Rolling reaction to Syriza’s historic success in the Greek elections, which opens up a new chapter in Europe’s debt crisis
- Latest: Alexis Tsipras is meeting with Independent Greeks now
- Syriza MP: We’ve won a poisoned chalice
- Greek stock market slides, bond yields jump
- Greek elections: The Results
- Osborne: It’s not a rejection of austerity
- Share your perspectives via GuardianWitness
9.23am GMT
There’s a mixed reaction in German newspapers to radical leftist Alexis Tsipras’s triumph.
Front page digital edition of Germany's tabloid @BILD: "Euro schock as Tsipiras triumphs!" #ekloges2015 pic.twitter.com/BabAHYwzFS
“Sorry, Mr Tsipras, but that’s going too far! The Eurozone is no gambling den in which every gambler can do what he wants. And where once closed agreements can be questioned at one’s own pleasure. What applies here is: An agreement is an agreement!”
“The victory of Syriza is a chance for Greece to free itself from the decades of corruption and nepotism, with which both the conservative New Democracy and the social democratic Pasok were inextricably bound,”
9.16am GMT
Are you one of Greece’s 9.8 million voters? After the historic win by Syriza, we’d like to hear your hopes and fears for the future of the country.
Visit GuardianWitness to take part.
9.12am GMT
Dimitris Vitsas, a member of Syriza’s central committee has just told SKAI TV that “our immediate and most pressing priority is to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.”
“The Greek people have cancelled the policies of the memorandum,” he said referring to the deeply unpopular bailout accords outlining the onerous conditions of EU-IMF aid to debt-stricken Greece.
“We don’t want a rupture [in relations] with Europe … disagreement is one thing, rupture quite another.”Despite all the forecasts of economic catastrophe with the advent to power of a left-wing government “we have woken up to a sunny day.”.
“The banks haven’t closed, they are operating normally, schools are open. Everything is just as it should be.”
9.02am GMT
Greek bonds have also fallen in value this morning.
That has pushed up the yield, or interest rate, on Greece’s 10-year bonds trading in the markets to 8.96% this morning, up from 8.74% on Friday.
Investors flee Greek bonds after Syriza win. #Greece's 10yr yields jump by 22bps to 8.96%. pic.twitter.com/K0uypwhLxw
8.59am GMT
Greek bank shares have slumped in volatile early trading in Athens.
The ATG stock index has tumbled by over 5%, as investors raced to offload stocks following Syriza’s success.
8.51am GMT
Syriza’s victory in the Greek election will “increase economic uncertainty across Europe”, prime minister David Cameron has warned (writes political editor Patrick Wintour) .
“I certainly understand that if you have unemployment at 25%, if your economy has shrunk by 20%, as the Greek economy has over recent years, you are looking for other answers, alternatives – because ultimately this is just the latest chapter in the eurozone crisis. It increases economic uncertainty and it reminds the United Kingdom that it needs to work through an economic plan that is delivering lower unemployment, and growth and economic security.”
“People get tired of economic failure. They get tired of rising unemployment. And in the UK, returning to economic chaos, returning to the lack of an economic plan would see higher unemployment. So i think the lesson for us is: continue to work through the plan that is working, that is delivering that higher job rate …
“What people don’t like is economic policies that don’t work; in the UK, we have an economic policy that is working.
“People here – and indeed this is true across the country – are seeing greater economic security, jobs being created, more personal prosperity as earnings rise faster than prices. So I think what you see is not a defeat of austerity; it’s a defeat of economic plans that don’t work. And in Britain we’ve got an economic plan that is working.”
“I don’t think it’s just a question about the public finances. I think that is a panacea, It is a false hope that it’s just a question of spending more money in these countries. One of the reasons these countries are in a mess is because they weren’t able to bring their public finances under control in the past”.
8.39am GMT
The coalition talks between Alexis Tsipras and the Independent Greek party have begun, slightly earlier than expected.
From Athens, Helena Smith reports:
Such it seems is the enthusiasm for a new change of course that Panos Kammenos, head of the small, populist right-wing Independent Greeks party has turned up EARLY for talks at Syriza’s HQ with Alexis Tsipras.
