Greece teetering
It sure seems the foundation of the European Union and the Euro will feel the first reality pinch check after the “surprising” upswing for the extreme parties in Greece over the weekend. Unfortunately, rather scary developments are taking form in this United Europe. What’s next, Weimar inflation, and after that everything that followed? Some color on the “new” Greek dilemma, via Ekathimerini.
Greece was plunged into political uncertainty on Sunday night as national elections produced a fragmented Parliament of at least seven parties and a result that could preclude New Democracy and PASOK forming a coalition government over the next few days.
The possibility of the two parties that backed Greece’s new bailout combining their forces was undermined by a collapse in their support, particularly in the case of PASOK. The Socialists suffered a drubbing around the country and looked to have been beaten into third place by the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) with what could be PASOK’s worst ever showing at the ballot box.
The election result was also notable for the entry into Parliament of the neo-Nazi Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn), which in 2009 had only gained 0.29 percent of the vote and looked set to gather close to 7 percent at these elections.
Politics in Greece
Nothing new in Greece. Same old dogmas from the politicians, while the country falls further into poverty and misery. On the other hand, the Greeks invented politics. Spiegel reports;
Instead of getting down to business, they are absorbed in policy wrangling that seems absurdly trivial given the scale of the tasks they face. At a cabinet meeting last Thursday, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Transport Minister Makis Voridis of LAOS fell out over a draft law to accelerate amicable divorces. Marriage, Voridis argued, was “a central component of our value system” — therefore LAOS could not agree to the law. Papademos remained silent.
This isn’t the first time the LAOS minister has blocked a decision. Recently he resisted the complete liberalization of the issue of taxi licenses, and publicly threatened to resign.
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