On January 25th, 2015, a legislative election took place in Greece. The election was held earlier than suspected because of the Greek parliament’s failure to elect a new president on the 29th of December, 2014. Following the election, the left wing party, SYRIZA, secured 149 out of 300 seats, two seats short of an absolute majority. The SYRIZA leader,  Alexis Tsipras, became Prime Minister of Greece on the 26th of January. The election results have caused further political turmoil in the European Union, with the new threat of Greece leaving the Eurozone and the European Union.

Since the 2008 recession, Greece has suffered from great hardship due to the amount of debt it has accumulated. Greece’s poor tax collection enforcement and vast unemployment has put a damper on the funding that the government has to spend on public services. After the European Union was formed, Greece became a member and borrowed large sums of money from other members of the EU. Other European countries did not question this because of the financial restrictions put on members of the EU, including not allowing its national budget deficit to exceed three percent of its economic output. Greece’s government repeatedly told the European Union that their national budget deficit did not exceed the expected three percent, but according to a report by TradingEconomics.com, its deficit was higher than fifteen percent.

After the 2008 financial crisis called attention to Greece’s rising debt, the Greek government was forced to cut-back on public services and resources, leading to unemployment. Trading  Economics reports that 25.8% of the population was without a job in August, 2014. These factors influenced the rise of the relatively new party, SYRIZA also known as the “Radical Coalition of the Left.” SYRIZA was formed in 2004 and gained popularity during the 2008 Greek riots. The party promises to end the painful austerity measures put on Greece by the EU and to increase public spending. SYRIZA repeatedly states that it does not wish to leave the European Union, but demands that its debts be paid off. Students at Wilmington Friends School vocalized opinions concerning the situation in Greece. Owen Sheppard ‘17 stated, “The new party in Greece is good in theory, but it might cause a disaster for the European Union, given SYRIZA originated from a Eurocommunist party.” Hannah Feldmann ‘16 suggested, “Other members of the European Union should let Greece default.  That’s the only way to curb their spending habits.” The attitudes of some WFS students suggest the European Union should agree to some of the terms Greece desires, but this could  also result in consequences for the European Union.

The results of the recent Greek elections have the potential to cause changes in the EU and within the structure of Greece itself. The new party, SYRIZA, and the new Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, appear to be the driving forces for this change. The policies that SYRIZA desires will cause inevitable conflict with other members of the European Union.