It is time for the north to listen to the message from the south.

Syriza’s success is an astonishing electoral triumph. In postwar Europe it is highly unusual for a genuinely new electoral force – as opposed to a refit – to move from nowhere to government in the few years that it has taken Syriza. Other insurgent parties – such as France’s Front National, Germany’s Greens or Italy’s Lega Nord – can hardly compare with either the momentum or the achievement, never mind the programme. Such parties may have succeeded in inserting themselves into their national political calculus; none has swept to such a dizzying election win as Syriza managed on Sunday. This fact is however a reminder that the situation in Greece is a very particular one. Every country in western Europe has a far left. From time to time these parties enjoy an electoral spike. But the severity of its fiscal crisis – which was partly the predictable payback for the reckless decision by Athens to insist on and by the EU to allow Greek membership of the eurozone – marks Greece out. So does its political history, shaped successively by German occupation, civil war, military rule and the corruption of modern governments of both right and left. Greece’s situation is not typical. Syriza’s success will trigger great enthusiasm in other parts of Europe. Whether it is an outrider for a more general far left moment in Europe is less certain. Other Syrizas are not likely to succeed without something close to the economic and political conditions that apply in Greece. Few other European countries fit that bill.
 The overarching issue now is whether the Greek government and its creditors can find enough common interest to strike a deal.