Europeans fix gaze ” “on Greek elections ” “

According to some observers the challenge is between euro-opponents and euro-supporters. For others it is – more dramatically – between strained peoples and greedy financial markets, while some hold that it’s a figurative struggle between Athens and the Brussels-Frankfurt duo. The leaders of the two fronts are Alexis Tsipras and Nigel Farage on the one side, and Jean-Claude Juncker and Mario Draghi on the other. The fact remains that the vote of Sunday 25 January for the renewal of the Parliament in Greece is catalyzing the attention of all of Europe as never before. In Athens, left-wing coalition leader Alexis Tsipras, at the helm of the party Syriza, is odds-on, as he’s likely to get a substantial majority, forcing the Conservative government of Antonis Samaras (Nea Dimokratia) to leave the field to those who never believed in the Troika’s EU-ECB-IMF formula. And while Samaras guards against the success of the left (“What is at stake is the permanence of our country in the euro and in Europe”), Tsipras replies that the Greeks have already suffered enough, and that it’s time to change pace (“We will respect commitments ‘with the EU’, but the time of austerity is over”). Syriza might then need to make a deal with other parties if, as expected, it fails to gain an absolute majority in Parliament. Undeniably, Syriza will have to explain to the allies, the people, to the EU as well as to financial markets, how it intends to bring about the recovery of a country on the brink of bankruptcy without tightening the belt and wriggling out of system reforms needed to restore the Hellenic peninsula’s role among modern states. States – these – capable of providing citizens with costly public services, paying pensions and salaries to civil servants, maintaining schools and hospitals, complying with international commitments and repaying debts… And while on the eve of the vote the plan of the ECB (Quantitative Easing) for the massive purchase of securities is set to inject fresh money into European circuits, favouring inflation, economic recovery and employment, EU28 leaders fix their gaze on Greek voters. The victory of Tsipras would widely be interpreted as a “no” to European integration, no to the EU, no to the ECB, thereby corroborating the spread of a “no Europe” message across other nations called to the polls in the coming months, notably the national elections in the UK on May 7, and those of December in Spain. Other delicate appointments with the ballot boxes scheduled in 2015 – ranging from parliamentary to national consultations – will also involve in France, Poland, The Netherlands, Estonia, Finland and Denmark. In London (where whether or not to withdraw from the European Union is the object of ongoing debates) UKIP Independence Party of Nigel Farage is gaining rapid consensus; Spain’s Podemos (leader Pablo Iglesias) – namely the “indignants”, placed at the far left – is growing in the polls. On all of them supervises Marine Le Pen, leader of the French National Front, who keeps repeating her creed: no immigrants, no to Europe, yes to nation states (except for requesting a European coordination to counter migration and combating the wave of terrorism that hit her own country). Just ahead of the vote on Sunday, Madame Le Pen, who enjoys “breaking the mold”, stirred up support for Syriza from the right: “We Eurosceptics want a success of the left in Greece. For Europe’s sake, I hope that Tsipras wins”. Meanwhile, from the columns of the latest issue of the authoritative “Financial Times”, Tsipras assures once more the EU in case of victory. But Brussels, on behalf of Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, pointed out: “Whichever government is elected in Greece, it will need to face its commitments with the EU”. From Berlin Angela Merkel smiles… Now the word goes to Greek voters: external influences on their vote should be avoided, although everyone is aware that what happens in a Member State of the Union has an impact on the others. Europe is already integrated and interdependent, and that’s why the sense of responsibility of citizens and governments can only take on a continental horizon. History goes on: the question is to guide it as much as possible.