Greek Elections are Chance for Europe
To the snap elections for Greek parliament taking place on Sunday, the DIE LINKE party chairs, Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, as well as head of the faction in Bundestag, Gregor Gysi, declare:
The Greeks will vote for a new parliament on 25. January. The advice and barely disguised threats coming from the European Commission and the German federal government are highly undemocratic. Parliamentary elections are the core part of any democracy, the vote of the sovereign has to be respected. Also, a possible minister president Alexis Tsipras will have to be treated as a partner by Brussels and Berlin.
Elections in Greece have a special meaning, not only for the millions of Greek people living below the poverty line but for the whole of Europe. The recipe of austeriy rigidly prescribed by federal government and Commission negates realities and harms the European idea. The reasoning that there is no alternative to austerity policy and drastic cuts is political denial. Many economic scientists by now agree, that the cutback policy drove the Greek economy into deflation and that there is no chance of economic recovery without a debt conference aiming at a debt cut - by no means being without historic precedence. Plan A of the neoliberal debt duty failed; SYRIZA with her government programme now presents a plan B beyond neoliberalism. We demand that the political alternative offered by SYRIZA will be discussed in Europe, to come to a sustainable European solution for the debt problem.
These days, we share the thrill with our comrades from SYRIZA and wish them a lot of strength and energy on the home stretch of the election campaign. A victory for SYRIZA would doubtless be good not only for Greece but for the whole of Europe. Alternatives have to be elaborated together with the people, man must again be put before capital, if the European idea is to be saved from destruction. A success for SYRIZA can and will open this necessary and deeply humanistic debate.