I’m in Greece, partly so I can vote in the upcoming Greek elections where the leftist euro-reform party SYRIZA is expected to win. SYRIZA would probably win without me, but I felt it was important to come and vote for this important event. From the tone of the media inside or outside Greece you get the impression that a SYRIZA victory represents some kind of Euro disaster. On the contrary, I feel a SYRIZA government in Greece (or another one like it in Spain or Italy, this is about policy not people) is a bold step towards the solution. I regard it with optimism, even jubilation. Let me tell you why.
Disclaimer: I’m close to some SYRIZA candidates, policy thinkers, or MPs so I may be biased.
First why am I voting in Greece? I don’t live there. It would make more sense for me to vote in the UK where I live and pay taxes, but I don’t get the privilege. I guess native Britons are afraid I might vote for someone worse than David Cameron. Our concept of EU citizenship is still half-baked compared to America so we vote for national elections in our country of origin. We’ll fix it, but until then we have EasyJet democracy. In any case, I don’t feel strongly about voting on Greek affairs. I feel it’s important to vote, via Greece since that’s where I have a vote, for changes in Europe.
At a basic level I feel a duty to avert a bad outcome and push for a good one. If you recall, two elections ago the extreme right scored well in parliamentary elections in Greece. A surprising result that showed rising intolerance, fear, and naive insularity in Greek society. I find it abhorrent. At the same time you saw the Front National in France and Britain’s UKIP, which I see as equally negative but better at hiding behind a veil of respectability, gaining ground. SYRIZA is the polar opposite of these parties. In a climate of extreme right-wing euroskepticism, I feel it’s imperative to vote for leftist euro reform in Greece, Spain, or elsewhere. So that’s a defensive reason to turn up and vote.
The other reason, and the main one, is I don’t want an EU president and finance minister elected only by Germans, running the EU in a way that only suits Germany. Ms Merkel is our de-facto EU president. It’s clearly not Mr Hollande or Mr Juncker. Mr Schäuble is Europe’s finance minister. Whether German citizens like it or not, these officers set policy for the Eurozone, not just for Germany. They run the Eurozone in a way that serves the interests of narrow or short-sighted mostly German capital while driving real economies especially in the south into depression. This is wrong, and we need to use the democratic process to change it. Because of institutional inertia we non-Germans can’t vote for the Eurozone’s de-facto president and finance minister. Eventually these will be elected EU-wide but now, urgently, we must force our German-elected EU leaders to change their policies.
The way to do this is for the governments of peripheral countries to confront Ms Merkel and Mr Schäuble with the failure of their policies. This is what SYRIZA intends to do. It’s not an anti-Europe or anti-Euro party but it has to say, realistically, that current EU policy towards the periphery is not working. Greece’s economy is in depression and it’s debt is unsustainable, as it has been since 2010. Debt restructuring and expansionary monetary policy are needed to end the crisis. A growing consensus of economists agree, so we witness establishment papers like the FT urging the same policies that SYRIZA favors, for pragmatic economic reasons.
What will happen if SYRIZA is elected and starts renegotiating debt and austerity measures with Berlin? I think mainly compromise. EU institutions will have to accept balance sheet losses, which can easily be covered by monetary expansion. Greece will have to live within its means day to day, which given the big drop in incomes since 2010 is now possible. SYRIZA is new so it can enact better tax policy, touching previously untouchable classes, and in return can reasonably ask the EU for welfare assistance towards the poorest citizens. On election night the markets will jitter and possibly overreact, but forcing a Grexit is in nobody’s interest. In the long run markets agree with SYRIZA’s program and EU-wide policies such as quantitative easing that it aligns with.
A win for SYRIZA will be an important event for Europe, not because Greece is important but because some peripheral country needs to stand up for a change in EU policy. It could be Spain or Ireland, but looks like it’ll be Greece. Far from that being a disaster or some new chapter in the Euro crisis, I think it’ll be a triumph of the democratic process and post-crisis Europe’s finest hour.
Pavlos's Thoughts 
You are an idiot if you think syriza will change anything. People who vote for syriza are exactly those who have been eating off others all their lives and want to continue to do so. Only traitors bring the country to such upheaval before the current government has even had the chance to run its full political course, this is no democracy. It’s opportunism. Syriza has no political line, has anti-Greek positions in important national matters, has no idea how to negotiate. They are always talking about giving out money, never replying to the question where they’re going to get it from….just like papandreou did. They don’t even know what their own policy is regarding the Euro. And bringing Greece out of the Euro means disaster, literally. Now, stupid people think that they want a change, let’s see what the other person does. Thinking like that AT THIS MOMENT means you don’t care about the country, only about your own interests, nobody else’s. Greece is not a toy to give to whomever to play with, especially an inexperienced retard like tsipras. There will be no change in EU policy, no win, no nothing, the other countries are just going to stop lending to Greece, and that’s all. With this kind of attitude syriza can only bring VERY negative outcomes for Greece, nothing else. Syriza voters do not vote because they think this will be a positive change, they vote out of empathy and they are mostly disatisfied pasok voters. So, don’t sugar-coat stupidity to make it appear as ideology, it’s not AT ALL convicing.
Your comment contains hostility, scaremongering, actual fear, and inaccurate statements. Also, strong hints of nationalism. We’ll see at the polls.
Pingback: Pavlos Papageorgiou: here’s why I’m voting Syriza | Thoughts on European Politics & Economics