And already the bankers are panicking. The news has struck like a thunderbolt. For the left, however, the June legislative elections open the way to the first true anti-austerity government in Europe.

“We are, alas, headed for new elections in a few days, in very poor conditions.” Evangelos Venizelos, the “socialist” leader of PASOK and former finance minister, was the first to announce what he considers to be a failure, following a “last chance” meeting called by the head of state and the heads of the five leading political parties.

For the parties in thrall to the troika (the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank), conditions are certainly poor. The Greek people want no more of austerity and are massively looking to the left. Alexis Tsipras, of Syriza (“the coalition of the radical left”) is best positioned to become the next prime minister at the head of an anti-austerity coalition.

Pressure from the markets.

The state of things on the left remains very complex. The European Union, by putting pressure on Greece and threatening to force the country off the euro, has panicked the Stock Exchange. Greece was even blamed for the fall of oil prices on the afternoon of May 15. Amid this turmoil, the Greek anti-free-trade-capitalism left remains unshaken: “We are pro-euro but against the austerity measures,” Alexis Tsipras stated again in a long interview granted to the Sunday edition of l’Humanité.

Syriza’s position remains irreconcilable with that of the KKE (the Greek Communist Party), which wants to leave Europe and rejects revolution through the ballot box. Thus, even if Syriza wins the elections – as is augured by the latest opinion polls, which give it 25% of the vote – the formation of a governing majority promises once more to be difficult. But all of the members of the Party of the European Left are looking to this election with a certain hope.

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