SYRIZA and Podemos – Children of the Crisis or a Wind of Change in Europe?

Publicat de , 23 martie 2015, 13:18 / actualizat: 21 octombrie 2016, 15:47

History has shown that periods of economic crisis, accompanied by deterioration of living standards, are weakening the political structures, mobilizing the masses and polarizing the political scene.

Economic insecurity and uncertainty are causing a chain reaction, socially and politically. The lack of welfare, deepens the feeling of inequality, feeding an increased individualism. The own well-being becomes the basic prerogative and the politicians are considered guilty of the degradation of people’s lives. Politically speaking, we are witnessing a gap between the elites and voters: citizens do not feel represented and they begin looking for alternatives and for the responsible ones.

Europe is facing, according to analysts, a crisis of democracy and representation, due to the inability of the government to respond to the economic crisis. This has led to the erosion of traditional party loyalty and the fragmentation of society, causing the destabilization of the representative political systems, that were placed after the Second World War, at the center of the political spectrum, excluding the extreme parties.

Analysts predict the end of the two-partism in Europe.

After 2007, when the economic crisis emerged, along with the rise of far-right parties, we have witnessed the revival of the left, in particular in countries most damaged by the economic crisis, such as Greece and Spain. For the first time since 1984, left-wing parties and radical leftist political organizations reappear on the European political scene.

Globalization and the new ways of communication have become instruments in expressing the dissatisfaction with the political class, and they helped in the mobilization of the anti-system movements. The conversion and the rapid crystallization of the protesting groups, apparently marginal, in government parties, it’s currently the most substantial novelty. The political formations are adopting an anti-austerity and anti-capitalism rhetoric, being often labeled as anti-system parties.

In Greece, the Coalition of Radical Left, SYRIZA, is the first anti-system party which came to power in European history.

The victory of the coalition and the formation of the Tsipras government – supporter of the anti-austerity policies- marked the beginning of tough negotiations between the European Union and the new Greek Executive. According to analysts, this victory meant the beginning of a new possible contagious wave of anti-austerity movements and parties in Europe.

The victory of Syriza coalition in Greece can fire up the expansion of Eurosceptic and anti-system movements in the euro zone, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

While analysts predict a blockage of the negotiations and theorists argue that Europe is facing a crisis of democracy, both parts (EU and Greece) are declaring themselves in favor of a compromise.

The project of the direct democracy, proposed by the political science graduates and founders of Podemos, led by Pablo Iglesias, is bringing a new perspective on the European political scene and might cause changes in a Europe strangled by the economic crisis and in search of new alternatives.

Podemos party had a spectacular ascent in Spain succeeding, in only four months of existence, to obtain 8% of the national vote at the European elections. In January 30, 2015 Podemos managed to gather in the centre of Madrid over 100.000 people and ranks first, according to surveys, the Spaniards preferences.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unFxEn2gcTs[/youtube]
Opinions are divided when it comes to the future of these parties and their impact at European level. While some analysts believe that we are witnessing a crisis of democracy, representation and European citizenship, others argue that these „voices” will extinguish along with overcoming the economic crisis and the rising of the living standards.

What are the main principles of radical leftist coalition SYRIZA, the guidelines of the Greek Government and how they will overcome the differences with the European Union, we find out from Konstantinos Chrysogonos – MEP SYRIZA.

Konstantinos Chrysogonos – is a Greek professor of Constitutional law and a Member of the European Parliament, representing the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) political party. As a Member of the European Parliament he is a Vice-President of the Committee on Development (DEVE), full member of the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) and member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). He is also a member of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee and a substitute member of the Delegation to the CARIFORUM — EU Parliamentary Committee as well as the USA — EU Parliamentary Committee.

Konstantinos Chrysogonos – SYRIZA MEP

[quote align=”center”color=”#999999″]SYRIZA is a political force, competitive with capitalist relations of exploitation, oppression and alienation. Greek people mandated SYRIZA government to stop austerity and find another way in order to achieve economic recovery for the country. Greece country needs its time and space. We need a reasonable compromise between both sides.[/quote]

Anca Loghin: What are the values of your  party?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: SYRIZA is a pro-European party. It defends the values of social justice, solidarity, equality and freedom, against nationalism, militarism, racism and fascism. SYRIZA is a political force competitive to capitalist relations of exploitation, oppression and alienation. Its goals are: recovering Greek sovereignty of Greece, giving a response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Memorandum, restoring our people dignity and restoring social justice in our country.

