Europe’s political instability is rooted in its economic crisis
The arrival in office of new prime ministers, Giuseppe Conte in Italy on 1 June and Pedro Sánchez in Spain on 2 June, reflect the increasing turmoil that has entered European politics.
Germany
Notes from the front of 05-03-2018
*** Left implodes in Italian elections, big advance for right
*** German SPD decides yet again to enter right wing coalition
German election again confirms increasing Western political turbulence
By John Ross
The outcome of the 24 September German elections was dramatic itself. The Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union’s (CDU/CSU’s) 33 per cent was its lowest per centage of the vote since the first election in West Germany in 1949. The German Social Democratic Party (SPD) result was even worse – at 20.5 per cent it was the lowest vote ever recorded by the SPD in any election in West Germany or the reunited Germany. The extreme rightest Alliance for Germany (AfD) received 13.5 per cent of the vote – the highest for an extreme rightest party in Germany since World War II. The radical left Left Party received 9.2 per cent of the vote.
German union movement poses answers to the crisis
by Nicky Dempsey
The DGB German trade union confederation has produced a manifesto which offers an internationalist answer to the crisis. It stands in sharp contrast to the bitter diet of xenophobia and racism which is being promoted across Europe.