Pablo Iglesias

Pablo Iglesias, the leader of Spain's leftist Podemos party expressed support for Greek premier Alexis Tsipras as general elections got under way in the country, saying he had "the courage to govern with all Greek and European powers against [him]."

Anti-austerity Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias met with Spain’s King Felipe VI and said that he will support a new Socialist government alongside another anti-austerity group, the United Left.

“SYRIZA, Podemos – venceremos” chanted Podemos’s Pablo Iglesias into the microphone back in January 25, on the golden days of the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA). Greece had voted to “tear the bailout” and the anti-austerity sentiment was high. It was believed that an anti-austerity movement would rip-roar through Europe beginning in Greece with SYRIZA.

Back then, Iglesias had said:

SYRIZA leader and seven-month prime minister Alexis Tsipras told supporters at his main campaign rally on Friday, across from Greece’s parliament in Athens, that the third memorandum he negotiated and signed was the “best agreement” for the country.

Cracks along the envisioned “southern European” leftist front appeared on its western end this week, with the leader of Spain’s Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, announced on Thursday that one of the anti-austerity bloc’s co-founders, Juan Carlos Monedero, had resigned from a leading post.

By Esteban Duarte & Ben Sills

The euro area risks fueling extremist nationalist groups with its hard-line approach to negotiations with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, according to the Greek premier?s Spanish ally, Pablo Iglesias.

Greek leftist leader announces "end to humiliation"

ATHENS -- Leader of the Greek opposition Syriza party Alexis Tsipras has said that "an end to national humiliation" was near.

Greek leftist leader Alexis Tsipras told thousands of people gathered in Athens that an end to "national humiliation" was near after opinion polls on Jan. 22 showed his Syriza party pulling ahead three days before an election.
   

A far-left party set up only in January is surging in Spain's opinion polls ahead of next year's general election, feeding off anger over corruption and unemployment, and shaking up the traditional two-party system.

Podemos, which means "We Can" in Spanish, took first place in a survey of voting intentions for the first time on Nov. 2.

The European Parliament has re-elected Martin Schulz for a second presidential term, with 409 votes from the 751 MEPs.

Besides the Socialist S&D bloc, the European People’s Party (EPP) also backed Schulz in Tuesday’s vote at the first plenary session in Strasbourg. In return, the Socialists backed EPP’s Jean-Claude Juncker for the top post in the European Commission.