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Because of a moratorium on any political activity the day before the election, yesterday was very quiet. Athens seemed to empty out somewhat as people went home to vote. However, the relative silence was punctured by sustained cheers and horn beeping when Greece beat Russia and progressed into the quarter finals of Euro 2012.

Day two of my visit began with a press conference of international guests to support Syriza. Political representatives from the Left Bloc in Portugal, Izquierda Unida in Spain, a left group in Argentina, the ambassador from Venezuela to Greece and a member of Occupy Wall Street addressed the press together with myself and members of Syriza. The emphasis of all of the speeches were on the centrality of the struggle in Greece for working people all across Europe and the impact that a Syriza victory could have.

Paul Murphy MEP is in Greece this week, campaigning with Syriza in the run-up to Sunday's election. He'll be writing daily reports of his experiences; the first of these is below.

Mick Wallace’s failure to pay the original sum of €1.4 million in VAT is disgraceful, unacceptable and indefensible.

The government in Britain will be hoping that the Jubilee flotilla of 1,000 ships on the river Thames will serve as a useful distraction while it pushes through more swingeing cuts.

If you vote ‘No’ you will be exiled to Siberia! Just about the only threat the Irish people have not been menaced with over the past few weeks. Don’t be surprised if it yet emerges, as we enter the last week of the campaign around the Referendum on the Fiscal/Austerity Treaty.

Time and again we’ve heard threats of economic catastrophe, usually accompanied with advice that it can only be avoided by accepting worse austerity immediately.

Speaking in the aftermath of the French election, which exit polls predict will see François Hollande defeat Nicholas Sarkozy and exit polls from Greece that indicate a punishment for the two traditional establishment parties of New Democracy and PASOK and strong votes for forces of the radical left, with the radical left coalition, Syriza, claiming second position, Paul Murphy MEP (Socialist Party / United Left Alliance) commented:

If it was raining soup, the man would be out with a fork,’ famously said a disgruntled Fine Gael backbencher many years ago, in reference to his party leader’s tendency to always choose the wrong policy option.