Battleground Europe looms
In a series of elections, voters will have to decide whether to endorse existing governments, be tempted by populist anti-EU parties or just abstain.
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GREECE is in the eye of the euro storm. Germany's decision, backed by other euro member states, against extending or softening Greek financial support may end with the election of the first national government fully opposed to the single currency bloc's austerity politics.
As the prelude to a year of important polls across Europe, on Dec 29 Greece's left-wing Syriza party joined the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn and other Members of Parliament to refuse to vote for the coalition's presidential candidate, triggering an election on Jan 25.
Greece has suffered a 25 per cent drop in gross domestic product (GDP) over the past six years and massive cuts in jobs, pay and pensions. The result has been an impressive turnaround in the country's national budget and international accounts. But Greece remains in crisis. And this month's poll is just one of a series of elections - including those in Finland, Estonia, Spain, Poland, Denmark and Britain - where voters have to decide whether to endorse existing governments, be tempted by populist anti-EU parties or just stay at home and abstain.
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