How will Europe's left react to recent events?
Friday 27 April 2012
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EmailThe collapse of the Dutch government after far-right politician Geert Wilders withdrew his support and the strength of the extreme right-wing vote for Marie Le Pen's National Front in the French presidential election are indicative of some interesting developments in the European political landscape.
Both parties have made anti-capitalist and anti-EU noises in an attempt to secure disaffected working-class votes.
Now there's an opening in the forthcoming Dutch elections for the far-left Eurosceptic Socialist party to increase its vote, while Francois Hollande is in with a chance of winning the second presidential voting round in France.
It's well understood on the left that, for all his rhetoric, Hollande is no radical and his conversion to a more progressive politics has been driven by pressure from Jean-Luc Melenchon's Left Front.
But these developments beg two interesting questions: Is Germany going to find itself increasingly isolated in its blind support for the new EU fiscal pact, which will inevitably force Europe into an economic death spiral?
And how are parties of the left across Europe going to face up to the challenge presented by the far-right as it seeks to exploit the economic crisis for its own ends?
Chris Guiton
Beechcroft
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