Every Sunday evening millions of Germans sit down to watch a crime series called ‘Tatort’. It is middle-of-the-road viewing signaling the end of one week, the beginning of another.
The TV equivalent of sitting down to sausages and green cabbage. On the Sunday just passed, the ‘Tatort’ reached 28.5 percent of TV viewers.
Yet for them too, the momentous events going in Greece made their presence felt.
At some point during the programme, a bright ‘Breaking News’ ribbon flashed along the bottom of the screen. It informed viewers that the first projections in the Greek elections put Syriza party in first place.
It was a neat illustration of how what was happening in Greece over the weekend, became what was happening in Europe over the weekend.
It’s hard to exaggerate the state of flux in the EU just now.
Greek voters have brought a radical left-wing party to power – the first in post-World II Europe. That same party has chosen to team up with a nationalist and populist party on the right. They have virtually nothing in common – bar a visceral hatred of the troika and the outside-imposed austerity.
