Dublin City University and the network transform!europe organized a conference at “the site of the crime”, so to speak, under the title ‘Challenging the Rule of Troika, Transforming Europe’ with the main object of investigating the social and economic implications from the policies of austerity in the European periphery countries.

And although the conference took place under the auspices of an academic institution, however, its tone was in no doubt to be intensely political since many significant political and intellectual personalities of the European left have been invited and attended. Speakers in the conference included Protuguese Bloco de Esquerda MP Mariana Montagua and MEP Marisa Matias and Vice President of the the Party of the European Left, Irish Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy, Mary Lou McDonald Sinn Fein TD, while attending from Greece was Euclid Tsakalotos, SYRIZA MP, Haris Golemis Director of Nikos Poulantzas Institute, and Maria Karamessini economist.

The main event in the conference, however, was the keynote speech by Alexis Tsipras, who presented the Left’s alternative proposals for Europe, contrasting it with the neo-liberal policies of Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker-- supported for the European Commission presidency by the Samaras government as well —and Martin Schulz, the candidate of the PES. By charting out the developing political environment, Alexis Tsipras talked about the left’s alternative for the re-foundation of Europe, as opposed to a European ‘dark continent’ of rising ultra-right euro-skepticism.

Unlike Samaras’ appearance three days ago, who begged for a political arrangement that will buy himself additional political time in Greece, Alexis Tsipras appeared as the candidatewho expresses the true force opposing Merkel and her German fortress Europe that is founded on a periphery of over-indebted countries.

Alexis Tsipras deconstructed the Irish “success story”, presenting the figures concerning debt and immigration, which are haunting this European country currently, as high unemployment is doing in Greece, but also addressed the nature of the characteristics of production of both countries’ economies which are being destroyed.

Alexis Tsipras asked European citizens and his fellow candidates and opponents:  Have the memoranda failed, throughout Europe, or have they succeeded? Do we want a Europe of austerity, poverty, rising nationalism, far-right parties and neo-Nazism? Or the Europe of the Enlightenment, the Europe of human rights, of solidarity and democracy?

Dublin is Alexis Tsipras’ sixth destination stop in his campaign around Europe, having been received warmly everywhere he has spoken so far. According to a recent pan-European poll, the Party of the European Left appears to be doubling its strength and to be in a position to claim third place in the number of seats in the European parliament.