The New "Syriza" Unmasked!

Justine Frangouli-Argyris Become a fan

Journalist and writer

Huffington Post

Posted: 09/23/2015 5:42 pm EDT Updated: 09/23/2015 5:59 pm EDT

Opinion polling in Greece throughout the recent pre-election period pointed to a close outcome, indicating that, perhaps, the leftist "Syriza" party may be tied to the right-wing "New Democracy" in order to form a government. However, the opening of the ballot box brought about great exasperation with the pundits.

Greece’s Leader Starts Big Economic Overhaul

By SUZANNE DALEYSEPT. 21, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Alexis Tsipras moved swiftly to form a new Greek government on Monday after his convincing victory in the national election a day earlier, with some officials close to him suggesting that he would create a new ministry solely dedicated to carrying out the tough bailout package he reluctantly agreed to last summer.

While Sunday’s election consolidated his power and rid his leftist Syriza party of its most rebellious faction, Mr. Tsipras has a daunting job ahead by almost any standard, starting with the need to push through Parliament legislation carrying out widespread changes to business and the economy.

After Greek Election Victory, Alexis Tsipras Faces Two Immediate Crises

Newly sworn-in prime minister must carry out contentious bailout plan and tackle migrant crisis

The Wall Street Journal

By STELIOS BOURAS And  NEKTARIA STAMOULI

Updated Sept. 21, 2015 2:34 p.m. ET

22 COMMENTS

ATHENS— Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as Greece’s prime minister on Monday after his left-wing Syriza party decisively beat its conservative rivals. But there is no honeymoon period for the 41-year-old leader.

He must quickly address a double challenge: the implementation of politically explosive pension cuts and other austerity measures under Greece’s bailout plan, and a migration crisis that Greece’s parties have mostly avoided dealing with.

Greek Elections Are an Opportunity for Europe

SEPT 21, 2015 2:00 AM EDT

By Mohamed A. El-Erian

Bloomberg

After repeated bungling, Europe suddenly has an opportunity to do the right thing about Greece's unsustainable debt. It would be a tragedy -- for both Greece and Europe -- if this opening went to waste.

Two recent developments have combined to create this moment: Syriza's win in elections on Sunday and the flood of refugees into Greece.

Weary Greece Gives Syriza Another Chance

211 SEPT 20, 2015 5:51 PM EDT

By Megan McArdle

Bloomberg

In my trip through the central Athens polling stations on Sunday, I met only one voter who seemed cheerful. Alkaios Klaoudatos is a supporter of Syriza, the leftist government that has held power since January, and he was confident that his party was going to win the election. In fairness, virtually everyone I’ve talked to since the Friday polls were released has said that Syriza was going to win a plurality. But Klaoudatos, a lawyer, believed that his party was going to take enough votes to form a government with its previous coalition partner Independent Greeks, or ANEL, rather than seeking to share power with a larger partner such as Pasok, the old left-wing party that was pushed aside by Syriza.

On Notice: Greece’s Vested Interests

By HUGO DIXONSEPT. 16, 2015

The New York Times

TINOS, Greece — One of the few near-certainties about Sunday’s general election in Greece is that it will produce a government committed, at least nominally, to the bailout agreement struck last month with the country’s creditors. Not only is former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras a reluctant convert to the deal, which could make available 86 billion euros in new loans, the main opposition party, New Democracy, is prepared to back it, too.

Opinion: Greece’s government has only itself to blame for Sunday’s election

Published: Sept 16, 2015 5:01 a.m. ET

Market Watch

By SATYAJIT DAS

Greece’s election on Sunday is the third time its citizens have gone to the polls this year, and unfortunately this new election was not unexpected.

The Syriza-led government has played its hand badly, failing to extract significant concessions from its eurozone paymasters. Syriza’s performance suggests a lack of preparedness and a poor understanding of the seriousness of their predicament. The cacophony of voices and an excessive desire for the limelight was unhelpful in what were always going to be difficult negotiations.

