“Spain's
centre-right Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hit back on Sunday against
accusations from Greece's leftist premier that Spain and Portugal had
led a conservative conspiracy to topple his anti-austerity
government. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Spain and
Portugal had taken a hard line in talks on the euro zone extending
the Greek bailout programme because they feared the rise of the left
in their own countries.”
“... in
a speech on Saturday to his Syriza party, which won an election on
Jan. 25, Tsipras turned on Madrid and Lisbon, accusing them of
attempting to sabotage the negotiations for political reasons.”
“Rajoy
said Spain had shown solidarity with Greece as part of the euro zone
by helping with its bailout and urged Greece to fulfil its
obligations and keep its promises. [...] The Greek government on
Sunday sought to play down the row, saying Tsipras was obliged to
tell Greeks how the negotiations went and that his comments had been
misinterpreted.”
“Spain's
anti-establishment Podemos movement has topped some opinion polls,
making it a serious threat to Rajoy's conservative People's Party in
an election which must be held by the end of this year. Portugal will
also have elections after the summer but no anti-austerity force as
potent as Syriza or Podemos has so far emerged there. Ireland will
hold an election in 2016. Opinion polls show the left-wing Sinn Fein
has become the closest rival to Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny's
centre-right Fine Gael party.”
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