Surging Greek party aims to be Europe's anti-austerity model

(ATHENS) - The radical leftist Syriza party that stormed to second place on an anti-austerity ticket in Greece's recent polls now wants to push its message across Europe.

A loose coalition of leftist groups led by a 37-year-old engineer, Syriza more than tripled its ratings in the last election -- which produced no clear victor -- and looks poised to further boost its strength in new polls set for June 17.

Emboldened by its success as well as socialist Francois Hollande's presidential victory in France, Syriza says the time is ripe to reject austerity policies that have plunged Greece into a deepening five-year recession.

"Until now, Greece has been a guinea pig of sorts for austerity policy in Europe," says Irini Dourou, a newly-elected Syriza deputy who is responsible for European policy within the coalition's main political group, Synaspismos.

"But it could turn into a laboratory for the overthrow of such policies," she told AFP.

The party's leader Alexis Tsipras used stronger language in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday in which he accused the European Union and German Chancellor Angela Merkel of "playing poker with European people's lives"

Tsipras told the BBC that if the "disease of austerity destroys Greece, it will spread to the rest of Europe".

He said that banks were making big profits at the expense of people in Greece, but also in Spain and Italy, who were finding life increasingly hard.

"Therefore the European leadership and especially Mrs Merkel need to stop playing poker with the lives of people," Tsipras said.

To secure EU-IMF loans, Greece was recently forced to slash its minimum wage levels and amend labour laws to facilitate layoffs in a country already grappling with an unemployment rate of over 20 percent.

Syriza called such measures "barbaric" and said they must be overturned immediately.

"We want to change the loan terms," Dourou said, noting that the plan for reforms imposed by Greece's international lenders was not working.

When Greece appealed in 2010 to the EU, the ECB and the IMF -- known here as the 'troika' -- for a debt bailout in return for structural reforms, the blueprint they drew up was designed to pull the Greek economy out of recession this year.

But last week, the European Commission said the Greek economy could contract by another 4.7 percent this year and see zero growth in 2013.

"It has taken 24 months and five reports from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund for the realisation to sink in that the troika's conditions lead to failure," Dourou said.

As proof that the wind is changing in Europe, she points to the Dutch government's resignation, the Irish referendum on the new EU budget pact, and the setback for German chancellor Angela Merkel's party in weekend local election.

Dourou also notes Romania's "victory" over the IMF in securing an eight-percent pay rise for civil servants.

"More importantly, the 'indignant' movement is making a comeback in Madrid and will spark other demonstrations elsewhere in Europe," she argues.

Nevertheless, Dourou insists that keeping Greece in the eurozone is a "national priority."

Another Syriza deputy, the economist Nadia Valavani, last week told the English-language Athens News weekly that Syriza's position was "no sacrifice for the euro."

But Dourou insists this is a "minority" view within the party.

"It's very risky at this period for our economy, based as it is on tourism, to return to a national currency. It is also very risky for the EU to have a war between the states about currency," she said.

"We don't have the right to jeopardise the country's economy, the bottom line is that the poor people will pay the cost of a return to a national currency," Dourou said.