MAIN FOCUS: Syriza forms coalition with right-wing party | 27/01/2015
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as new Greek prime minister on Monday, just 21 hours after the voting booths closed, to lead a coalition with the Eurosceptic and right-wing populist Independent Greeks party. The impoverished middle classes have brought this unusual alliance to power, commentators write, and have doubts about whether the coalition can last.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras distanced himself from the joint declaration of EU heads of state and government on new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday. Greece was not consulted, Tsipras said. The country is using foreign policy to strengthen its hand in debt negotiations, some commentators believe. Others predict that Athens won’t maintain its new course on Moscow for long.
In the wake of Syriza’s victory, hopes for a ‘new left’ must rest on a serious renewal of ideas, not a rhetorical battle against “old” socialism.
image: http://socialistparty.ie/
After observing the rise of the radical left in Greece with suspicion, France’s Socialists have extended a warm welcome to Alexis Tsipras following his election victory. EurActiv France reports.
Europe showed a willingness on Monday (26 January) to give Athens more time to pay its debts, but little sign that it would yield to a new Greek government’s demands for debt forgiveness.
Could Greece, through democratic elections, become for Turkey what Tunisia became for Egypt in 2011 through mass protests?
As the new government’s statement on Mariupol reveals, Greece will leverage its position along a geopolitical fault-line to maximise its bargaining power.
The Collectivist, under the heading “Proletarians of all countries unite”. Newspaper of the Greeks of Mariupol and Donetsk, 1930
Perhaps paradoxically, Greece’s real problem is primarily political, not economic, and its name is “populism.”
After the far-left Syriza party triumphed in the Greek elections this Sunday, Germany is still insisting on the country’s implementation of reforms, which were part of the conditions of the country’s bailout.
The crisis facing Europe could be perceived as a product of conflicting class interests in what Keynes called the capitalism of the casino. All the more important that it should instead be blamed on conveniently stigmatised Others.
Alain Badiou has history on his side when he claims that “the intrusion of any identity predicate into a central role for the determination of politics leads to disaster”.[1] He has in mind those ‘identity predicates’ which have worked and which continue to work to exclude others: ‘Jew’, ‘black’, ‘Indian’, ‘Arab’, ‘Muslim’ and so on. More than just prejudice, a politics so focused reproduces or transforms the social order, never for the better.
Buzzing with fresh ideas on how to make our voices heard beyond the infamous academic ‘Ivory Tower’ after a UACES Student Forum Seminar in London in autumn 2013 and a course on social media at the University of East Anglia (UEA), we decided to set up this blog as a joint project. Given that it’s now a little more than a year since we started, we would like to step back and reflect on our experience. Whether you write your own blog or are thinking to start one, we hope that our reflection will prove helpful.
In the wake of the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris and the thwarting of an attack in Belgium, Europe needs to understand why second- and third-generation immigrants are susceptible to the blandishments of terrorist organizations. The reason is simple: European citizenship has not translated into social and economic inclusion.
The new European Commission report on Romania’s law enforcement reforms has been well-received in Bucharest, as it confirms the progress made in the government’s fight against corruption. EurActiv Romania reports.
Charlie Hebdo attack: French values challenged in schools
French teachers on the front line after Charlie Hebdo attack
One after the other, EU leaders took turns reassuring Europe’s Jewish community, following the kosher supermarket attack in Paris, in which four people were killed, writes Joel Schalit.
Joel Schalit is News Editor at EurActiv.
Following a public consultation on TTIP, the European Commission received 149,399 responses, of which 97% rejected investor protections or the deal as a whole. But will the EU actually listen?
Greece’s new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis rejected suggestions that complaints from Athens over a European Union statement on Ukraine meant it was preparing to veto sanctions against Russia.
A number of ministers in the new Greek government have already been criticised by European commentators for their supposedly pro-Russian views. What explains this unique strain of Russophilia among the Greek radical left?
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias has been noted for his Russophilic views. Demotix/Angeliki Panagiotou. All rights reserved.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras distanced himself from the joint declaration of EU heads of state and government on new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday. Greece was not consulted, Tsipras said. The country is using foreign policy to strengthen its hand in debt negotiations, some commentators believe. Others predict that Athens won’t maintain its new course on Moscow for long.
Focusing on what a Brexit could mean for Britain overlooks the more important question of what it could mean for Europe.
Scan any newspaper article, click on any blog post or read any academic paper on the subject of Britain leaving the EU and you’ll find the focus is on what it would mean for Britain and whether or not it will happen. This seems logical enough, but it leaves a gaping hole in the analysis.
Scotland has imposed a moratorium on shale gas planning permits two days after a UK-wide ban was rejected by MPs in Westminster.
Why is nobody talking about Golden Dawn coming a sensational third in the Greek elections?
The unprecedented presence of international media, solidarity delegations and representatives of socialist and leftish parties in Athens signalled that Syriza’s triumph was something more than just another electoral victory.
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