Syriza

A decade after shaking EU politics to the core, Syriza and Podemos face an uncertain future. Is left-wing populism a failed experiment?

After a promising start, how did everything go so wrong in Greece for Syriza, with redoubled austerity imposed to the detriment of the Greek people and their environment? Yannis Paraskevopoulos analyses some key mistakes Syriza made and the role of the Greek Greens in the process. First of a two-part series.

After a promising start, how did everything go so wrong in Greece for Syriza, with redoubled austerity imposed to the detriment of the Greek people and their environment? Yannis Paraskevopoulos analyses some key mistakes Syriza made and the role of the Greek Greens in the process. Second in a two-part series.

It was just the four of us: all women, Mediterranean, and “differently green.” The purpose of our trip was to better understand the inner workings of the newly elected Greek government, and to see how the Greek Greens were faring as junior partner in the Syriza government.

Halfway between a structured party and an explosive grassroots movement, Podemos remains a difficult-to-describe political UFO.

By electing a new radical left government determined to oppose the corruption, clientelism and tax-evasion, the Greek people have opted to exit the vicious circle of austerity that has left the country with no prospect for recovery. However, it is not only Greece at the crossroads but Europe as a whole. The new Greek paradigm is not written in stone and it is therefore inviting all those who are interested in the political future of the European Union.

Syriza’s victory in Greece once again raises a crucial question for Europe in the coming months: can a leftist policy be followed in the eurozone without changing the treaties or monetary rules now in force? It is renewing the discussions which divide the left in France and elsewhere in Europe about the virtues of the euro and the margins for manoeuvre of left-wing governments in a common monetary zone.

As European ecologists, we have duty to support the Greek left after their success, and to promote our alternative model throughout Europe. We will do this today with Syriza now, and tomorrow with Podemos based on how it progresses in the future, etc. We have the responsibility and the historic chance to take part in giving Europe a new direction. However, we should not take the Greek results as a way to resolve our national electoral challenges…

There is a remarkable extent to which Syriza is in practice a Green government. First, the Greek Green Party is a part of the Syriza coalition – they got one MP elected, who was promptly promoted to deputy environment minister. Secondly, they adopted the entire Green platform: look through the policy commitments of Tsipras’ government and the manifestoes of the Green parties in the UK, and you’ll find little to separate them.

After the Greek elections, Syriza’s Alexis Tsipras won’t get everything he wants – but he will probably get enough to paint it as a victory for beleaguered Greeks.