Anca Loghin: What are your proposals to overcoming the financial and economic crisis in Greece?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: All Greece needs is some time and space. We need to get rid of the obligation to achieve a surplus of 5% of our GDP in our budget and we should be satisfied if we get a primary budget surplus of, let’s say, 1, to 1.5% of our Gross Domestic Product. This is realistic and this would give us enough time and space to perform structural reforms to combat tax evasion and bring concrete results. Our government will target wealthy Greeks who have not paid their fair sales taxes during the 6 years of economic slump.

Anca Loghin: Regarding these proposals, some of them are not in agreement with EU principles. How do you think that these differences with European Union policies will be managed?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: I hope that we can come to negotiated results which will be acceptable for both sides. We need a reasonable compromise. The program of austerity, which was implemented in the last 5 years, has led the Greek economy and society to ruins and it was condemned by the Greek electorate in the last parliamentary elections. Therefore this program must be changed. We cannot go on with business as usual, and the European elites must accept realities and must accept the values upon which the very project of European unification was based and these values are democracy and respect for fundamental rights. The fundamental rights of the Greek people, and especially of the most vulnerable ones, especially the social rights, have been seriously and massively violated through the austerity programs implemented in Greece. It’s is time to change course of things.

Anca Loghin: What is the state of negotiations?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: I suppose it won’t come to an end neither today, not tomorrow, some months of negotiations are necessary in order to achieve a final result, and this is exactly what we are asking for, when we speak about a „breath” for Greece, until June, so that we can come forward with very detailed proposals and negotiate them with our partners and creditors.

Anca Loghin: Do you think other European Union countries will support Greece?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: I hope that they will do, because European unification has proceeded through compromises and not through ultimatums or unilateral imposition of the will of one nation upon the others. We must come to reasonable compromises, and a reasonable compromise for Greece would be one that will give Greece a chance to breathe because right now Greek society is suffering heavily. More than 40% of our people live at the threshold of poverty line or under that. We’ve got an unemployment rate of something like 26 or 27%, we have hundreds of thousands of people who cannot afford to heat their homes in winter, all this cannot go on.

Anca Loghin: But it is not a burden for countries in the European Union?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: This is not necessarily so. We can achieve compromises that will be suitable for all without creating new burdens. But implementing the existing program as if nothing happened, is simply out of the question. The Greek people have given Syriza Government a mandate for stopping austerity and for finding another way, a plausible and doable way, in order to achieve economic recovery for the country. The reality is that the program has failed and the main actors of the program who have accepted this. For example, the IMF has corrected its forecast for the Greek economy almost every time that it has renewed its forecasts. Almost every semester it has accepted that the forecast from the previous semester was wrong. So, we cannot go on with this wrong program.

Anca Loghin: Do you think SYRIZA party principles and Greece’s example will help other European countries faced with crisis?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: This is for other countries to decide, what they want or don’t want to do and for their national electorates. As far as the Greek electorate is concerned, the Greek electorate has decided that they can’t go on with austerity and our partners should respect this judgment of the Greek people.

Anca Loghin: Regarding the foreign policy, the press has written about an alleged proximity of Greece to Russia or China. What is the perspective on this?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: Greece is a member of the European Union. This is not negotiable. However, Greece’s internal reconstruction is linked to new foreign and defense policy that actively promotes the principles of independence, popular sovereignty, democracy, peace, freedom and territorial integrity of the country. Therefore SYRIZA will promote a multidimensional foreign policy, energetic and peaceful, so that Greece can regain its own voice on the international scene. Our strategic objectives are to protect and promote the interests of the Greek people solving all issues of foreign policy, defense and security, based on international law and on the principles of peaceful settlement of disputes and problems. Of course getting rid of the Memorandum is a prerogative for our new foreign policy which defends the interest of the people. We are open to collaboration to every country in the world, given of course, our role and our position as a member of the European Union.

Anca Loghin: If the negotiations will fail what would be the consequences of Greece leaving the euro zone?