Creditors Loom Over Elections in Greece

By SUZANNE DALEYSEPT. 16, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Inside campaign tents pitched by various political parties seeking to win over Greek voters here, including an immense one set up near Korai Square by the leftist Syriza party of the former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the chairs and tables were empty the other day.

The leaflets sat untouched in neat stacks, a sharp contrast to the days before Greece’s last election, in January, when noisy crowds milled late into the night, debating policy and their country’s future.

Where the Euro Goes From Here

SEPT 14, 2015 12:01 AM EDT

By Clive Crook

Bloomberg

Europe could find its way to a stronger recovery and a safer monetary system -- if only it could start from somewhere else. The legacy of the recent economic crisis makes a tough problem nearly insoluble.

What went wrong before and after the European financial breakdown of 2010 is by now reasonably clear. Another excellent new e-book from VoxEU (the European policy portal run by Richard Baldwin of the Graduate Institute, Geneva) collects articles by economists who've followed the story. There's a strong consensus on the causes of the crisis. Governments could have avoided much of the damage if they had recognized the dangers and acted earlier. Now, the damage is done, and applying the lessons is very much harder.

Greek Election Stalemate Beckons as Campaign Enters Final Week

 Nikos Chrysoloras Paul Tugwell Antonis Galanopoulos

September 13, 2015 — 4:57 PM EEST

Bloomberg

Greece’s campaign for Sept. 20 elections enters its final stretch this week with polls showing the outcome too close to call, threatening fractious coalition negotiations that may delay or derail implementation of the terms of a bailout only sealed in July.

With Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras and his New Democracy opponent Evangelos Meimarakis running neck-and-neck, pollsters say the result of Greece’s third national ballot this year could come down to turnout, undecided voters or a televised debate between the two frontrunners.

“The question of the previous election, in January, was whether Tsipras’s Syriza party will win an outright majority,” Thomas Gerakis, head of Athens-based Marc pollsters, said in an interview on Sept. 10. “The question in this election is which one is going to win, and also the ranking of the other parties.”

Greece will likely remain in intensive care for years without more help

Published: Sept 10, 2015 5:42 p.m. ET

The Market Watch

By GREG ROBB SENIOR ECONOMICS REPORTER

Although the short-term default emergency is over, Greece is likely to remain in intensive care for years and may recover only with further dramatic international assistance, according to papers presented by experts at a Brookings Institution conference Thursday.

Taking the long view, Harvard University economist Carmen Reinhart noted that Greece has been in a cycle of excessive borrowing and default since 1833 and was still repaying that first loan 100 years later.

It will take dramatic action to break the cycle.

Greece, the World's Best Investment. No Joke.

SEPT 11, 2015 5:42 AM EDT

By Matthew A. Winkler

Bloomberg

Remember last February, when former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Greece would leave the euro and that the common currency would collapse? Remember that a month later, investor-philanthropist George Soros said Greece was going down the drain? Or that just this July, the president of the German Institute for Economic Research, Marcel Fratzscher, characterized Greece as a "political and economic catastrophe" that would revert to the drachma in desperation?

What's At Stake In Greece's Election?

Greece’s creditors stand on the sidelines awaiting the people's verdict.

The Huffington PostBy Danae Leivada

Posted: 09/08/2015 11:33 AM EDT | Edited: 09/08/2015 12:23 PM EDT

ATHENS, Greece -- After making headlines for the past six years with an economic and social crisis that shows no sign of abating, Greece is headed toward a snap election. On Sept. 20, Greeks will go to the polls for the fifth vote in little more than three years and it seems all bets are off again.

The Background

Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of the left-wing Syriza party handed in his resignation last month, bringing an end to the coalition government between Syriza and the Independent Greeks (ANEL) party.

New poll gives Syriza narrow lead in Greece's snap election

Mon Sep 7, 2015 2:44pm EDT Related: WORLD

ATHENS

Greece's leftist Syriza party has a 0.5 percentage-point lead over the conservative New Democracy party before a snap election on Sept. 20, according to a poll published on Monday.

