Across Europe, the Left is Waning

[Frodo]

Across Europe, Left-Leaning Parties See Clout Faltering

By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS in Paris and MARCUS WALKER in Berlin

PARIS -- The economic recession should have meant easy votes for Europe's left-wing movements, longtime critics of unchecked capitalism.

Yet as Europe goes to the polls, left-leaning parties across the continent are looking likely to falter. That's true both for those in government, such as in the U.K. and Spain, and in the opposition -- such as France, Germany and Italy.

France's Socialist Party is trying hard to rally voters ahead of Sunday's European parliamentary elections. "Let's unite with all the French who contest free market, unfair policies that aim at deregulating everything," party leader Martine Aubry urged at a pre-election rally.

Yet less than 20% of voters say they plan to cast their ballot for the Socialist Party, according to recent surveys. That would be a weak performance considering France's main opposition party got 29% of the votes in the last European parliamentary elections.

In Germany, the Social Democrats are expected to get only around 26% on Sunday, consistent with their low opinion-poll ratings ahead of Germany's national elections in September. Italy's center-left Partito Democratico is expected to get a similar percentage.

One reason is that as Europe tipped into recession, the right moved left -- appropriating some of the left's long-standing economic policies, including nationalizations and bailouts.

French conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, for example, helped recapitalize French banks, earmarked six billion euros for the auto sector and lashed out at "rascal bosses" with huge pay packages.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has planted her conservative camp firmly in the political center. Ms. Merkel has largely given up her former program of market-oriented reforms, and has gradually approved various kinds of state intervention to protect workers during the current recession, from bailing out carmaker Opel to subsidizing payrolls at companies whose export orders have collapsed.

Even before that, right-wing parties across the continent began offering more pragmatic approaches to policy than they had traditionally done. In the past decade, conservative parties introduced competition or privatized some public services in France, Germany and Italy -- but they refrained from dismantling the health-care and public transport services cherished by voters.

[Keystone Phil]

As I've been saying, Europe is a great place these days. 

[War on Want]

As I've been saying, Europe is a great place these days. 

You think Far-Right parties are a good thing? I am sure you would agree the European Left>the European Far-Right.

[Associate Justice PiT]

As I've been saying, Europe is a great place these days. 

     It definitely seems to be making progress in this regard.

As I've been saying, Europe is a great place these days. 

You think Far-Right parties are a good thing? I am sure you would agree the European Left>the European Far-Right.

     Yes, but the European Left is still pretty miserable. If this causes the European mainstream Right to gain more power, then that is good.

[Meeker]

Across Europe, Left-Leaning Parties See Clout Faltering

By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS in Paris and MARCUS WALKER in Berlin

PARIS -- The economic recession should have meant easy votes for Europe's left-wing movements, longtime critics of unchecked capitalism.

Yet as Europe goes to the polls, left-leaning parties across the continent are looking likely to falter. That's true both for those in government, such as in the U.K. and Spain, and in the opposition -- such as France, Germany and Italy.

France's Socialist Party is trying hard to rally voters ahead of Sunday's European parliamentary elections. "Let's unite with all the French who contest free market, unfair policies that aim at deregulating everything," party leader Martine Aubry urged at a pre-election rally.

Yet less than 20% of voters say they plan to cast their ballot for the Socialist Party, according to recent surveys. That would be a weak performance considering France's main opposition party got 29% of the votes in the last European parliamentary elections.

In Germany, the Social Democrats are expected to get only around 26% on Sunday, consistent with their low opinion-poll ratings ahead of Germany's national elections in September. Italy's center-left Partito Democratico is expected to get a similar percentage.

One reason is that as Europe tipped into recession, the right moved left -- appropriating some of the left's long-standing economic policies, including nationalizations and bailouts.

French conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, for example, helped recapitalize French banks, earmarked six billion euros for the auto sector and lashed out at "rascal bosses" with huge pay packages.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has planted her conservative camp firmly in the political center. Ms. Merkel has largely given up her former program of market-oriented reforms, and has gradually approved various kinds of state intervention to protect workers during the current recession, from bailing out carmaker Opel to subsidizing payrolls at companies whose export orders have collapsed.

Even before that, right-wing parties across the continent began offering more pragmatic approaches to policy than they had traditionally done. In the past decade, conservative parties introduced competition or privatized some public services in France, Germany and Italy -- but they refrained from dismantling the health-care and public transport services cherished by voters.

