Spanish politics has been infected by the Syriza virus

After the Greek radicals’ climbdown on austerity, Spain’s Podemos is rethinking its previous embrace

The World Today Updated 14 December 2020 2 minute READ

Jose Ignacio-Torreblanca

Head of the Madrid office and Senior Policy Fellow, European Council of Foreign Relations

During the raucous celebration that followed the European parliamentary results in May 2014, the Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, took to the stage and announced the beginning of the liberation of the southern European people from German domination. Founded in January of that year, the radical left-wing party had just secured more than a million votes. This granted Podemos five MEPs who went on to join the radical left group alongside Syriza, the Greek anti-austerity party. In his speech to parliament on July 1, Iglesias called upon the group’s 52 MEPs to ignore ideological differences and vote as a bloc against Germany and the financial powers.

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