Will a breath of fresh air sweep through Greece on Sunday - and upset the EU applecart?

[Peter Lemkin]

In the EU countries, citizens actually vote for their representatives to the EU - in some countries there is some connection to the parties in power; while in others it can be little to no connection. The page on the latest election in Greece for its delegates to EU is here http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2...ml#table03 and hard to interpret quickly for a non-Greek and non-EU reader. The MEP representatives are not directly responsive to the political winners of the current election. By custom, they usually listen to them, but they don't have to. In each country there are different mechanisms for their election every five years. So, it is complex to interpret any vote by the Greek block of delegates in the EU. If the new government or the Greek People are unhappy with the delegates they can replace them eventually, but it may take some time and effort.

I thought that letter to the German People was very nicely done.

On a personal note, I used to at one time in my life go for a time every early summer to the Greek Islands, passing through Athens and some other Greek cities on the way. I really liked the Greeks I met, generally. Perhaps those who live on the small islands are not representative, but I rather doubt that. They were hard working, friendly, gracious, well-versed in history [very aware of how the USA and others had stabbed them in the back just after WW2], progressive politically for the most part, loving of life, and less materialistic than the US and much of Western Europe. I wish them well, and don't understand where the neo-Nazis came from [what rock they crawled out from under]. I have one favorite village on a favorite island. It gets overrun in July/August by too many Italians, but off-season it is as close to paradise as I've experienced. In the winter it is an international 'artist' community, sitting on the lip of a volcano, looking out to the all-too-blue sea. This island was the one that the myth of 'Atlantis' came from, as most of the island and its people of rich Minoan culture vanished into the sea when the volcano exploded about 2000 years ago. The volcano smolders still....an apt metaphore for what is now going on politically in Greece......