Tuesday 15 May 2012

Political worries


I wanted to write briefly about Greece and the current political situation there. The national election results from last week were fruitless. The voters were spread among many parties, not giving to any of them the power to create a government. To give you an idea, the party with the most votes, only got 18.9% of the whole! Even the neo-Nazi party called ‘Golden Dawn’ managed to acquire 10% of the votes. (I truly hope that people didn’t know what they were voting for). Traditionally in Greece there were two parties (the democrats and the socialists) swapping governments for decades that created the current abysmal financial situation. This time around people got fed up with the current situation and decided to vote differently. In a way they tried to punish the two major parties but the outcome of the elections weren’t the best.

Power is thinned out and distributed to so many parties that no coalition government can be created. The second best party in the elections was the left winged Syriza with 16.8% that refuses to cooperate with any other party that follows the EU’s austerity measures. This idea is of course popular to the masses although they don’t actually say how the country will find the money to pay salaries and pensions or reduce its debt. Syriza tried to create a left wing collation government but the Communist party bluntly refused to work with them. According to them hard core Communists; Syriza is not really left wing, but a fraud. The rest of the parties (excluding the far right and left winged parties) can’t create a government on their own since they can’t create a coalition of at least 151 MPs.


So, after a week of fruitless negotiations, there is still no government formed. Most likely there will be other national elections in mid-June!  This of course costs money and time that the country can’t afford to lose. According to the existing financial minister, Greece is soon running out of money and will need the coming payment from the EU. However, EU mentioned that no money will be given to the country without a government supportive to the already agreed terms of financial aid. So, there’s a deadlock.

Looking and at what happened to Argentina a decade ago when it bankrupted, I believe that Greece needs to stay in the Euro zone. Otherwise, we’re talking about locking people’s bank accounts, having very small available bank daily withdrawals, closing the borders, isolating the country, skyrocketing inflation rates and prices of imported goods, non-existent development in the short term and public panic. I hope that a coalition government will be formed soon.  And since I can only wish, I hope for ‘Golden Dawn’ not to have any MPs. These people are scum.

Update: this is 'Golden Dawn's logo. Ring any bells?

6 comments:

  1. thank you for explaining this. I haven't had a good clear explanation until now, and reading the political cartoons isn't a good way to educate myself.
    It also helps me remember Greece didn't 'stop' ~ 300BC but is a current living country.
    I still want to see it.

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    1. It is still a very nice country to visit especially if you like it'shistory and I do hope that the problems will be solved somehow soon.

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  2. The news media here in the U.S. has been using the word "Nazi" to describe the Golden Dawn party. Every time I see it my heart stops. And now I see you using the word Nazi too. Is it true? Is that what they are really calling themselves? And how could anyone vote for them?!! The world has gone mad.

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  3. Of course they don't accept the term 'Nazi' and they don't advertise it. I've uploaded their logo though to give you an idea. What they represent are exactly the military chauvinist ideas presented by the Nazis all these years ago. The reason that people voted for them are not clear. Most didn't know what the golden dawn represented. I was also listening stories about how golden dawn boys were escorting elder people to protect them when they were going to the bank to withdraw money or how they were taking 'care' of issues with foreigners, etc... It's all very upsetting!

    Fortunately, after the announcement of their leader during the night of the elections most people saw what they do and who they are. Latest gallops show that with the new elections coming, the golden dawn will not enter the Parliament... We'll see

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  4. I'm sorry. There is no easy answer or way out of this situation either. Its hard to imagine what would happen here in the US if we had to deal with even a fraction of the difficulties facing your home.

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    1. the US have to deal with some problem of their own. I'm not denying that. But yes, the situation in Greece is a bit grim...

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