The election of the far left party, Syriza, led by fire brand ex-Communist, Alexi Tsipras has certainly made the European Union sit up and think.  The reaction of Germany, whilst respecting the decision of the Greek populace to elect whom they choose, said Greece must keep to its austerity programme, as agreed, by the previous government.

Alexis Tspiras and his party reassured the European Union that they had no intention of leaving the Euro or European Union; however, the new Greek government wants an end to austerity, which will be a pivotal demand from Syriza in future meetings with European Union officials, which could prove a sticking point along with other policies Syriza wishes to pursue.

Tsipras comes from a Communist background and ultra - left socialist policies are at the heart of his government. He promised to tackle Greece's bankruptcy and ecconomic problems with his left wing ideology to end austerity, which attracted Greek voters in their droves, thus leading to him becoming Prime minister.  

When being sworn in he refused to accept the blessings of the Greek Orthodox church, something most Greek incoming political leaders accept; however, this would appear to be a reflection of his deep held left wing atheistic beliefs.

Syriza fell short over an overall majority in the Greek parliament, in Athens, so they had to find common ground with a party who are anti - austerity themselves and that came in the shape of the Independent Greeks, who are a right wing anti - immigration party.

 Apart from agreement on the policy of austerity which the European Union say Greece must honour, how many more policies will Syriza and the Independent Greeks agree on, as one is ultra left and one is ultra right?  There are bound to be internal tensions in this cobbled together government unless compremise can be reached; if not, Greece could be brought to a halt over the two squabbling parties or the government may fall, thus another election would probably have to be held.

At the moment if you're going to Europe on holiday, you have a good level of currency value with your Euros, however, all this could change if the government in Athens is on a collision with Brussels.

The victory of Syriza has given hope to fringe parties whether they be left or right all over Europe, who share Syrizas vision of anti - austerity policies, maybe the election of Syriza has started a ball rolling across Europe for fringe parties, time will tell, one thing is for certain, David Cameron and Angela Merkle now have something to think about in the wake of Syriza being swept to power.