Critic on US Abassador

Pantelis Kalaitzoglou, a leftwinger who does not claim affiliation with any party, complains that the Greek state remains authoritarian, a "bureaucratic junta".

"Individualism is the basis of the ruling party's ideology, and the two big parties fight merely over who gets a bigger piece of the ecomomic pie," he says. Kalaitzoglou cites US Ambassador Thomas Miller's recent rebuke of composer MIkis Theodorakis for statements about Jews as evidence of inappropriate American intervention in Greek affairs.

"Criticism of the US was, is and will be timely. Miller criticised the statement of a Greek citizen, which could have been me. Are we going to let every Miller tell us what to say? And what about the FBI awarding Greek officers for their counter-terrorism record? It highlights the tight bond with the foreign boss and the 'Yes, sir! ' mentality. So we have a long road ahead of us," he asserts.