Europe Needs Unified Strategy to Secure Borders, Says Advisor
Athens-based scholar Rafail Kaliviotis argues that Western elites have abandoned ancient Greek philosophical principles on ethics and governance that once sustained healthy societies.
Ancient Greek philosophy remains one of the pillars of Western civilization, and its insights into ethics, governance, and civic life offer crucial guidance for a West now facing profound existential crises.
According to The European Conservative, Rafail Kaliviotis, an Athens-based journalist, academic researcher, and political advisor, argues that contemporary Western elites have abandoned timeless principles that once sustained healthy societies.
Kaliviotis points to Socrates’ declaration that the unexamined life is not worth living, emphasizing that this statement rests on the conviction that ethics is the supreme measure of human dignity and that good and evil are real. He also invokes Aristotle’s observation that a strong and prosperous polity requires a robust and numerous middle class, which neither covets the wealth of the very rich nor provokes the envy of lower strata.
The editor-in-chief of newsfire.gr and host of a prominent online podcast, Kaliviotis has served as campaign manager in multiple national election campaigns and held senior executive positions in major shipping companies. He is currently completing his doctoral thesis on the geopolitics of migration at the University of Athens under Professor Ioannis Mazis, one of the field’s most significant figures.
His doctoral research examines the complex and often conflictual interaction between European elites and citizens regarding migration, analyzing the profound geopolitical transformations taking place across European countries as a direct consequence of this tense relationship.
Greece Faces Multiple Existential Challenges
In an interview, Kaliviotis outlined several urgent issues confronting Greece, many of which are shared with other European nations. The migration crisis stands foremost, given Greece’s position as a primary country of entry into Europe.
This reality requires significant budgetary resources for border protection and deployment of modern surveillance systems designed to deter illegal migratory flows. Yielding to migrant-smuggling networks constitutes not only a crime against human life but also a profound offense against the very essence of the nation because it entails systematic violation of state borders.
The issue is inextricably linked to another degenerative phenomenon: Greece’s demographic collapse. Many voices within European elites argue that the demographic crisis can be reversed through mass immigration. Should this dangerous perception prevail, Kaliviotis warns, it would logically and inevitably lead to the cultural erosion of nation-states and Western civilization itself.
The comparative advantage of the West has always resided in its rich cultural capital, he emphasizes.
Agricultural and Housing Crises Squeeze Middle Class
The agricultural question represents another critical challenge. Greece’s small and medium-sized farmers are largely abandoned, while preferred solutions such as Mercosur-type agreements favor multinational agribusiness corporations that produce outside the European Union and then re-export their products. This exploits cheap labor and significantly lowers quality standards.
The housing crisis proves equally pressing. Middle- and lower-middle-class citizens are asphyxiated by soaring rents and home prices. Once housing became an asset class for investment funds, it triggered a severe housing shortage that has eroded the purchasing power of ordinary citizens.
Ordinary, hard-working citizens are facing a systematic assault on their identity, their food security, and their fundamental right to live a dignified life, Kaliviotis states.
Sixty Percent Abstention Signals Delegitimization of Political System
In Greece’s latest national elections, approximately sixty percent of eligible voters did not vote. Kaliviotis interprets this as Greek citizens sending a powerful and unmistakable message of delegitimization to the existing political system.
In Greece, there are politicians and party leaders who effectively inherit a parliamentary seat merely by virtue of their family name. Citizens feel they are not being heard because economic cartels continue to wield unchecked power and purchasing power continues to decline.
Kaliviotis is a regular contributor of political and geopolitical analyses to Greece’s leading media outlets. His work reflects a broader conservative critique of European governance structures that prioritize elite interests over the welfare and cultural continuity of ordinary citizens.
With information from The European Conservative