The bolded parts of the article are the only important ones. Europe isn't in any way endorsing a more conservative path all of a sudden - the conservative parties have just figured out how to win elections.

[Keystone Phil]

As I've been saying, Europe is a great place these days. 

You think Far-Right parties are a good thing? I am sure you would agree the European Left>the European Far-Right.

Read the damn article. This has nothing to do with far right parties. The Conservatives in the UK aren't far right. The PdL in Italy isn't far right. The CDU in Germany isn't far right.

If you didn't do your usual knee jerk reaction, you'd see that the article actually highlights that the conservative parties in Europe have actually even moved a bit to the left (something I'm not a fan of but I still prefer them to European Left wingers).

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Phil I'm so glad to see you celebrating and embracing this article... c'mon buddy, lets make it happen here

[Keystone Phil]

Phil I'm so glad to see you celebrating and embracing this article... c'mon buddy, lets make it happen here

Not every bit of success for the European Right is because it has become totally centrist or center left, Don. Nice try though. 

I'm embracing the fact that the Left is being rejected. I've never been under any delusion that Europe is accepting American/my style of conservatism on a grand scale. That doesn't mean a total focus on the "center" aspect of the "center right" is all I care about. In the only country I really care about in Europe (not counting the UK), the conservative party is just fine as a conservative party. 

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

I wonder if David Cameron gets called a "CINO"?

Damn CINO's, CdAINOs, CDUINOS, UMPINOS, KINOS, POINOS, PPINOS, PSDINOS, OVPINOS, etc. etc. and so on and so forth.  And what about Sweden... do they get called Moderates-in-name-only?

[War on Want]

As I've been saying, Europe is a great place these days. 

You think Far-Right parties are a good thing? I am sure you would agree the European Left>the European Far-Right.

Read the damn article. This has nothing to do with far right parties. The Conservatives in the UK aren't far right. The PdL in Italy isn't far right. The CDU in Germany isn't far right.

If you didn't do your usual knee jerk reaction, you'd see that the article actually highlights that the conservative parties in Europe have actually even moved a bit to the left (something I'm not a fan of but I still prefer them to European Left wingers).

Oh I know but the mainstream right in Europe has seemed to have gotten significantly more centrist lately. This could be because the pendulum has shifted towards the right but I know from following European politics that lots of the anti-authority momentum that would normally go to the Left during a recession went to the Far-Right this time.

No need to get so angry man, I was just pointing that out.

[Keystone Phil]

I wonder if David Cameron gets called a "CINO"?

Actually, he comes close to it. My distaste for Cameron is pretty well known. He comes across as a total phoney. He likes playing that Moderate Hero game and it will catch up to him. 

Oh I know but the mainstream right in Europe has seemed to have gotten significantly more centrist lately. This could be because the pendulum has shifted towards the right but I know from following European politics that lots of the anti-authority momentum that would normally go to the Left during a recession went to the Far-Right this time.

No need to get so angry man, I was just pointing that out.

You suggested that I thought far right parties are good. No where was that mentioned or hinted in my post.

[War on Want]

I wonder if David Cameron gets called a "CINO"?

Actually, he comes close to it. My distaste for Cameron is pretty well known. He comes across as a total phoney. He likes playing that Moderate Hero game and it will catch up to him. 

Oh I know but the mainstream right in Europe has seemed to have gotten significantly more centrist lately. This could be because the pendulum has shifted towards the right but I know from following European politics that lots of the anti-authority momentum that would normally go to the Left during a recession went to the Far-Right this time.

No need to get so angry man, I was just pointing that out.

You suggested that I thought far right parties are good. No where was that mentioned or hinted in my post.

I see, I am sorry it came off that way. I know you dislike the far-right.

[Jens]

This bs has been in Danish newspapers too. Apparently nobody bothers to do a bit of comparasing or look at bit of poling!
SPD looks like it is going to get at better election than last time and CDU is loosing votes.
PS had a really good election last time, but is back to normal and loosing votes to the left mostly!
PSOE failing? Come on.
The only two places where this is remotely true is Great "havn't really realised our Empire is gone and that we are a part of Europe" Britain and Berlusconiland, where they love their dirt corrupt politicians. (sorry about the irony, but I'm fed up with journalists who looks at one poll and makes all kinds of assumptions)

[Landslide Lyndon]

As the article mentions, the European Right has very little in common with its American counterpart.

