It has started: Greece becomes the blueprint for the 21st century corporate feudalism

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Greece has just become the blueprint for the 21st century corporate feudalism through a preposterous environmental bill passed on Tuesday.

Just when the neoliberal government lifted most of the restriction measures that were imposed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, it rushed to pass the bill through unconstitutional actions. These have been strongly condemned by the main opposition party, SYRIZA.

As reported by the Associated Press:

Greek lawmakers approved a controversial environmental bill Tuesday that the opposition and environmental groups slammed for opening the door to exploratory oil and gas drilling in protected areas. [...] On the eve of the vote, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund said they had collected 30,000 signatures in an online petition against the legislation, which they say will remove vital safeguards for environmental protection. “Beyond the drilling, this legislation is deeply problematic in many areas, as has already been established by dozens of agencies and organizations,” WWF Greece head Demetris Karavellas said in a statement Monday. “A government that respected scientists’ positions on the issue of the coronavirus now appears to ignore them in this crucial legislation.”

Also, according to MPs of the opposition, the bill removes all the power from local authorities and communities to decide whether an investment would harm the natural environment in their areas. All decisions would be taken centrally by a mechanism that has been set up by the most neoliberal government ever, which is extremely hostile to regulations and extremely friendly to all sorts of "investors".

It is worth noting that none of the opposition parties voted in favor of the bill. Also, the MPs and the leader of the main opposition party SYRIZA did not participate in the voting process, as they claimed that they didn't want to legitimize an unconstitutional process.




As we already wrote last September, the result of the latest elections in Greece, is about to give the opportunity to the neoliberal regime to extend the Greek experiment, in order to test some new conditions.

These are primarily related to the so-called Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and the Brussels-Berlin axis has now the opportunity to test them for the first time in a country which belongs to the economic hard core of the EU (eurozone). Indeed, the German government is pushing for the creation of SEZs in Greece and other European countries with struggling economies.

Inside these modern feuds, European legislation concerning labor rights will be powerless. Besides, it has already become extremely flexible after the economic crisis. The feudals-investors will be able to implement slavery conditions without facing any consequences. They will also be able to bypass environmental legislation in order to set up and operate their investments. In essence, this means uncontrolled deterioration of the natural environment and therefore, devastating consequences for the future of local communities.

The Neoliberal regime is about to return Greece back to the Middle Ages as the country will become the blueprint for modern feudalism. Mitsotakis administration has just made the first critical step towards that direction.