The personal and political reverence of leading Left Party representatives for Schäuble, the long-serving chairman of the Christian Democrats and former finance and interior minister, is not simply a character quirk. It expresses the thoroughly pro-capitalist and right-wing essence of the Left Party.
Europe’s radical right and radical left share a distaste for the status quo – but while one turns disquiet into votes, the other fails to make an impact.
Kasselakis was an unknown in Greece until this year, having lived in the United States. He worked first as a trader at Goldman Sachs and then ran several shipping companies.