The party was founded on January 1, 1985 by a former commando, Nikolaos Michaloliakos. The party's openly xenophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigration, anti-German and anti-EU policies gained widespread popularity in the wake of the 2008 global crisis and the subsequent Greek economic collapse, its handling (under EU pressure) and the implementation of austerity measures. By the 2012 election the organization increased its support base from 1% to 6.92%. With this the party gained 18 seats in the 300-strong Hellenic Parliament. The XA's increasing popularity can be explained by its simple answers to the crisis: in their view, the crisis was caused by immigrants, the Germans, the West and the Jews. The organization’s messages and its militant subculture are particularly appealing among the youth. This, in turn, can be traced to this generation's loss of faith in democracy, the EU, economic, social and cultural systems and a 50% youth unemployment rate in Greece. The party is linked to a number of violent crimes of which immigrants are the primary victims. The Greek authorities and the justice system did not take firm actions against Golden Dawn until one of its activists assassinated Pavlos Fyssas, an anti-Fascist rapper on September 18, 2013. After that incident, the party's leader was placed under pre-trial detention, something that temporarily dented the organization's popularity. However, in early 2014 activists returned to the street to demonstrate against the arrest of their leaders and announced that the movement would be running in local and European elections, and would be kept alive as “National Dawn”, if banned. Although support for the party declined following the assassination, that tendency did not last long. During the EP elections, its popularity rose significantly and the party came in third place with 9.4% of the votes, and a total of 3 seats. The latest national parliamentary elections revealed a similar trend as the previous ones, which can be explained by the fact that the country remains in crisis. The party emerged as the third strongest party, with 6,3% of the votes despite the current allegations. Indeed, the party is currently being tried in court. Golden Dawn is accused of being a neo-Nazi party of right-wing xenophobes and anti-Semites. After a 15-month investigation, prosecutors will try to prove that Golden Dawn operated as a criminal organization under a military-style leadership that allegedly encouraged the beating - and possibly the killing - of migrants and political opponents. The original hearing scheduled for April was adjourned first for a week, and then again for another week, until June 22, 2015, due to serious protests surrounding the event as well as lack of lawyers for one of the defendant. 

 

The Golden Dawn’s EP campaign was mainly built on its policy opposing migration and the EU, emphasizing closer ties to Russia at the expense of the latter. The party's foreign policy can be generally described as intransigent, demanding the return of former Greek territories by Turkey and Albania, and the annexation of the Turkish enclave in Cyprus. A referendum to decide whether or not Greece is to accept the bailout conditions proposed by the Juncker Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) will take place on 5 July 2015. Golden Dawn, along with both of the two governing parties, Syriza and ANEL, are campaigning for a "no" vote.

European elections - June 7, 2009