Konstantinos Chrysogonos: I do not think that such prospect is realistic and it is not wished by any of the Member States. Everybody had said that they want Greece to remain in the euro zone and that is what Greeks also want, therefore Greece leaving the euro zone is not an option. The European Institutions must prove that they can coexist even with leftist governments in some Member States. If left wing parties are allowed only to take part in the elections but not in governments, then it is obvious that we are talking about a semi-authoritarian political structure; This is not the case I suppose and I hope.

Konstantinos Chrysogonos in dialogue with Anca Loghin

The principles of the radical leftist coalition SYRIZA are embraced by the young party Podemos (We Can) in Spain which promotes, with enthusiasm, a project of direct democracy.

Lola Sanchez Caldentey MEP Podemos is a young graduate of Political Science from Cartagena, Murcia region, who followed a slightly unusual path towards politics. She emigrated three times and returned to Spain to finally joined Podemos without any experience in politics.

Lola Sanchez Caldentey – PODEMOS MEP

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]”I listened to the speeches of Pablo Iglesias and I have decided that the solution he proposes is the response not only my problems but also for other generations who have difficulties because of the crisis. People should be involved in politics. If the European Union does not hear us, what is left for us to do? „[/quote]
Anca Loghin: What are the principles and values of Podemos?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: Fundamental is the common good of the community, of the people, against of any other type of interest. Private interests are present in Spain or in any other European countries, for example the Troika. Economic interests of large companies or corporations benefits are favored to the detriment of the common welfare of the people. For us, people come first.

Anca Loghin: Do you encourage and support a form of direct participatory democracy? Do you believe that all people have the expertise needed to develop policies for example?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: Of course that all people are qualified to participate, and they should participate, because otherwise people are deceived, and those mandated no longer work for citizens. Politicians use institutions to obtain benefits for themselves or third parties and not for those who elected them. Therefore, in order to change this situation, everyone must participate in the political process and they must have a continuous surveillance of the politicians and institutions. Everyone is entitled to participate because everyone knows how to manage his own life and his own well-being.

I always give the example the housewives from Spain where, lately, the family income decreased considerably. These women manage their households and families incomes and manage to survive. Certainly a woman like this is a much better manager than the current Minister of Economy of Spain and many other ministers, because she is able to manage every euro for her family in order to ensure their well-being. This woman, this mother has a healthy and dignified scale of values, because for her, the well-being of her family and relatives comes first. She knows how to manage even a small budget for achieving this objective.

Anca Loghin: The opposition is often criticizing you and the press reflects Podemos as an anti-system party. How do you comment on this?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: No, we are not an anti-system party, we are just against its faultily mechanism.

Anca Loghin: Well then, you suggest a change in this system. What would it be?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: Podemos doesn’t propose other institutions, what we want is that these institutions open up to people, to their opinion, to an intense surveillance, in order to make the people’s voice heard. For example, we saw in Greece, people voted to change their government. This Syriza party does not want to eliminate the European Union, the euro zone, the European Institutions; they are not anarchists, they not destructive. What they want is to change the political meaning of the actions of all institutions that caused the ruin of their society.

Anca Loghin: I understand that Podemos and SYRIZA are somehow twin parties. But what are the differences between the two of them?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: To begin with, the differences are related to the origins of each party. SYRIZA is a coalition of parties that have reached a mutual agreement and Podemos is an organization that was born spontaneously and evolved from the bottom up, from the people and it’s managed by people with no political backgrounds. In conclusion, SYRIZA is a union of parties while Podemos is a union of people from different social classes with different backgrounds, who share a common goal: they all think that institutions exist to protect people.

Anca Loghin: What is main the ingredient of the success that the party obtained in a short period of time in Spain?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: Nobody said before us, at least in Spain, that we need all people to do politics and not only their votes, as the classic parties remember the people only in campaigns. We have a reversed the path. We said: we need everyone to do politics. We believe that everyone should tell us what they need for their own good, we listen and then we decide, we develop a strategy and we and start working. In this way, entering the political institutions in a democratic manner, using the rules of the game, being transparent and respecting the democratic rules, we can change their function from inside. The secret is to give people the power and make them the protagonists of the political process from start to finish.

Anca Loghin: It is not difficult to achieve this?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: Now, thanks to the Internet is much easier to achieve this. A few years ago we could not implement this plan, but now is achievable. You can make virtual meetings, people vote through the Internet, they can submit proposals and so we get a major contribution from people. Podemos builds its program and organization, based on proposals from people.

