I think this sums it up pretty nicely. It's a failed state with corrupt people at the top of the government.
The parliament, i.e. the majority, i.e. these people, are also the ones who appoint the judges of the top courts of the country, which all but ensures their immunity.
Their immunity is also enshrined in the consistution[4, article 86] - only the parliament can take an MP to the courts, but guess who controls the majority
Also, they are in the pockets of the local oligarchic mafia [1]: A few families that control the vast majority of the media AND the big construction companies AND the energy companies. They are also the ones that own big part of the shipping industry in Greece. For their sake, back in 2022 when the EU was considering to ban oil shipments from Russia, Greece vetoed that [2]
Oh, and just to be safe, the oligarch's tax exemptions are written in the constitution[4, article 107]
So, the people in the government have an almost complete immunity from everything, which makes them extremely arrogant.
If you add to that mix the total disregard of public services, even hospitals during the pandemic, you get a very beautiful-to-look-but-terrible-to-live-in failed state.
A state that even the EU can no longer turn a blind eye on[5]
I don’t think the voters are the problem. I think the established parties keep growing in all the worst ways, and I don’t think any decent candidate would be able to be successful in this setting.
Would happily work with voters to figure out a path forward.
I'd say barriers to entry - being an established party gives you more revenue, supporters to do campaigning, influence, etc.
One place that tries to do it better in my opinion is Switzerland. It has a lot of controls to reduce the ability of politicians to act poorly and limits the power of higher levels (if something can be resolved well locally, there's no need to have a higher-level regulation). A lot of process is thought through and in place to enable direct voting on issues. Additionally, it has many levels to get engaged, which lowers the barriers to entry, by being able to have an impact on a local level.
Truly frightening that these are the people who'll be contributing to the decisions made on the future of the internet for the entire rest of the world.
You are overestimating the real power of the EU parliament, everything is finally decided in the EU council. The parliament is more or less kind of a political theatre without the powers you would expect a parliament to have.
* a 71 year old lady, with no social media and no public speeches ever.
* a guy who used a nickname for his last name, that matched with a military general (who is well known), and many people thought he was the general
* a "journalist" that was caught twice talking on live TV, conversing with a pre-recorded video
* a convicted criminal
It's impressive to manage to fail as a politician.