ATHENS — To the thumping rhythms of a Leonard Cohen tune, the pair of leftist leaders hugged tight, then thrust their fists into the cool air of an Athens evening as thousands cheered and waved blazing red flags.
One could be prime minister of Spain by the end of the year. The other could be leading Greece by the end of next week. Together, they presented themselves as the vanguard of a Europe transformed by a surge in radical leftist support unparalleled in the continent’s post-Cold War history.
“There are millions of people across Europe who are watching Greece, and pinning their hopes on us,” shouted Alexis Tsipras, the boyish-looking 40-year-old former Communist activist who is considered a heavy favorite to win Sunday’s elections here.
And yet, there are also millions across the continent who will be watching with profound apprehension. If Tsipras and his Syriza party triumph on Sunday, it will set the stage for an epic showdown pitting his anti-austerity insurgency against German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other titans of the European policy establishment.
The already-shredded Greek economy will hang in the balance. But so, too, will the future of the currency union at the core of Europe’s economy, as well as the political consensus that has guided the continent through a troubled and still-fragile recovery from a historic recession.
On its face, the contest is a mismatch, with small, heavily indebted Greece in poor position to demand a renegotiation of the straight-jacket-style terms of its $284 billion bailout agreements from its German-dominated creditors.
And yet, that is exactly what Tsipras has promised at campaign stops around Greece this month, culminating in a prediction Thursday night in Athens that by Monday, “our national humiliation will be over.”
Polls show that Greeks are ready to trust him to make good on the vow. After decades of toggling between center-right and center-left governments, the country is on the verge of electing a former fringe party that encompasses every shade of radical left, including Marxists, Maoists, socialists and greens.
The party has ridden a wave of voter exasperation by Greeks fed up after five years of extreme austerity that have left the country with 25 percent unemployment and 3 million people living at or below the poverty line. And while the current center-right government was able to eliminate the annual deficit through deep cuts to public spending, crippling debts remain at 175 percent of GDP.
