ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ: ΕΞΕΛΙΞΕΙΣ ΣΤΟ ΠΕΔΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΤΑΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΚΛΗΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

Dimitrios Akrivoulis 33 quality of being a member of this whole that serves as the spring of all mutual ob- ligations we have so far associated with the idea of solidarity. It is therefore also not a coincidence that solidarity is conceptually connected (in a post-revolution- ary context) to the pagan-republican harmony (Gr. ἁ ρμόνια , Lat. concordia ) or to political (or civic ) friendship (Gr. φιλία πολιτική , Lat. amicitia ), both pertaining to relations among the member of urban elites; to the Old Testament and Chris- tian idea of brotherly fraternity ( fraternitas ) of Men and the love of neighbour ( caritus ); 56 to the relations between members of monastic and knight Orders, of companies and merchant guilds of common interests, of students or alumni, and of men of the same class, occupation or pursuits. It is this unbroken whole that further allows the birth of ethicopolitical responsibilities and legal liabilities that are communal and in whole, joint and several. 57 In a nutshell, the concept of soli- darity is defined by our answer to this question: Who is our ‘neighbour’? Who is the one with whom we form this solid whole? Put differently, the conceptual dimen- sions of solidarity are by definition spatial. In still other words, the content of its politics is primarily defined by its locus . The locus of solidarity Recent developments in Europe —mostly in connection with the so far responses to the economic and the refugee crises within the European Union— do not leave much space for optimism. The locality of solidarity is constantly shrinking, and the component of internationalism, implicit in the concept of solidarity as still im- agined, is unfortunately exhausted in practices that serve more as contemporary mutations of compassion and mercy, as well as of old practices of intervention- ism, protectionism and dependency. Yet these unsettling practices are not merely reflected at the level of conceptual history. Conceptual battles, mutations and ruptures are not the mere mirrors of political developments. They serve both as (one of the many) battlefields of political antagonism and as generators of the cul- tural milieus that accommodate (or abolish) them. Hence, rather than noting our distancing from the revolutionary, internationalist or humane etymon or origin of solidarity, or the hypocrisy of policies that mask the most inhumane practices with 56. Hauke Brunkhorst, Solidarity: From Civic Friendship to a Global Legal Community , trans. Jeffrey Flynn, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005, pp. 2ff. 57. In that sense, we can better appreciate both the rise of solidarity as a legal/commercial concept, and the historical content of similar relevant policies in other cultural milieus. In the Byzantine Empire under the Macedonia dynasty, for example, the ‘allelegyon’ ( ἀ λληλέγγυον ) policy introduced by Basil II (1002) provided so that the wealthy nobles would have to pay for the taxes of the poor. Admittedly this policy has been highly ro- manticized in retrospective, becoming part and parcel of a narrative that traces the ar- chaeology of the solidarity for the poor and the working class. The contemporary reader should not neglect however that this policy may be better appreciated in the wider context of an Emperor’s strategy of deterring the constant claims and rising power of the wealthy, while enjoying the full support of his army and people.