“Greek people, especially the young, unemployed ones, needed someone to make things better for them.” “People in Greece have been having it rough for so many years, and then Syriza came along promising to make all these changes,” Dupas said. According to “ The Economist, “ Syriza’s share of the vote increased by 9 percentage points between the 20 parliamentary elections. Sam Dupas, a second-year aerospace engineering student who is also from Greece, said he expected Syriza to win, considering the widespread opposition to austerity measures. Protonotarios, who has grandparents and other relatives living in Greece, said his family didn’t support Syriza since they do not work in the public sector and are not significantly affected by austerity. “The majority was fed up with living under austerity measures, and they needed a change.” It’s been a long time coming,” Protonotarios said. These promises come at a time of economic crisis in the country, as well as record high levels of unemployment, which in 2014 reached 28 percent overall and 61 percent for individuals less than 25 years old.Īs part of austerity measures, which are taken by the government to reduce its budget deficit, the Greek government has cut its spending over the last five years, including a 33 percent decrease in educational spending and a reduction of minimum wage from 751 euros per month to 580 euros per month.Īntony Protonotarios, a second-year business economics student from Greece, said he was not surprised by Syriza’s win. The group Syriza, whose name is an acronym for a Greek phrase meaning “Coalition of the Radical Left,” promised to reintroduce the pre-austerity minimum wage and create 300,000 new jobs in Greece. The families of UCLA students from Greece could be witnessing the beginning of a new era for the country, as far-left, anti-austerity party Syriza won its first parliamentary election last week.
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