Former prime minister Alexis Tsipras's Syriza is on course to win 27 percent of the vote and New Democracy should get 26.5 percent, the poll by Pulse for the bankingnews.gr website found.

Greek Opposition Leader Says Would Join Coalition With Tsipras

 Nikos Chrysoloras Eleni Chrepa

September 7, 2015 — 7:00 AM EEST

Bloomberg

Evangelos Meimarakis, leader of the opposition New Democracy party, said he’ll invite his rival Alexis Tsipras to form a coalition to safeguard Greece’s place in the euro area, no matter the outcome of this month’s vote.

“I believe in consensus and cooperation,” Meimarakis, 61, said in a Bloomberg television interview on Sunday. “We have proven throughout these years that when it’s for the good of the country, for safeguarding its place in the euro area, we’re willing to cooperate.”

Greece Names George Chouliarakis Interim Finance Minister Foreign ministry will be headed by diplomat Petros Molyviatis

By STELIOS BOURAS

Aug. 28, 2015 5:55 a.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

ATHENS—Greece named economist George Chouliarakis as the country’s interim finance minister Friday, handing him control of the country’s purse strings until next month’s elections.

Mr. Chouliarakis was Greece’s representative in the meetings of eurozone finance ministry officials and has played a leading role in Greece’s negotiations with officials from the International Monetary Fund and European institutions. He is considered to be a constructive interlocutor by European officials.

Greece's Syriza to win election but face setback, poll shows

Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:53am EDT Related: WORLD, GREECE

ATHENS | BY GEORGE GEORGIOPOULOS AND ANGELIKI KOUTANTOU

Reuters

Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' leftist Syriza will emerge as the biggest party after next month's election but without the sizeable margin it was hoping for, the first major opinion poll since he resigned last week showed.

The survey also found that almost two thirds of voters felt Tsipras should not have sought a fresh mandate and that his favored coalition ally would not make it into parliament.

That suggested his gamble to call early elections to consolidate his power base could backfire, though over quarter of voters remained undecided, making the final outcome far from clear.

Syriza was supported by 23 percent of those polled, with the conservative New Democracy party second on 19.5 percent, according to the survey, carried out by pollsters ProRata and published in Friday's Efimerida Ton Syntakton newspaper.

Greece Names Interim Prime Minister to Lead the Country to Snap Election

Announcement likely to be posted Friday outside Greek parliament calling for Sep 20 election

By NEKTARIA STAMOULI

Updated Aug. 27, 2015 11:21 a.m. ET

2 COMMENTS

ATHENS—Greece Thursday officially entered the pre-election period for the second time this year, as the head of the country’s Supreme Court Vassiliki Thanou Christopoulou has been named caretaker Prime Minister, with the task to lead the country to elections.

Greece’s President Prokopis Pavlopoulos “is obliged to give the mandate for the formation of the government with the widest possible acceptance in order to hold elections to the President of the Supreme Court Mrs. Vassiliki Thanou,” the presidency said in a statement.

Euro as New Haven Moves Opposite to Stocks by Most in Decade

 Anooja Debnath

August 27, 2015 — 10:00 AM EEST Updated on August 27, 2015 — 2:03 PM EEST

Bloomberg

The tumble in equity markets in the past week has boosted the euro, confirming its new-found status as a haven asset.

The 19-nation currency is moving in the opposite direction of the Stoxx Europe 600 Index and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index by the most in a decade, according to 30-day correlation data compiled by Bloomberg. The euro has appreciated against all of its Group-of-10 peers in the last three months, including traditional refuge currencies like the Japanese yen and Swiss franc.

As panic selling appeared in global stock markets earlier this week, the single currency rose to its strongest against the dollar since mid-January. The inverse relationship, or negative correlation, has intensified, said Stuart Bennett, London-based head of G-10 currency strategy at Banco Santander SA.