southeastern europe

After having spent ten days in the USA and a six-hour stopover in London -both quite remote from the intricacies of Greek politics- I arrived in Thessaloniki just after midnight today to speak in a Roundtable on Nationalism in Greece and Turkey hosted by the Thessaloniki International Book Fair. The taxi ride from Macedonia Airport (previously known as Mikra Airport to people of my generation) provided a reminder that Greece -just as every other EU country- was preparing for this year's European parliament elections but also an abrupt warning that nationalism was a potent force in the shaping of the debate surrounding the election. Giant posters inviting the voters to support one of the two largest parties were hard to miss as they dominated nearly every visible space in the few kilometers that separate the city from the air terminal. Among them, also hard to miss, were posters of a third suitor of the electorate's preference: the Panhellenic Macedonian Front (Πανελλήνιο Μακ