SYRIZA’s political sideshow

Ilias Iliou, the parliamentary group representative for the United Democratic Left (EDA) party between 1958-1967 and a politician who was widely respected, even by his rivals, once quipped about the communists' unique ability to turn a mundane procedure like a meeting into a process that needs to be suffered through.

The events in the last few weeks in main leftist opposition SYRIZA brought back to mind Iliou's memorable adage. SYRIZA is not a communist party, of course. It emerged in 2010 from the split of Synaspismos and two years later rose in popularity to become the main opposition. Then, in January 2015, its then-leader, Alexis Tsipras, formed a politically unorthodox coalition government with the nationalist-populist Independent Greeks (ANEL) and its ex-leader, Panos Kammenos.

Tsipras and his associates did not have the time to reach political and...