Tsipras Victory - Will the EU Help Him?

Alexis Tsipras has secured another dramatic victory in the snap general election he called in Greece after having to turn to conservatives in the Greek parliament to get approval for the larest EU bailout program this past summer. Tsipras' opponents, the anti-austerity Popular Unity and center-right New Democracy conceded defeat Sunday afternoon as the vote count showed a Syriza party victory for Tsipras. With most votes counted, Syriza is projected to finish with 145 seats. There will be coalition partners, but the difference this time is that Syriza’s most rebellious MPs have now defected to Popular Unity and will not be voting in the coalition. New coalition rebels could emerge as the difficult bailout measures are carried out, but Eurozone politicians will be pleased that Tsipras is pledging to clean up the darker elements of Greek society, including putting an end to systemic corruption. Tsipras declared : “In Europe now, Greece and the Greek people are synonymous with resistance and dignity, and this struggle will be continued together for another four years...We have difficulties ahead, but we are also on firm ground. We won’t recover from the struggle by magic, but it can happen with hard work.” Syriza supporters celebrated in Athens this evening as Tsipras told them that victory belongs to the people and thanked the electorate : "I feel vindicated by this success," he said, recognizing the Greek people who handed him a clear mandate to govern for a full four-year term, and singling out the young people of Greece, thanking them for backing Syriza again. ~~~~~ In the run-up to Greece's Sunday snap election, the governing far-left Syriza party was in a tight race with center-right New Democracy, which finished 7 points behind at 28%. There were also fears that the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party might benefit from electoral anger over the migrant crisis facing Greece. The Guardian had said Golden Dawn might be "Europe's most dangerous political force....Touring Kos and other Aegean islands most affected by the influx, Golden Dawn MPs brazenly played on locals' fears. ‘Elections are approaching,' Ilias Kasidiaris, the party's swastika-tattooed spokesman, told residents. ‘Kos has a choice. If [inhabitants] choose to vote Syriza it will turn into Pakistan. If they choose Golden Dawn and Golden Dawn governs the land, then Kos will become Greece again. And that is our goal.'" Despite the Guardian's predictions, Golden Dawn got only 7% of Sunday's vote. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the bailout-reform road ahead of Akexis Tsipras is steep and full of dangers for the Greek people as they try to meet EU belt-tightening demands on already-empty stomachs. Tsipras will need all his political and management skills to get through what is essentially the latest chapter of a program always designed to repay EU banks and sovereign lenders without much regard for the impact on the Greek people. And, on top of an already daunting economic and fiscal task, the new Tsipras government will have to meet the challenge of Greece's central role in Europe's migration crisis, which could intensify as countries, such as Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria, further along the land route north across the Balkans, either close or greatly restrict entry at their frontiers. In another migrant disaster, on Sunday as Greeks voted, 13 migrants died in Turkish waters when a boat carrying 46 people enroute to Greece collided with a dry cargo vessel and capsized, according to a Turkish coast guard source. An estimated 250,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Greece so far this year, six times more than during all of 2014. Perhaps now that Alexis Tsipras has promised to fall into line with the EU bailout program, the EU will actually give Greece, an EU member after all, some money for itself - to help the overrun and overwhelmed Greek islands handle their massive migrant influx. But don't bet the family jewels on the EU to do anything right -- you would probably lose.