Greece’s ruling SYRIZA party, which assumed power as a hard-left anti-bailout juggernaut but has distinctly «mellowed» over nearly two years in office, was included in «mixed company» on Tuesday by the New York Times.
The once rabidly anti-austerity party is included in an assessment of Europe’s most populist parties, regardless of ideology. As such, the party led by Alexis Tsipras was lumped together with Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, its political «soul mate» Podemos in Spain and even the vaguely anti-establishment movement founded by Beppe Grillo, the Five Star Movement in Italy.
According to the NYT, «Syriza was formed as a coalition of left-leaning and radical-left political parties, unified in their opposition to austerity measures imposed on Greece by its eurozone lenders. Since first forming a government in 2015, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has fought to keep Greece in the European Union and in the monetary union».
The NYT article was headlined «European Populism in the Age of Donald Trump».