Anca Loghin: Podemos and SYRIZA are also criticizing the diminished sovereignty of the states within the European Union, but this principle is part of the agreements with the European community. How do you handle this?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: In this case, it means that something needs to be changed in the European Union. If a treaty proves that does not work or is overtaken by circumstances and by the people’s needs, it should be changed. The world is inhabited by people and that’s why a treaty has to work not only in favor of economic markets, or for money and financial transactions; these are just numbers in a bank account. The existing policies don’t bring us wealth. Europe is becoming more prosperous but money is in possession of a small interest groups. In this case we need a reform. We are in a situation where the distance between political parties, institutions and people is becoming higher and higher. In all this circuit, the economic powers are involved, dictating their own interests to the parties and institutions and damaging the representation system. I see these aspects in the European Parliament where sometimes, MEPs are voting certain policies that I know their electors won’t vote for themselves, so we cannot say that they are represented. Promoting other interests than those of citizens is damaging the social contract who states that, the one I choose is there to represent me.

Anca Loghin: Do you think that is a problem of democracy in Europe now?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey: Yes, it is a problem of democracy and representation; these values are choked by the economic interests. I call this situation „post-democracy”, because this is not a representative democracy of a common interest, but rather a representation of particular interests. And after all this is a lie, because we continue to vote for them and they continue to not do what they promise. And what is worse is that media entered into this game, at least here in Spain. There are a few critical communication media that are presenting the reality as it is. People believe in media but media distorts the reality along with the politicians.

If the European Union does not hear us, what is left for us to do?

Lola Sanchez Caldentey in dialogue with Anca Loghin

What is the European Parliament’s position towards the emergence of the radical left parties on the European political scene and the anti-austerity movements, we found out from Jaume Duch, Spokesperson of the European Parliament.

Jaume Duch Guillot is the spokesperson for the European Parliament since July 2008. He is also Director of the Media Directorate within the Directorate-General for Communication of the Parliament’s administration, including the press service, the web communication unit, the audiovisual service and Parliament’s web TV, EuroparlTV.

Jaume Duch Guillot – Spokesperson of the EP

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]„People link this crisis with the European Union, maybe not for the best or for the true reasons but this is the feeling that they have. I do not think Greece will leave the Eurozone. We cannot imagine a European Union where Member States are starting to leave the Eurozone, that would be contrary to the principles of European integration. „[/quote]

Anca Loghin: What do you think that are the causes of the emergence of these radical leftist parties on the European political scene. Do you think that votes for these parties were more emotional than rational?

Jaume Duch: I would say, first of all, that the situation is not the same for all 28 EU countries. It is true that, at the last European elections there was an increase of votes for these kind of leftist parties in Spain for instance, in Greece and maybe other countries but this is was not a general situation. In other countries there were right parties or even radical right parties who had some wins and in others it was completely different.
This situation, the fact of voting for parties which are critical about the European Union and about the European construction it’s probably linked to the crisis, which in some countries it has been only a monetary one but in other countries it was, and it still is, a very tough economic crisis.

People link this crisis with the European Union, maybe not for the best or for the true reasons but this is the feeling that they have. And this is why some of them, in different countries, decided to go and vote for parties that are presenting themselves as an alternative to the mainstream parties which have been leading the European Union until now and still right now.

Anca Loghin: How do you manage to resolve these differences of opinion between these parties and the EU principles, particularly with SYRIZA in Greece? What is the state of negotiations?

Jaume Duch: First of all SYRIZA is not a party is a coalition of parties and not all parties within SYRIZA are positioned in the same way. It would be quite difficult for me and for the rest of the members of the European Parliament to say that Mr. Tsipras is radical. It is clear that Mr. Tsipras comes from the left side of the ideological landscape in Europe, but being radical or being radical left is probably another thing. Let’s see what happens now when he is prime minister. He has to accommodate to his new position. Now he is not representing a party nor a coalition, he is representing all Greece, he has to negotiate and he is negotiating different things, including, of course, the economic and monetary situation for Greece. What we are seeing now is something that we have seen in the past. Sometimes the governments arrive to Bruxelles with a different perspective of the situation and the solutions, and then there is a negotiation and this negotiation can be easy and short of difficult and long but there is always a solution at the end, there is always a compromise and I’m quite sure that this will be again the case.

