Jan 5 2015

‘The Future has just started’: The Greek National Elections and the end of Austerity in Europe

By Marina Prentoulis

After three voting rounds, the Greek coalition government has failed to secure the support of 180 MPs in order to appoint a new president. According to the constitution, the Greek parliament was dissolved on the 31st of December and national elections have to take place within a month, estimated for the 25th January.

Greek-parliament-takis-kolokotronis-sxc.hu_-e1339963084152-604x272Immediately after the results, the Greek media turned their attention to the negative reaction of the markets. Supported by the statements of conservative officials, the Greek media continue their blackmailing campaign, in order to avoid an electoral win for the deep anti -austerity sentiment amongst Greek society. Their message is clear: the economy will collapse if SYRIZA (the Radical Left Coalition leading the polls) comes to power. A very striking statement from the conservative PM Antonis Samaras exemplifies how those supporting the austerity policies and the pauperization of the Greek people understand the relationship between economy and democracy. As the PM said: “We did everything we could to avoid the elections”. In other words, in the name of economic stability (which translates to the domination of neoliberal policies in Europe) the right of the people of Europe to decide their future has to be “cancelled”.

The significance of the forthcoming Greek election challenges exactly the logic of this sinister, irrational and yet widely accepted link between democracy and neo-liberalism.  It is astonishing how neo-liberalism with a history of less than fifty years has managed to persuade so many people that it is the only alternative. It is now time to put an end to its dominance. It starts from Greece but it has to become our common struggle across Europe. The arrogance of the Greek conservative official who announced today that “there is no government in Europe which has similar positions as SYRIZA” needs to be confronted by all socialist, social-democratic and leftish parties of Europe. Only then we will be able to start building a Peoples’ Europe.

This article originally appeared on the blog of the University of East Anglia Eastminster.

Note: This article gives the views of the authors, and not the position of the Euro Crisis in the Press blog, nor of the London School of Economics.


Dr. Marina Prentoulis is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Politics at the University of East Anglia.

 

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4 Responses to ‘The Future has just started’: The Greek National Elections and the end of Austerity in Europe

  1. Pingback: Varoufakis on the international media catwalk: on the politics of style | Euro Crisis in the Press

  2. Pingback: How the Eurozone crisis changed Syriza and how the party can change the Eurozone crisis | Euro Crisis in the Press

  3. Pingback: Debt relief for Greece is necessary to avoid a crisis in the Eurozone | Euro Crisis in the Press

  4. Alexis Tsipras could not have put it better… in English, as this is exactly his message to his party audience and the campaign rallies.

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