Narratives for immigration/refugee issues in parliament: Construction of identities and national discourse

Abstract

In this study, we analyze critically parliamentary narratives referred to immigration/refugee issues in the Plenary of the Greek Parliament from July 2015 to January 2020. Particularly, we study two narratives recounted by two leaders of opposite political parties: one by Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the other by Yanis Varoufakis. Their narratives concern the past immigration/refugee movement of Greeks to the USA (late 19^th - early 20^th century) and these narratives are used as arguments for what kind of immigration/refugee policy Greece should pursue today. According to our findings, Mitsotakis promotes mainly the exclusion of the “others”, while Varoufakis promotes their assimilation, intending each one to enhance the national homogenizing discourse.