Alexis Tsipras promised to the Greek electorate something which is, in fact, objectively impossible. He was promising a fair cut of the debt and this is something that cannot be accepted by the countries who put money on the table and it’s logic. You can try to imagine this situation in your family or in your neighborhood: if you lend money to someone you expect them back, even if it’s thirty years later. You are not there just to accept that the debt disappears just because of political reasons.

One thing is a party and another thing is the government. You can be very radical when you are campaigning and then, at some point, if you get the government, of course you can still be quite radical or very radical but sometimes the realities may force you to be a little bit more moderate, or less radical, in the way you are presenting your targets. This has been the past experience in lots of places, in lots of member states form The EU, let’s see what happens in Greece. This is an ongoing situation. This kind of negotiations have also a kind of drama and at some point both parts need to show to their electorate that they have pushed until the end to get a solution. Of course if you interview different members of the European Parliament you will probably get different sensitivities about this. From my own experience, as an official not politician, what I have seen in the last years in Bruxelles is that even if sometimes is at the last moment, or even a little bit after the last moment, there is always an arrangement.

Anca Loghin: Leaders of the two left-wing parties are often saying that in case of Spain and Greece it is a failure of the European policies. How do you comment on this?

Jaume Duch: This is a very political question, and I, as a spokesperson of the European Parliament, cannot enter into real politics. The measures taken by the European Union before the economic and monetary crisis were the same for all the member states. Then, the fact that when the crisis arrived some member states where in a much difficult position than others, it’s probably related more to the real state of their national economies and to the decisions taken by the governments in those countries, before the crisis, that because of the measures taken by Bruxelles right after the crisis.

Anca Loghin: These remaining issues in dispute could threaten progress in the European Union?

Jaume Duch: The European Union cannot be in a shake situation every single day. We have spent five very difficult years because of the economic crisis, because of recession, because of austerity,it has been tough for a lot of people and it was quite difficult for the European Institutions. We needed a lot of European Summits to arrive to good results and to help some member states to cope with the consequences of the crisis. It’s true that this situation also created a less constructive relationship between citizens or part of the citizenship of the Union and the European Union Institutions. What we need now, I would say, is a more calm period, a period where the Commission can do its job, where the European Parliament can help the Commission also in this job, and where the citizens can feel again that being members of the European Union is a safe warranty for them not a ticket for a kind of adventure.

Anca Loghin: Do you think that the Syriza’s ascent to power and now the excellent prospects of Spain’s correspondent will start anti-austerity movements all across Europe?

Jaume Duch: Well it’s probably the other way around. These parties are there because there has been an anti-austerity movement in some or in several member states for a while now. They are probably one of the answers from part of the citizens in the Union to contest, to oppose this austerity measures.

Anca Loghin: What will lose the euro zone if Greece will leave it?

Jaume Duch: I really don’t think that Greece is going to leave the Eurozone. I’m almost sure and almost convinced that at the end there will be an arrangement, that solidarity among the member states will play again positively and Greece will get what it needs now, which is a little bit more of time and a little bit more of consensus with the European institutions to go on. I cannot imagine a European Union where Member States leave the euro zone because this will be absolutely opposite or contrary to the real sense of the European integration.

Jaume Duch Guillot in dialogue with Anca Loghin

If these parties will resist on the European political scene, if they will determine a new sense of European democracy and policies and if they will manage to reach a consensus with the European Union we’ll try to find out from political analyst Cristian Pîrvulescu, who summarizes the main conclusions of the reportage.

Cristian Pîrvulescu is a Romanian political analyst, activist, journalist and essayist. He is a professor at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest and became its Dean in December 2005. He is an active figure in the Romanian post-1989 Revolution non-governmental organization scene. He has been president of Pro Democraţia since 1999, is a founding member of the Romanian Political Science Association. Cristian Pîrvulescu is a frequent editorialist, commentator and analyst in Romanian and foreign media.

Cristian Pîrvulescu – Political Analyst

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]”The economic crisis has changed the relationships between the European society and the political class. The radical left in Europe, gradually reformed after the fall of communism. Although they are marginal on the European political scene, if we refer to the European Parliament, we can say that left wing parties and radical leftist are already playing a very important role, because they impose new ideas.” [/quote]

„The parties, especially SYRIZA and Podemos, are two parties that have grown due to the crisis and I think we can explain the success of these radical left political organizations from these countries and in general from the Mediterranean countries, through their radical and anarchist traditions. Moreover, there is a terminological confusion, some try to place them at the extreme left, others consider them populists and they define themselves as radical left (SYRIZA). 

