The Greek government has refused to participate in a conference in Estonia on August 23 titled “The Heritage in 21st Century Europe of the Crimes Committed by Communist Regimes.” Greece is the only EU member state that abstains.
The decision was taken by Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis. In an official statement, ruling SYRIZA party labeled the decision to abstain from the conference as “appropriate and a given”. Greece is the only EU member state that will not take part in the conference.
Secretary General for Transparency and Human Rights, Maria Yiannakaki, retweeted a post regarding Donald Trump and the Charlottesville incident on her feed which read “There is a term for people who say ‘Both sides are bad,’ when one side is Nazis. They are called Nazi sympathisers.”
Yiannakaki commented on the tweet: “This was written about Trump and Charlottesville, but it totally fits the Estonians and their conference”.
All opposition parties, along with some MPs from SYRIZA’s junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) have chastised the government for its decision. They are blaming SYRIZA of acting as blind ideologues and populists, regarding issues of communism.
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