BRUSSELS — The Greek election not only strengthened opponents of austerity, it also highlighted a fundamental tension at the heart of Europe’s six-decade-long push to forge a closer union of democratic states: what to do when voters in different countries have different, even opposite, demands.
The victory of Syriza, a left-wing party that has vowed to renegotiate Greece’s debt, was cheered by anti-establishment politicians left and right across Europe as proof that Brussels, at the urging of Germany, has gone too far in pushing spending cuts that impoverish citizens.
But beneath the arguments over austerity is a deeper conflict of democratic wills, between the verdict of voters in Greece, who are desperate for some relief, and those in Germany, Finland and the Netherlands, who do not want their taxes used to underwrite a blank check for countries that get into financial trouble.
“Ultimately, this is a clash of democracies, rather than a clash of ideas,” said Mats Persson, director of Open Europe, a research organization in London. “Voters in Germany and Greece want very different things.”
Panos Kammenos, left, the leader of the Independent Greeks, announced a new coalition government on Monday after meeting with Alexis Tsipras, who swept to power on Sunday in Greece.
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In its only formal response to the Greek election, the commission on Monday issued a wooden statement, declaring that it “fully respects the sovereign and democratic choice of the Greek people,” but offering no words of congratulation to Syriza.
At the same time, it heaped praise on the “remarkable progress” made by Greece “in recent years,” a period of center-right leadership that put in place many of the measures demanded by Brussels but which voters firmly rejected on Sunday.
The commission also indicated that it expected the new Greek government led by Syriza to continue with “reforms,” often a euphemism for cost-cutting austerity measures as well as broader structural changes favored by Berlin. “We stand ready to continue assisting Greece in addressing the remaining reform challenges,” the statement said.
Brussels, said Mr. Persson of Open Europe, “is in a tricky position. The commission is the technocratic expression of austerity,” but “it is not really calling the shots” in a debate dominated by individual countries, notably Germany. “Whenever there is a big debate about money, power migrates to national capitals and the commission becomes a bystander.”
Alison Smale contributed reporting from Berlin.