On the other hand, it is a significant difference, as Mrs. Sanchez said, between SYRIZA and Podemos, because SYRIZA is an old organization, formed in 2004 through cooperation between several political parties. From 2004 to 2012 the radical left remained somewhere at the periphery of the parliamentary representation but after 2012, when the unique party SYRIZA was created, which means the Radical Left Coalition, the organization flourished. In Greece we talk about a very ancient Greek tradition of anarchism, meanwhile in Spain, the anarchist influences are not as strong, although there is a long tradition here too, but we talk more about a political and union anarchism, closely linked to radical forms of expression and nowhere near a general formula on anarchism. This is how we can place these parties in time, and how they are right now, and democracy is in the middle of these discussions. For anti-capitalists, and both parties are anti-capitalist, the critique of capitalism is based on democratic positions.

It is hard to say whether these movements will expand. The traditions are different. If we look at the success rates of the European Left party, from which both parties are claimed, we see that the results are not spectacular except a few countries. And of course, Die Linke party in Germany is still quite difficult to be associated with Podemos in Spain or SYRIZA in Greece, and that’s because the German Left Party is a party of another generation, of the sixty’s, those who left communism in 1968 but still remained anti-capitalist. These new parties like Podemos, are focusing especially on young people using the new media and trying to revolutionize politics through their obsession of a direct democracy.

Internet and technology are allowing a greater democratization of the society but these are complementary to the representative democracy. It is an illusion to believe that the parties will disappear, also Podemos turned eventually into a party and that’s because Pablo Iglesias and those who joined him, were professors of political science and clearly understood the need to transform a movement of social impact in a political force. In fact, the radical left in Europe gradually reformed after the fall of communism, went through a difficult period, but gradually, especially taking advantage of social and economic crisis after 2007, managed to communicate with one part of the society, having a more coherent message for the people. That this message will not be the only one in Europe, it’s obvious, but it contributes to a renewal of European political thought and certainly the democratization of European society. „

The relationship between radical left parties and the European Union.

„It is a tactical negotiation between the European institutions and Greece (SYRIZA) but the EU cannot afford to lose a country from its ranks. Finally, a negotiated position between the two parties will be found, as long as, both parts involved, I mean the European Commission on one hand and the Greek government on the other hand, do not lose sight of the common interest of all and that is solving the problems. Many countries, many governments in Europe, for example French or Italian government, are interested to make pressure using the Greek case in order to change policies in the EU and reduce austerity. USA, which in any case cannot be regarded as a state ruled by the radical left, did not apply austerity and they have a significant growth of 3.5% while Europe is somewhere at 1%, a rather difficult economic situation. The accusations of Mr. Tsipras and Mr. Varoufakis, the Finance Minister, towards the European policies are justified .”

Podemos and their project of direct participation.

„Obviously the idea of a participatory democracy is based on mobilizing the citizens to participate, but is participation a permanent state of the society? We see that, at least in times of economic stability and welfare, the society retreats in other areas and it doesn’t remain in the political zone. Basically, this idea of  democracy in which citizens or permanently participating, it’s an illusion. These platforms of Podemos where citizens can make proposals, are moderated by someone, by a person. Someone interprets according to their own values and beliefs, these proposals and this will certainly generate tensions within the political party like within any other. Sooner or later Podemos will confront with the problem of too much internal democracy, because at some point there will be complains that the management does not consider proposals coming from the base and neither can take into account too many of these proposals. Democracy is based on the principle of equality between citizens. Or, if only some people participate and others do not, in fact participation doesn’t achieve its objectives, the idea is not to stimulate some to participate but to help everyone participating.

The future of left and radical left parties on the European political scene.

„Although marginal on the European political scene, if we refer to the European Parliament – the parties holding the absolute majority are the classical ones – left-wing parties and radical leftist are already playing a very important role because they impose new ideas. Moreover, PE proves its superiority, compared to most European parliaments, through this proportional system which allows expression of opinions and the renewal of all European policies. There is this interest to influence the European policies, possibly to change the Treaties, in any case to make Europe more open to all social categories and not just to certain influential interest groups, especially economic groups. „

Reportage created, produced and moderated by ANCA LOGHIN