‘Athens has no interest in losing the support of the EU’

Syriza, led by 40-year-old Alexis Tsipras, won 36.3 per cent of the vote, gaining 149 of the 300 seats in Parliament. The party has announced it will form a coalition government with the right-wing populist Independent Greeks.

“Greece moves to the left,” headlines German left-wing paper Die Tageszeitung, illustrating its front page with a map of the Mediterranean with Greece moving west of Italy. “Greece voted democratically; the result deserves respect,” writes Klaus Hillenbrand, adding it “bears opportunities and risks” —

[The victory] is a chance for Greece to get rid of corruption and nepotism. [...] Syriza can not circumvent negociations with European creditors; Greece would be bankrupt in a few months. [...] But Europe should take those negociations seriously.

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Headlining on the “Historical shift to the left in Greece”, German conservative daily Die Welt writes that “Greece urgently needs a functioning government.” A meeting of eurozone finance ministers is scheduled in Brussels today —

Experts believe that Syriza will not remain on a collision course with the lenders. [...] Analysts of the Commerzbank believe that Athens has no interest in losing the support of the EU, thus making an exit from the euro unlikely.

In Spain, El Periódico headlines “The Greece has had enough,” emphasising the fact that “Greeks have said ‘no’ to austerity, loud and clear.” In Brussels, “after having sounded all sorts of alarm bells, they have prepared for Syriza’s victory, without wanting to go back to the bargaining table, as Tsipras’s party wishes,” writes the Barcelona daily, according to which —

No one wants Athens to abandon the euro. The debt level is undeniably high, but there are ways to extend deadlines and negotiate reductions, as long as they are not to be confused with cancellations. The EU knows how to be pragmatic, and Tsipras has also shown he is capable of toning down his rhetoric. [...] Only time will tell if this is the change that both Greece and Europe need. For the moment, indignation has given way to hope.

“Greece and Europe on collision course after election win for left,” headlines The Independent, which adds that conflict appears inevitable due to the unprecedented situation of an anti-austerity party coming power, and that Syriza and the European Union may be quite capable of finding common ground —

In theory, a radical party like Syriza is in a far better position to introduce structural reforms than that of [former New Democracy Prime Minister Antonis] Samaras representing the political and economic establishment. One of the problems for the Troika is that it is the very fact change was being imposed by abroad, and most notably by Germany, which delegitimised necessary reforms. Compromise between Greece and the EU should be possible, but the problem remains that the EU leaders hold all the high cards and may be tempted to impose their will regardless of whom the Greeks vote for.

Paraphrasing Tsipras, Bucharest daily Adevărul writes Syriza’s victory “is for all the people of Europe”. However, the paper asks “when will we see the populism?” —

Tsipras, a star of the socialist, anarchist and populist political scene in Greece, now has his chance to give Europe a fright. There are many Tsiprases in Europe, on the left and on the right. [...] But what is the meaning of Tsipras’s rise to power? Above all, that if people do not feel things are taking a turn for the better, they can wake up to find a young, populist, anti-system politician running their country.