Greece's Ongoing Tragedy
| Author | Roman Gerodimos |
| Published date | 01 December 2015 |
| Date | 01 December 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/2041-9066.12111 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
26 POLITICAL INSIGHT • DECEMBER 2015
October marked the sixth anniversary
of the onset of the Greek debt
crisis – or, rather, it marked the
moment when the crisis blew up
and became an accepted reality, as it had been
brewing for years before that. Hidden decits,
manipulated statistics, civic malaise, scandals,
riots, a sense of anomy and stagnation existed
beneath the veneer of success and prosperity
following the 2004 Olympic Games.
Greek Bubble Bursts
The announcement, in October 2009, that the
decit was in double digits, double what was
being reported to EU authorities, burst the
bubble of ‘the Greek dream’. In May 2010, the
socialist government ocially introduced a
bailout programme, which in everyday parlance
has gone down as ‘the Memorandum’, taking its
name from the Memorandum of Understanding
between the Greek Government and the troika
of lenders – the European Commission, the
European Central Bank and the International
Monetary Fund.
From 2010 to 2014, two such agreements
provided Greece with the biggest bailout, loan
and liquidity assistance programme in the
history of the world. They also brought measures
of extreme austerity that shocked Greek society
and profoundly transformed the political system,
leading to the decline of the two parties that
had dominated the post-1974 party system.
The crisis activated extremist and populist
forces that had been lurking in the margins (and
occasionally surface) of Greek civil society for
decades, including the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn.
Despite securing a massive ‘haircut’ reduction
of its debt in 2012, stabilising the economy in
2013, achieving a very small but symbolically
important primary surplus at the end of 2014
and projecting a return to growth for 2015,
the coalition of centre-right New Democracy
and centre-left PASOK – the two traditionally
dominant parties – was forced to the polls in
January 2015 because of the peculiarities of
the Greek presidential election system, which
requires an increased parliamentary majority.
New Democracy lost that election to Syriza, a
coalition of leftist movements, radical factions
and smaller political parties, while PASOK
imploded electorally (see gure 1).
Syriza Take Power
Syriza was propelled to power by its leader,
Alexis Tsipras, whose demeanour, populist
rhetoric and youth captured the anti-
Greece’s Ongoing
Tragedy
From Syriza’s two election victories to the seemingly endless
negotiations with the international community, Greece has rarely
been out of the headlines in 2015. Roman Gerodimos looks back on
another turbulent year in Greek politics.
establishment zeitgeist. Syriza’s campaign in
January projected a message of hope and
vitality against two political parties that looked
exhausted after 40 years in government and
ve years of implementing austerity. Mr Tsipras
gave a series of grand assurances, promising to
‘tear up’ the Memorandum, ‘kick out’ the Troika,
secure a signicant restructuring of debt, and
ultimately end austerity – all while keeping
Greece in the Eurozone. Having been the
European Left’s candidate for President of the
European Commission in May 2014, Mr Tsipras
framed Syriza and himself as transformers not
just of Greece, but of the entire continent.
Meanwhile the second bailout programme
was due to expire at the end of February 2015,
with Greece slated to repay billions of euros
to the IMF and bond-holders. The wide gap
between the expectations of Greece’s European
partners and the rhetoric of Syriza was
abundantly clear, but many voters thought Mr
Tsipras had the best chance of securing ‘a better
deal’; some believed that he would ultimately
shift his rhetoric so as not to endanger Greece’s
future in the Eurozone.
The fact that Mr Tsipras had made a strategic
choice in favour of a quasi-terminal clash with
the EU became obvious immediately, as he
chose to lead a coalition with Independent
Greeks – a far-right protest party whose leader
and MPs have made a series of controversial
anti-Semitic, xenophobic and homophobic
statements. The policies of Independent Greeks
appear to be fundamentally at odds with Syriza’s
Image: © Press Association.
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