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| credit: The Times |
Five years on, Greeks are fed-up with austerity and they showed that
attitude at the polls. In a burst of democracy on Sunday they elected the left fusion party, Syriza, to a near absolute parliamentary majority, 139 seats out of 300.
{16.05.2012, Greek Tragedy Continues} Syriza will seek a coalition party to provide the two seats necessary to form a government. In multiple-party Greece, that should not be a major problem
[see chart]. In 2012, Syriza won only 52 seats. Voters responded to Syriza's pledges to reject austerity and cancel the billions of euros in Greek debt. There is now speculation in financial markets that party leader Alexis Tsipras may lead Greece out of the EU. He will at least use continued membership in the single currency union as leverage to renegotiate Greece's debt. In addition to junking austerity, Tsipras has said he wants to raise the minimum wage by almost 50% and reinstate collective bargaining.
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| credit: Le Monde |
The Euro fell by $1.11 against the dollar, the lowest level in more than 11 years over speculation on a Greek exit. Opinion within Syriza appears to be divided. Tsipras has said that EU membership could be maintained if social cohesion is not threatened, but he does want to renegotiate the EU's 240€ bailout of the Greek economy. Another senior party member told
Der Spiegel that
the party wants a complete break with the "totalitarian EU". EU ministers are already warning Greece to respect the rules of monetary union. Bookmark this space for developments as Syriza and Tsipras take power and are given the chance to lead Greece in a different direction. As a Spainish socialist put it,
"les Grecs avoir un véritable président et non plus un délégué de Angela Merkel qui pensera d'abord aux intérêts de son pays et à ceux de son peuple".
