Spain’s Podemos: ‘Democracy has won in Greece’

THE triumph of the ‘no’ vote in Sunday’s Greek referendum (July 5) is seen by Spain’s Podemos party as a victory for democracy and a more social leaning Europe. Pablo Iglesias, party leader, tweeted on Sunday, “Democracy has won in Greece today.”
Podemos are seen by some as the Spanish counterparts to Syriza in Greece, and consider the results of the Greek referendum as extremely positive, believing that they express democratic support for a more social Europe which is less dependent on the financial markets.
Rather than seeing the Greek crisis as an economic problem, they consider it a political one. Podemos believe that negotiations between Greece and Europe will now advance and that Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is now in an even stronger position to make significant improvements to the agreement.
“It’s a no to the Europe of spending cuts, to the Europe of austerity and a no to the Europe of Merkel,” states Miguel Urban, a Podemos European MEP who travelled to Greece to follow the referendum with his colleague, Rafael Mayoral. Mayoral tweeted from Greece: “Democracy is defeating fear, the people say no to the blackmailers.”