Fear won in Athens. Between the conservative New Democracy party which ensures a future of sacrifices but under the secure aegis of Europe and the radical Syriza party, which instead proposed, in a vaguely populist sauce, courageous and alternative reforms, the former prevailed. Nd, led by Antonis Samaras, won the elections with 29,7% which, thanks to the majority premium of 50 seats, is equivalent to 129 out of the 300 seats in Parliament. Great satisfaction also from Europe, which had exerted considerable pressure so that Nd would be the winning party. The challenger, the however, radical Alexis Tsipras obtained 27% of the vote, with 71 seats: not bad for a party that did not exceed 7% of the preferences last year. The socialists of Pasok obtained 12,3% with 33 seats, the Independent Greeks, a liberal party, took 7,5% and 20 seats, while the Democratic Left gained 6,25% and 17 seats and the communists of the Kke 4,5% and 12 seats.
There is also another phenomenon that should not be underestimated. In Athens, fear of the internal enemy has also won: in recent months they have increased dramatically violence against immigrants, become the scapegoat for the worsening crisis. To foment them, the racist propaganda of the neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, which was confirmed in Parliament with 6,92% of the votes (18 seats). The problem of internal security also worries Samaras: “While Greek families are struggling to make ends meet, Syriza is offering immigrants unemployment benefits and documents. The massive invasion of immigrants will stop and a mass return to their homelands will begin”.
But with 129 seats out of 300, the Nd will not be able to form a one-color government and will have to moderate its extremes. The President of the Republic Karolos Papoulis will today entrust Samaras with the task of forming the new government within three days. The haste is a must since Greece must find 11 billion euros by the end of the month and for this he must return to the table with the European authorities as soon as possible. Yet it is not a matter of course. If on the one hand Samaras can count on the support of the socialist party Pasok (33 seats), on the other, the leader Venizelos has imposed as a condition the inclusion of the other two left parties, the Democratic Left and Syriza to form a national coalition government.
However, it is unlikely that Tsipras will accept, since he has reiterated again that he will not make agreements with anyone who does not reject the memorandum. But at least on this point, he can be credited with a small victory. In the last elections, Samaras even proposed to increase the austerity measures, while for some weeks now he has been talking about revising some points of the agreement and aiming for growth. However, the ND leader said: “We will respect our signatures and the commitments made by Greece and we will work to get the country out of the crisis. There is no doubt that Greece belongs to Europe”. So, were they just campaign phrases? According to his detractors, Samaras he is an opportunist who has always put his own self-interest ahead of that of the nation. We must not forget that New Democracy and Pasok are the same parties that for years have falsified Greece's budgets and brought the country to the brink of default.
But today times are different, the EU is talking about Fiscal compact and banking union: Europe should have more powers to check that Greece respects the rules. But, to have a definitive answer, we will have to wait for the next EU summit at the end of June.
