Europe is in the midst of upheaval. An unpopular war, rising costs intensifying pressure on the working class, along with a growing disconnect between the EU governing elite and citizens are just some of the reasons for the stern rebuke of ruling parties across the continent in the recent EU Parliament elections.

France called snap elections after nationalist Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party trounced President Emmanuel Macron’s party by a double-digit score. The far-right nationalist AfD party made alarming gains in Germany, placing second and beating the ruling Social Democrats. Much of the continent saw similar results.

Greece was no exception, where the ruling New Democracy party placed first, but posted significant losses compared to last year’s national elections. The main opposition SYRIZA party continued its downward spiral, while center-left PASOK placed a disappointing third. With over 60 percent of voters staying home, the only parties that had reason to celebrate were the Greek Communist Party, which posted gains, as well as the parties to the right of New Democracy, which now constitute the second largest voting bloc behind the ruling party.

While the loss of approximately one-third of its electoral percentage is a clear sign of voter dissatisfaction, Greece’s Prime Minister opted for a rather underwhelming reshuffling of the cabinet rather than early elections – primarily because the larger opposition parties also did poorly.

Although the Premier claimed that he got the message from the voters, his initial moves leave room for doubt. For example, while it’s true that there is widespread anger over government ineffectiveness in busting cartels manipulating the prices of necessities like food, or taming sharp rises in living costs neutralizing any nominal raises to wages in the post-memorandum era, the fact is that the ruling party’s losses did not translate to gains by the major opposition parties, but rather appeared to trickle to the splintered parties to the right of New Democracy, none of which possess a charismatic leader. That suggests, however, that voters are dissatisfied with more than just the economy.

Identity, values, and safety seem to be major factors that the Government appears to be downplaying in the aftermath of this election.

One year into its second term, the current Government is presenting deficits in areas like public safety, illegal migration, national defense, and foreign policy, where it had posted some of its greatest successes during its first term. Likewise, the Prime Minister’s ill-advised decision to push through a bill legalizing gay marriage despite its unpopularity with his party’s voting base and a large number of his parliamentarians came back to haunt him, with critics likening his current administration more to a third-term of the old Simitis-led center-left PASOK Governments, or the now defunct center-left Potami party that helped push through the wretched Prespa Agreement that Greece’s northern neighbor Skopje is now openly breaching.

However, it’s not only the Prime Minister who doesn’t appear too keen on hearkening to public sentiment. The main opposition party leader, who managed to shrink his predecessor Alexis Tsipras’ paltry 17.8 percent showing in last year’s national elections to just a shade under 15 percent, also seems to be in denial. Despite breaking ranks with a number of cadres questioning his leadership in an attempt to consolidate power – including taking a few veiled jabs at SYRIZA’s ‘sacred cow’, Mr. Tsipras himself – Mr. Kasselakis continues to overlook the elephant in the room and refuses to accept that SYRIZA’s precipitous decline coincided with its ideologically ankylotic passage of the Prespa Agreement. Worse yet, he continues to defend this notorious foreign policy folly despite touting his desire to reinvigorate ‘patriotism’ in the left.

Meanwhile, rather than seizing this historic opportunity to capitalize on New Democracy’s governing arrogance and SYRIZA’s cluelessness, the PASOK party remains merely a shadow of its old self, unable to make inroads with voters because of its leadership’s lack of vision. For a party that exposed Greece to the harshest neoliberal measures during the memorandum era to spew empty words about socialist dogma, while ignoring the many issues affecting citizens’ daily lives, seems like a sure-fire recipe for disaster. PASOK’s founder Andreas Papandreou had national issues at the top of his agenda, unlike his successors in the party.

The European Union appears to be undergoing a tectonic shift. The rise of the ‘New Right’ suggests that voters are fed up with eurocrats ignoring their concerns and imposing an – often painful – agenda upon them, which lacks legitimization through the traditional democratic process. Developments in the weeks to come (outcomes of national elections, the new synthesis of the European Commission, etc.) will reveal the degree to which politicians across the continent interpreted the mandate from last month’s elections correctly. If the Greek Government doesn’t follow suit, political developments and surprises could come sooner than expected.

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