MOSCOW, January 26 (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — The winner of the parliamentary elections in Greece, Syriza party, is unlikely to cancel the austerity regime in the country completely, understanding its possible consequences for the Greek economy and having to start negotiations with the European partners, analysts of Greek policy told Sputnik Monday.
NAIVE BELIEF IN AUSTERITY CANCELLATION
According to the official results of Sunday's parliamentary elections in Greece, the leftist Syriza has won with 36.34 percent of the vote, beating the incumbent conservative New Democracy and winning 149 seats in the parliament, just two short of an absolute majority. Syriza has gained popularity partly with promises to cancel Greece's harsh national debt austerity regime and renegotiate its relations with international creditors.
Speaking on his party's victory late Sunday night, Tsipras vowed to keep his election promises to put an end to the country's "painful" austerity plan, adopted by the previous government in Athens in return for the large cash loans from a "troika" of international creditors, including the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank.
"I think it is naive to believe that Syriza will be able to completely cancel the austerity measures, because this is exactly what would lead to a default, which is something that they know and they don't want. They have economists working with them who may have a different view on how things should have happened up to now, but they still know what radical actions could lead to," Ladi added.
"Greece actually gets quite a lot of benefits from Europe — in terms of structural funds and agricultural subsidiaries, not to mention the advantages of the ability of Greeks to move around within the European Union and the EU market… I do not think it will leave the European Union or the eurozone," Weale said.
Speculating about other economic measures the new Greek government is likely to adopt, Weale mentioned tax reform promised by the country's finance minister, intended to pay for food stamps and electricity reconnection for those in need.
ANTI-SYSTEM MOVEMENTS GAINING GROUND
Analysts cite the Greek population's overall weariness with the austerity regime as the general reason behind the rise of the far-left in Greece, as well as the high level of interdependence between the EU members behind the rise of other extreme movements across Europe.
According to Stella Ladi, Syriza gained enormous popularity "exactly because of the difficulties of the last five years – the austerity measures and all the pressure that has been put on the Greek population. They have been the party that promises change, that promises less austerity measures. Greeks voted for them because they are tired of austerity," Ladi told Sputnik.
"More generally, the extreme parties in times of crisis always manage to gain popularity. So, it is not unexpected," Ladi concluded.
The tendency of the rise of anti-system movements is manifest not only in Greece, but also in other European countries, such as Germany (PEGIDA movement, Alternative for Germany) or Spain.
"It is very difficult to see what causes of that are. The reason why we have a rise of these anti-system parties is that EU political system is much more integrated now than has been before. Obviously, the creation of the European market and the creation of the eurozone is a part of that. It is not surprising that you find opposition to this among European countries," Weale explained.
Having failed to receive an absolute majority in the parliament, Syriza party has formed a coalition with the Independent Greeks, a nationalist right-wing party. Alexis Tsipras has been sworn in as the new prime minister of Greece and is expected to announce his cabinet later on Monday.