Greek media reporting it is almost “100 percent certain” that a coalition government will be formed. Skai TV says radical left leader Alexis Tsipras may even announce its make-up later in the day. Neither Tsipras nor Kammenos have much in common - bar the desire to see punishing austerity ended.
8.36am GMT
Greece’s debt pile is simply too high for the country to return to growth and services its borrowing, says Professor Christopher Pissarides.
Pissarides, of the London School of Economics, explains:
“You can’t really have growth coming out of such a deep recession by running the kind of budget surpluses that are needed [to repay debts] at the same time”.
8.33am GMT
The CEO of Greek Bank Piraeus then told the Today Programme that savers are less nervous than in 2012.
“There is definitely not a bank run. Definitely not the panic we saw a few years ago”
8.30am GMT
What are the chances of Greece still being in the eurozone in one year, or five years?
We who are in the eurozone must not toy with loose or fast talk about Grexit or fragmentation. If that happens, disruptive forces would be unleashed.
8.25am GMT
Syriza MP Yanis Varoufakis says his party will show Europe a plan that cuts the cost of this debt debacle to the average German, the average Slovak, who is even poorer than the average Greek.
What details can you give us?
8.21am GMT
Yanis Varoufakis, a Syriza MP who is tipped to become Greece’s next finance minister, is being interviewed on the BBC’s Today Programme now.
Congratulated on Syriza’s success, Varoufakis replies soberly that:
It’s a poisoned chalice, but I accept your congratulations.
Fiscal waterboarding has turned us into a debt colony.
8.09am GMT
The London stock market has fallen at the start of trading, but it’s a muted reaction.
The FTSE 100 is down just 28 points, or 0.4%, at 6804.
8.07am GMT
Events are moving fast in Greece. Alexis Tsipras is due to meet with the leader of the right-wing Independent Greeks, Panos Kammenos, at 10.30 a.m local time (or 8.30am GMT).
Tsipras should also receive a mandate from president Karolos Papoulias to form a government today.
Including the Independent Greeks in the coalition suggests we can expect dangerous brinkmanship in the Greek govt's negotiation w the troika
8.00am GMT
Britain’s chancellor has denied that austerity has been defeated in the voting booths of Athens.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told BBC Radio that:
“People get tired of economic failure, they tired of rising unemployment ... what you see is not a defeat of austerity, it is a defeat of economic plans that don’t work and in Britain we have got an economic plan that is working,”
“I hope that both sides now act responsibly....It is certainly in the United Kingdom’s interests that we have stability, that we have a proper dialogue here between members of the euro.”
The Greek election will increase economic uncertainty across Europe. That's why the UK must stick to our plan, delivering security at home.
7.54am GMT
Priti Patel, Conservative MP in Westminster, just told Sky News that Greece’s economic problems are “a stark reminder that we should never join the euro”.
7.51am GMT
Syriza’s victory should energise the battle against austerity across Europe, argues the Green Party.
MEPs Keith Taylor and Molly Scott Cato just issued a statement, saying:
Greens share the view of the new government that austerity is a failed model which has piled misery on the poorest while making the wealthiest even richer.
This result shows that challenging business as usual politics can win the support of the people. In the UK we are witnessing a Green Surge, in no small part due to our anti-austerity agenda, and we hope the Greek election result marks the beginnings of ordinary people standing up to a discredited economic model and failing Governments across Europe.”
7.47am GMT
News of Syriza’s victory has pushed the euro to an 11-year low.
The single currency hit $1.1098, for the first time since September 2003, as investors anticipate clashes between Alexis Tsipras and the EU.
7.41am GMT
(via the eKathimerini newspaper)
7.37am GMT
Good morning.
The people of Greece have spoken, demanding an end to the austerity that has gripped the country since the debt crisis began.
The verdict of the Greek people ends, beyond any doubt, the vicious circle of austerity in our country,”.
“The verdict of the Greek people, your verdict, annuls today in an indisputable fashion the bailout agreements of austerity and disaster. The verdict of the Greek people renders the troika a thing of the past for our common European framework.”
Greek coalition talks underway after Syriza's election victory– live updates
Graeme Wearden
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 09:18:02 GMT
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