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European Elections: Growth of the Left and the Far Right
Tue, 2014-05-27 15:44
#1
European Elections: Growth of the Left and the Far Right
Tue, 2014-05-27 15:52
#2
The European Parliamentary elections last week have seen the growth of both the left and the far right as citizens tire of the austerity program created by the centre-right and the centre-left. The reaction of the centre can already be seen, at least in words.
European Union leaders north and south of the economic divide are channeling an anti-austerity electoral backlash as they seek to push the case for an easing of fiscal policy throughout the euro zone.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s victory and French President Francois Hollande’s defeat in the European elections united them in seizing on the results to press for an overhaul of the EU’s German-backed budget-cutting model that has held sway since the debt crisis erupted more than four years ago.
“Europe has overcome the euro crisis, but at what cost?” Hollande said in a televised address to the nation late yesterday after his Socialists were routed by the anti-euro, anti-immigration National Front. “Europe’s priorities must be growth, jobs, investment.”
As EU chiefs prepared to meet over dinner in Brussels today to discuss the way forward after the unprecedented surge of protest parties across the 28-nation bloc, the momentum for looser fiscal rules was building. With the euro-region’s fragile political stability at stake, political leaders stepped up their demands for more tolerance of public spending as more necessary than ever to head off the anti-austerity upsurge.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-26/eu-austerity-rethink-urged-as-v...
Tue, 2014-05-27 16:29
#3
In Greece, many have seen the result of years of austerity and want it to end now. They realize that the centre-right and centre-left neoliberal agenda is destroying their lives and therefore have shifted in large numbers to Syriza, which finished first and means "Coalition of the Radical Left" and to the far-right Golden Dawn, which finished third in voting. This shift in voting mimics the shift in voting that occurred globally in the 1930s, the last time there was an economic downturn at least as bad as today's.
Greece’s main opposition Syriza party placed first in elections to the European Parliament without winning by a big enough margin to destabilize Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s government.
“In the short run there is no problem of government stability,” Dimitris Sotiropoulos, associate professor of political science at the University of Athens, said in a phone interview. “While both governing parties have lost several percentage points each, their combined popular support is above the popular support of the main opposition.”
Greek bonds rose today after Syriza, short in Greek for Coalition of the Radical Left, got 26.6 percent of the vote in yesterday’s election, compared with 22.7 percent for Samaras’s New Democracy, according to a count of 98.4 percent of ballots posted on the Interior Ministry website. Samaras’s junior coalition partner, Pasok, running as the Elia alliance, took 8 percent.
“Those who tried to turn the EU election into a plebiscite failed,” Samaras said in comments televised live by state-run Nerit TV. “They failed to create conditions of instability, uncertainty and political ungovernability.”
The European vote, together with Greek local and regional elections, was seen as a test of the ruling coalition’s stability. While Samaras has presided over Greece’s return to capital markets, the effects of the debt crisis and a six-year recession remain visible in a country where more than half of young people are out of work.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-25/greece-s-syriza-leading-in-eu-e...
Tue, 2014-05-27 16:41
#4
On the other hand, the European Parliament elections also saw the rapid growth of the far right. The following article describes nine far right parties that are now represented in the European Parliament: the Front National in France; the National Democratic Party in Germany; Golden Dawn in Greece; Finns in Finland; Danish People's Party in Denmark; Party for Freedom in the Netherlands; Jobbik in Hungary; Austrian Freedom in Austria; and Lega Nord in Italy. The article also discusses the British National Party, which lost its only seat in Parliament. However, the article does not discuss UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party), which led the British European Parliament elections. The UKIP leader and some of its candidates have made repeated racist and homophobic remarks and should be included on the list of far-right parties.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/26/far-right-europe-election_n_5...
Tue, 2014-05-27 23:27
#5
Even though the leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage, and some of his candidates have repeatedly used racist and homophobic comments, UKIP has won more votes than the Conservatives or Labour, something that has not happened in the United Kingdom for more than a century. This also reflects the growing disenchantment with the centre-right and cente-left parties across Europe. Ukip won 27.5%, resulting in 23 Members of European Parliament (MEP) while Labour 25.4% and 18 MEPs and the Conservatives had 23.94% and 18 MEPs.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/may/26/european-election-r...
UKIP leader Nigel Farage was reported to UK's racism watchdog for comments he made. His candidates have made rpeated raciist and homophobic remarks that appeared to have no effect on UKIP's popularity in the local and European elections.
Nigel Farage has been reported to Britain’s racism watchdog.
The Ukip leader suggested people in London would be right to be concerned if Romanians moved in next door.
The watchdog confirmed today that it has powers to investigate acts of prejudice and take individuals to court.
The move follows weeks of coverage on Ukip election candidates making controversial comments, which Mr Farage had previously put down to a few “idiots”. ...
Mr Farage was yesterday reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission in a letter by Labour MP Keith Vaz ...
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage-faces-racism-watchd...
Nigel Farage is dealing with fresh allegations of racism and homophobia in his party only days after the local and European elections as Ukip was forced to launch an investigation into comments made by one of its newly elected councillors.
Dave Small, who was elected to Redditch borough council on Friday, faces being kicked out of the party for referring to gay people as "perverts" and African immigrants as "scroungers".
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/24/ukip-councillor-investig...
Wed, 2014-05-28 23:15
#6
The following article discusses what happened in the six countries that moved to the left in the European Parlimaent elections: Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia. Ireland and Northern Ireland also shifted to the left but are not mentioned in the article. All of them have seen that austerity only makes the situation worse.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2014/may/26/european-elect...
Wed, 2014-05-28 23:17
#7
The following article discusses what happened in the six countries that moved to the left in the European Parlimaent elections: Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia. Ireland and Northern Ireland also shifted to the left but are not mentioned in the article. All of them have seen that austerity only makes the situation worse.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2014/may/26/european-elect...
Sat, 2014-05-31 15:24
#8
Having had five years of austerity because of the government paying off the humongous debts of the government's crony bankster friends, Irish in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland shifted to the left-wing Sinn Fein party and left-wing independents in large numbers.
Ireland has taken a decisive step to the left in local and European elections, where early returns on Saturday showed that the big winners were Sinn Fein, formerly the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, and Socialist independent candidates.
After almost seven years of economic austerity, voters vented their anger toward the government coalition parties, Fine Gael and Labour, blaming the latter in particular for its perceived failure to protect not only the interests of the poor but also its lower-middle-class supporters.
“Sinn Fein and independents have been the principal winners in this election,” the communications minister, Pat Rabbitte, told reporters as it became apparent that his Labour Party had been decimated. “The longevity of the recession is the worst we have seen and people are saying, ‘Enough is enough.' ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/world/europe/sinn-fein-benefits-as-ire...