The cultural issues are virtually non-existent. Even here in Greece, which is considered a fairly conservative country, especially in comparison with the Netherlands or the Scandinavian ones, the only ones who make hay about those issues are the far-right fringe (especially about imigration and flag-burning) and the Orthodox Church (homosexuality and the teaching of religion at schools). The others, among whom the vast majority of the population, simply don't care.

Also, the economic policies of most mainstream conservative parties would embarass many Blue Dog Democrats.
As a matter of fact, this blurring of the ideological fault lines is a big reason why far-left and far-right parties have risen so much. 

[Hash]

The left will win big in France, probably bigger than 2004. However, this article conveniently ignores other left-wing parties and focuses on the large centre-left socialdem parties to get its (flawed) point across. The PS is doing poorly because they're hypocrites, they're stupid 'moderate' heroes (as the quote shows), and their leader has less charisma than my computer.

The PSOE is polling extremely well for a governing party in a country with 17% unemployment. However, that also has a lot to do with the PP being a Franquist party and Spanish politics being so polarized between left and right nowadays.

The PS is doing poorly in Wallonia only because voters realize that the party belongs in jail, not Parliament.

[Franzl]

I doubt that CDU/FDP will beat SPD/Green/Left in Germany tomorrow.

Hashemite's right, they're only focusing on the mainstream center-left parties.

[Hash]

Hashemite's right, they're only focusing on the mainstream center-left parties.

Doing so get's the stupid author's flawed point across!

[ChrisJG777]

I wonder if David Cameron gets called a "CINO"?

Actually, he comes close to it. My distaste for Cameron is pretty well known. He comes across as a total phoney. He likes playing that Moderate Hero game and it will catch up to him.

By American standards Cameron would most likely be considered a moderate, but by British standards he is most definitely a conservative (big and little C).  The definition of conservatism varies from country to country, depending on the evolution of its political and social culture.

[minionofmidas]

I wonder if David Cameron gets called a "CINO"?

He would most likely be a DINO, and an obnoxious suburban one at that, if he were an American politician.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Part of it is that everybody else in Italian politics is just so unbearably dull, and have been since forever.

[Keystone Phil]

I wonder if David Cameron gets called a "CINO"?

Actually, he comes close to it. My distaste for Cameron is pretty well known. He comes across as a total phoney. He likes playing that Moderate Hero game and it will catch up to him.

By American standards Cameron would most likely be considered a moderate, but by British standards he is most definitely a conservative (big and little C).  The definition of conservatism varies from country to country, depending on the evolution of its political and social culture.

Yeah, I know, I know.    He just seems like more of an opportunist when it comes to his ideology than anything.

Part of it is that everybody else in Italian politics is just so unbearably dull, and have been since forever.

Hey!






Not dull at all. 

[minionofmidas]

Part of it is that everybody else in Italian politics is just so unbearably dull, and have been since forever.

Hey!

I'm not sure how that's a contradiction. THat's not "everybody else" but Berlusconi. That's Berlusconi with a marionette.

[Keystone Phil]

Part of it is that everybody else in Italian politics is just so unbearably dull, and have been since forever.

Hey!

I'm not sure how that's a contradiction. THat's not "everybody else" but Berlusconi. That's Berlusconi with a marionette.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So David Cameron = Evan Bayh?

[Daniel Adams]

The PSOE is polling extremely well for a governing party in a country with 17% unemployment. However, that also has a lot to do with the PP being a Franquist party and Spanish politics being so polarized between left and right nowadays.

The PP is hardly Franquist. They've been movingly increasingly to the center under Rajoy's inept leadership. Look at the Alternativa Española for a true Franquist party.

[Bono]

The PSOE is polling extremely well for a governing party in a country with 17% unemployment. However, that also has a lot to do with the PP being a Franquist party and Spanish politics being so polarized between left and right nowadays.

The PP is hardly Franquist. They've been movingly increasingly to the center under Rajoy's inept leadership. Look at the Alternativa Española for a true Franquist party.

Yea come on. I see this PP being a franquist party bs being spouted around here all the time. They were in power with an absolute majority a few years ago. What "franquist" policies did they adopt then? The left here does the same thing all the time, saying perfectly mainstream right-wing parties are Salazarist, not because they are, but because they like to dig up ghosts of the past to rally their bases that are still living in 1975.