An unlikely alliance?
The radical leftwing party forms a government with Greece's anti-immigration rightwingers
Tsipras spurns tradition of taking his oath before Orthodox archbishop of Athens
Greece is now governed by a coalition of the radical left and the anti-immigration nationalist right. The only real point of comparison between the victor of Greece's general election on Sunday, Syriza, and its unlikely political partner, Independent Greeks , is a mutual dislike for the policy of austerity. The nationalists, led by Panos Kammenos, was the party that best fit Syriza's aim to take on the so-called torika, the three international institutions with control over the EU's bailout money. It is the only way to explain a government coalition between two parties that are separated by an ideological abyss. Syriza was only two seats short of an absolute majority, but it will now have at its disposal an extra 13 seats from the European partner of Britain's xenophobic UKIP.
For the first time in more than 40 years, neither New Democracy nor the socialists of PASOK, the two parties that have dominated Greek politics since the fall of the military junta in 1974, will have any power.
“I want to announce that, from this moment on, the country has a government. Independent Greeks gives its vote of confidence to the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras”, said Kammenos, after a brief meeting with the Syriza leader. Everything suggests the agreement was set up, and the announcement of the coalition brought a public show of displeasure from POTAMI, the party expected to be asked to form a government with Syriza.
In any case, Greece has a new prime minister. In fact, Tsipras wasted little time in taking up his new post and, at the same time, created the first controversy of his term by spurning the tradition of taking his oath before the Orthodox archbishop of Athens. For New Democracy, now the main opposition party, “Tsipras has begun badly.”
Independent Greeks gained seven fewer seats in the election than in 2012. The right-wing party favours refusing to pay off the “odious” public debt and accuses Europe of being governed
by “German neo-Nazis”. Unlike Syriza, the party wants to see harsh
policies against immigration, though Kammenos has also said that his party does not expect Syriza to change its ideological position.
From the periphery to the centre
Panos Kammenos has always existed on the political periphery. He was on the sidelines in opposing the EU bailout as a member of New Democracy (ND). In Europe, too, his party is part of the peripheral Eurosceptic grouping headed by Britain's UKIP. However, Kammenos has suddenly been thrust into the centre of Greek politics, thanks to his party's opposition to the EU bailouts that caused his departure from ND. And all with just a 4.7% share of the vote.
The leader of Greece's Eurosceptic nationalists joined ND at the age of 28. Since then he has won all his elections. Kammenos was against the EU bailout over fears of loss of sovereignty and the final rupture with ND came in 2012. Soon after, he formed Independent Greeks, which gained a 10.3% share of the vote (33 seats). In the next election, that fell to 7.5% (20 seats). Today, his party has only 13 seats in parliament, and yet Independent Greeks shares power.