The political tsunami unleashed bySyrizainGreecemade many dreamers in Europe among “fringe”, some even downright extremist, partieshoping to emulate that success.
The closest to Syriza’s profile is the leftist Spanish party calledPodemos(We Can), created a year ago and led by pony-tailed political science professor Pablo Iglesias. As in Greece, many Spaniards are exasperated by government cutbacks amid recent economic misery and say the policies are partly to blame for a jobless rate close to 24 %.
Like Syriza in Greece, Podemos proposes changing the waySpain's debt is paid off, nationalizing strategic sectors such as energy, and setting wage limits (minimum and maximum) for all employees.
Spain holds a general election this year, but right now Podemosis leading the pollswith 27.7%. The governing centre-rightPopular Party are second on 20.9%, the centre-left PSOE are on 18.3% with the liberal Ciudadanoson 12.2%.
Iglesias already repeated that Syriza's victory brings fresh hope in frame. "The policies of unfair and ineffective cuts have been defeated by the Greek people," he said.
InItaly, the maverick “fringe” party is regional and leaning right. TheNorthern Leaguehas seen its poll numbers rise in recent months as it draws support away from Italy's more mainstream center-right, including the Forza Italia party of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Recent surveys have given the Northern League more than 12 % of the vote, nearly double what the anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic party was polling at the time of the European Parliament elections.
TheLega, as it is known, derives its support from Italy's industrial north, which resents that so much of the tax it pays goes to Rome and the EU, while the underdeveloped south reaps the benefits. Lega leader Matteo Salvini rejoiced at the Greek result, saying "it was a "beautiful slap in the face to the European Soviet Union of the euro, unemployment and banks." He added: "Now it's our turn!"
The Syriza victory could also give a boost to the anti-establishment5 Star Movement.
In Portugal, a majority of the population has endured austerity measures under their center-right government since the debt-heavy country needed a 78 billion euros international rescue in 2011.
Cuts in pay, pensions and public services, and steep tax increases were introduced in recent years to pay off national debt. Those measures have contributed to recession and 14 % unemployment.
Small far-left parties such as the Portuguese Communist Party and the Left Bloc, and a handful of new civic groups including a Portuguese version of neighboring Spain'sPodemos, are fighting those policies. But they have yet to gain national traction as Portugal prepares to hold a general election in the fall.
Most opposition to austerity remains concentrated around the center-left Socialist Party, which has a strong lead in opinion polls.
The Greek election "is another sign of the political change that is happening in Europe, the failure of austerity and the need for new policies," Socialist leader Antonio Costa said.
As forIreland, after successfully exiting its own debt-driven bailout last year, six straight years of austerity have driven hard-left opposition parties to unprecedented heights in opinion polls despite Ireland's post-bailout return to Eurozone-leading growth.
Politicians from Ireland's two biggest left-wing voices, the nationalist Sinn Fein and the socialist Anti-Austerity Alliance, traveled to Athens to celebrate with Syriza and to call on Ireland's voters to deliver a similar breakthrough in a general election expected early next year.
Both backed Syriza's call for an EU-wide conference to negotiate restructuring and write-offs of national debt burdens for heavily-indebted eurozone countries.
InFrance, Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Front which among other things wants the country to quit the eurozone, welcomed Syriza's victory which she said was "the opening of the trial of euro-austerity."
The National Front finished first in European Parliament elections last year, with 24.86 %. According to the latest opinion polls, if France were to hold its presidential election today, Le Pen would lead in the first round — but lose in the second round. The French presidential election is set to be held 2017.
Though it is not yet represented in the national parliament, the populist party Alternative forGermanyhas had recent successes in state elections, and current polls put its growing support as high as around 10 percent.
The anti-euro currency group's spokesman Bernd Lucke blamed Greece's use of the euro for "driving the Greek voters into the arms of the radical-left party" Syriza, and said Greece should exit the shared currency.
InAustria, polls put theFreedom Partylevel, or even slightly ahead, of each of the parties in Austria's governing coalition — the Socialists and the centrist People's Party.
The Freedom Party opposes membership of the euro currency and wants to weaken the EU's centralized structure in favor of a loose union of national states.
The party's supporters include voters disillusioned by traditional parties, anti-foreigner rightists and the extreme-right fringe.
In theNetherlands, putch polls indicate that Geert Wilders' similarly calledFreedom Party, currently holding just 12 seats in the 150-seat lower house of Dutch parliament, is now one of the Netherlands' biggest political movements, if not the biggest.
The party's populist policies include advocating that the Netherlands leave the European Union and dump the euro in favor of returning to the guilder.
There are also truly fascist-leaning far-right parties, such asJobbikinHungary, whichwon 20.54 % of the national vote in Hungary's parliamentary election last year, up from the 15.86 % it won in 2010, cementing its status as by far the largest far-right group in Eastern Europe.
From its strong base at home, Jobbik has stepped up efforts to export its ideology and methods to the wider region, encouraging far-right parties to run in next month's European parliamentary elections, and propagating a brand of nationalist ideology which is so hardline and so tinged with anti-Semitism, that some rightist groups in Western Europe have distanced themselves from the Hungarians.
The spread of Jobbik's ideology has alarmed anti-racism campaigners, gay rights activists, and Jewish groups. They believe it could fuel a rise in racially-motivated, anti-Semitic or homophobic street attacks. Longer-term, they say, it could help the far-right gain more political power.
In an interview with Reuters last year, Jobbik leaderGabor Vonasaid he hoped the people of central and eastern Europe would unite in an "alliance that spreads from the Adriatic to the Baltic Sea," to counter what he called Euro-Atlantic oppression.
Jobbik's main ally in Western Europe is theBritish National Partyof Nick Griffin.
Even as colourful as the Hungarian Jobbik is theGreekGolden Dawn,originally founded as a neo-Nazi party, and which came third in parliamentary elections last month. The leader and many MEPs members of the group arestanding trial on charges of participating in a criminal group — an offense that carries a 20-year prison sentence.
18GoldenDawnlawmakers who held seats in Greece's previous parliament will stand trial, along with 52 other defendants.Thirteen lawmakers of the 18 standing trial were re-elected in the Jan. 25 election.Six of those, including party leader Nikos Michaloliakos are held in pre-trial detention, but they won in spite of the communication black-out imposed on them.
A crackdown against the party was launched in September 2013, following the murder of Greek rap singer Pavlos Fyssas, by aGoldenDawnvolunteer.
Considering the exposure of a series of crimes allegedly committed by its members, including the Fyssas murder, Golden Dawn’s electoral result is even more significant. This is no longer merely an angry protest vote, a one-off voters' tiff with "corrupt politicians." This is an established vote and a hardened electorate.
As Jobbik in Hungary,which has a paramilitary wing, called "Magyar Garda," or Hungarian Guard, Golden Dawn alsohas its very active paramilitary wing. The prospect of such parties being voted to powersends shivers down the marrow of the political class all across Europe.
(with Reuters, AP)
http://www.neurope.eu/article/after-syriza-when-%E2%80%9Cfringe%E2%80%9D-becomes-mainstream