First published: prospectmagazine.co.uk, 26/01/2015
“There will be no Grexit—at least for the time being”
It took Odysseus a decade to return to Greece from Troy and become king. It has taken Greek’s left wing Syriza coalition three years to go from something barely recognisable as a modern political party to winning an election just a couple of seats shy of an overall legislative majority.
The Syriza phenomenon captures many things that are fundamentally wrong in Greece and in Europe and need changing. It also reflects well the rise of non-mainstream political parties across Europe as voters tire of “same old, same old” politicians. Another example on the left is Podemos in Spain, which is sympathetic to Syriza and, after just a year, topping the opinion polls ahead of national elections due later this year. But for all the campaign rhetoric by Syriza, we don’t know yet whether its bark will be bigger than its bite in the face of strong resistance from its creditors, or whether its determination will prove to be ground-breaking for Europe. So how should we think about Syriza’s victory the morning after?…“more:”
