unpleasant,”
he says, referring to 15
armed incidents in the previous ten days. In the past few weeks, offices
of the governing parties have been firebombed as well as the homes of
pro-government journalists.
The headquarters of the prime minister’s conservative New Democracy party
was machine-gunned, and days later a bomb exploded at a shopping mall
belonging to the country’s second wealthiest citizen, although no one
has been badly injured by the attacks.
“It is an escalation of activities,” he worries, adding that he
expects the “explosion” to occur sooner rather than later. He predicts
the spark will be when new, retroactive and sizeable tax bills come due
in the coming months that people simply cannot pay. “There will be
further increases in armed actions. There will be bloody
demonstrations.”
“These actions are condemnable, of course, but I feel that this sort
of armed activity will increase as long as the government continues to
impose oppressive measures against the Greek people.”
Belgian Prime Minister
Elio di Rupo in Davos said that Europe should change course from
austerity within six months if there is no sign of recovery. These are
hopeful words to Chrysanthopoulos, but he fears it would still be too
late for his country.
“We do not have six months. If the EU is going to change something,
they need to change it yesterday. We even have problems burying the dead
because people cannot afford the funeral expenses.” Refrigerators in
the morgue were filling up with bodies until the church said that it
would offer free burial for some families.
“We are heading down the road of destruction.”
Last summer, the social-democrat-conservative coalition led by Antonis Samaras
launched a major crackdown on irregular migrants, rounding up 60,000
individuals out of which just 4,200 were arrested for infractions – a
move that has been criticised by Amnesty International and other human rights groups.
Chrysanthopoulos says that the government has hired Blackwater, the
American private military firm infamous for its activities in Iraq,
which now goes by the name “Academi“, along with five other international for-profit security outfits. Explaining why this has happened, he says bluntly: “The Greek government does not trust the police whose salaries have also been cut.”
UPDATE: Academi have rejected Mr Chrysanthopoulos’s claim. According to a spokesperson for Academi, the firm “does not now, nor have we ever, provided security services to any entity of the Greek government.”
There is some good news however that he hears from the contacts he
maintains amongst his former colleagues and politicians. He is confident
that there will be no military coup, as there was in 1967.
“There are contacts by certain politicians with elements in the armed
forces to guarantee that in the event of major social unrest, the army
will not intervene.”
“I don’t want to go into too much detail here though as it is a
delicate issue,” he continues. “But as a result of these contacts, I
think this is going to be successful.”
He laments what has happened to the EU in which he spent so much of
his career: “I was part of the negotiating team as a junior diplomat
that brought Greece into the EU. The EU that we joined in 1981 doesn’t
exist any more.”
“We need a change of plan.”
- Greece: “A promise from the army has been obtained to not intervene against a civil uprising” (2012indyinfo.com)
- Greece: “A promise from the army has been obtained to not intervene against a civil uprising” (newstatesman.com)
- Greek Army Won’t Protect Government (planet.infowars.com)
Civil War Soldier’s Cemetery ~ Those who gave all in freeing The Black Slave! - Anonymous Taking Back Control Of The Tyrannical General Government Of The United States: Several Corrupt Government Sites Have Been Shut Down!
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