European Parliament
Korakas (GUE/NGL ).
(EL)
Mr President, the Greek Government's invitation to NATO to assume responsibility for the security of the Olympic Games provoked acute reaction from a very broad political spectrum in Greece. This is not just an insult to the Olympic spirit of peace, given that ΝΑΤΟ is a terrorist warmongering organisation
par excellence
, it is also an insult to the pacifist, anti-NATO feelings of the Greek people, as expressed on a daily basis in Greece. This turns Greece, as numerous sides have denounced, into a magnet for terrorist counterattacks.
Clearly, both the measures to suppress and repress democratic freedoms and rights and the deep penetration of NATO into public and private life in Greece will not stop when the Olympic Games end, but will continue and become a permanent feature. That is how, on the pretext of security and combating terrorism, the Olympic ideals are being profaned and a nation is basically being bound hand and foot. That is how the immense hypocrisy of the pronouncements about the Olympic truce is uncovered.
Interpreting the pacifist and anti-imperialist feelings of the Greek people, we condemn this situation and call on all those in the House who continue to take even a rudimentary interest in democracy to call for NATO not to interfere in the Olympic Games.

