qué stated: “New harsh cuts in the staf of our Armed Forces demonstrate the Troika’s plan to destroy our National Defence”.114 In this competition between New Democracy and Golden Dawn, there is also a minor player, the National Unity Association, led by retired Air Force oicer Georgios Geroulis. This organization participated in the May 2012 election, receiving an insigniicant 0.61 percent (a total of 38,286 votes), and as a result withdrew from the June 2012 election. Despite its weak appeal, the constitution of this organization relects developments inside the military that are unprecedented for the Changeover period, with the speciic background of this above-mentioned fragmentation of the traditional right. In any case, it is clear that the rise of Golden Dawn, repeatedly recorded as the third most popular party in polls, cannot be easily challenged by smaller political organizations of the same orientation. Besides, it is not only its strong parliamentary representation that allows Golden Dawn to make such a persuasive claim of representing a part of the military. One has also to take account of its activism, which allows it to “communicate” in a more direct way with the ultra-right imaginary within the military. A case in point was a rally organized by Golden Dawn in July 2013 at the border stations of Niki and Evzoni, along the Greek-FYROM borders. Golden Dawn, led by some of its MPs, obstructed the passing of vehicles with MK (Macedonia) registration plates, and distributed irredentist maps that showed Greece occupying Macedonian territories belonging to FYROM.115 A similar act was also undertaken a short while later, when a Golden Dawn squad led by Christos Pappas on 2 September 2013 occupied the Greek-Albanian borders at Kakavia, thus exploiting one of the favourite traditional themes of the ultra-right, the so-called “Northern Epirus issue”. Golden Dawn’s objective in that case was not only to shout slogans and make a PR impact, but to deploy a particular “strategy of tension”, the fruits of which were already brought to light before. In November 2012, the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Afairs informed the Greek authorities that it “had been annoyed by the nationalist activities of Golden Dawn within the Albanian borders” and warned that “Albanian intelligence services will keep a close eye on Golden Dawn hereater”116. Moreover, around the same time, the Public Prosecutor of Thessaloniki ordered an investigation regarding makeshit control points set up by members of the organization on vehicles passing the border in Doirani. Golden Dawn members such as N. Exarchos, author of the book Spear Task Force (a 114. 115. 116. 78 | See http://www.newsbomb.gr/politikh/story/303445/hanea-epithesi-apo-troika-kaisygkyvernisi-stoys-stratiotikoys#ixzz2aiuOommA (last accessed on 1 August 2013). “Pain and sufering in mainstream newspaper Macedonia because of the Golden Dawn blockages along the borders”, http://www.xryshaygh.com, 21.7.2013 (last accessed on 1.8.2013). Such acts are almost an annual thing; in the past, Golden Dawn and Stochos had tried to shut down the Proitis Elias festival in Meliti, Florina, denunciating it as an “anti-Greek provocation by the Bulgarians and Skopjans”. Nikos Michos, “Golden Dawn’s foreign policy – A plan to sabotage relations with Skopje and Tirana”, tvxs.gr, 14.11.2012. ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG