The Death of European Anti-Austerity Says a Lot About Austerity

The great European revolt against austerity is already withering. Nine months after Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party surged to power in Greece promising to overturn Europe’s economic order, the radicals look a shadow of their former selves.

   Across the continent, voters alarmed by the prospect of chaos are returning to the devil they know. Greece’s election this weekend is too close to call and ballots in Portugal and Spain in coming months are unlikely to challenge the German-led budget-cutting regime.

   “This is basically what politics is all about: a showdown of expectations versus harsh reality,” said Thomas Gerakis, head of the Athens-based Marc polling company. “The electorate is more mature, more wise, after being exposed to many serious events in a very short period of time.”

   Rather than being the year the political landscape changed, 2015 is being defined by the failure of insurgents to move the needle of power. The European establishment has closed ranks, while the European Central Bank pumps billions of euros into bond markets in an attempt to get the economy moving, boosting incumbents across the euro area in the process.

Πηγή: Bloomberg.com