The objections to austerity play out in different ways (FN in France, Syriza in Greece) but have a common root. There's a growing sense, even from people who are broadly pro-Europe in theory, that the current hegemony isn't working for them. In some ways immigration is only a small part of that. It's seen as much less important an issue when the economy isn't stagnating.
The biggest surprise of the weekend was Renzi demolishing Grillo. Idk, maybe Italy is just a few years ahead and everyone else will revert to the mean again soon.
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Tuesday, 27 May 2014 17:26 (nine years ago) link
wow, the FN took 42% of the vote in the 14th arrondissement in Marseille (30% overall for Marseille). & the UMP was 2nd or 1st in almost every arrondissement.
we'll see how things shake out for the UMP with the latest scandal though
― Euler, Tuesday, 27 May 2014 18:39 (nine years ago) link
sharivari otm these results are a reaction to the reserve status quo from the last elections everywhere not having worked, hence a wider shift towards the political margins
PS nobody really cares about European elections I def wouldn't bet on the results here,for instance, being in any way replicated in a general election tomorrow
― the only thing worse than being tweeted about (darraghmac), Tuesday, 27 May 2014 19:25 (nine years ago) link
Another factor in France is the massive corruption scandal affecting the mainstream centre right UMP party
http://www.france24.com/en/20140527-france-ump-party-conservatives-scandal-bygmalion-crisis-meeting-cope/
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Tuesday, 27 May 2014 20:58 (nine years ago) link
yep, that's I mentioned above obliquely
― Euler, Tuesday, 27 May 2014 21:09 (nine years ago) link
apologies, I must have skimmed over it
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Tuesday, 27 May 2014 23:41 (nine years ago) link
Venstre went from 3 to 2 mandates. There are rumours that their leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen had promised to withdraw if that happened, but that he on the night chose to carry on. Now he has called for a meeting next tuesday, and people in the party has openly come forward and said that they are trying to get enough votes to make him resign. This is really exciting. EU elections are rarely this important.
The funny thing is, that Lars Løkke became prime minister when Anders Fogh resigned to become leader of NATO, and then he lost the next election by a very small margin. Almost immediately the polls were showing that he would win the next election, as they still do, but now he might be fired before. So he will perhaps never manage to actually get elected.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 28 May 2014 12:38 (nine years ago) link
Montebourg, 51, fired his first broadside in an interview with Le Monde on Saturday and followed up with a speech to a Socialist party rally the following day. In a veiled reference to President François Hollande, he said that conformism was an enemy and "my enemy is governing". "France is a free country which shouldn't be aligning itself with the obsessions of the German right," he said, urging a "just and sane resistance".
― Nothing less than the Spirit of the Age (nakhchivan), Monday, 25 August 2014 14:41 (nine years ago) link
http://www.marianne.net/photo/art/default/985519-1168625.jpg
― droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 24 September 2014 09:34 (nine years ago) link
^^^ kinda disconcerting to see this graphic all over the streets (it's the cover of Marianne this week)
― droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 24 September 2014 11:11 (nine years ago) link
have i missed the thread about the biggest migration crisis modern europe has possibly ever seen?
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 20:39 (eight years ago) link
to sum up, my new username is the distinction david cameron draws between "genuine" emigres from syria (and elsewhere) fleeing physical violence and political persecution, and uh non-genuine migrants, possibly from the very same countries, who are coming to the UK because life is economically untenable where they live
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link
Refugee situation / EU response - rolling news
this started but obv it's not much
― MC Whistler (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link
Cameron - well, yes, his true colours. The extent of his constituency on this - unknowable as that is, it's big enough - is the real horror i guess
― MC Whistler (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 20:53 (eight years ago) link
oh gotcha thanks for the link
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 20:57 (eight years ago) link
Don't know whether this is the right thread to draw attention to this fucking disgrace:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-lgbt/romania-moves-closer-to-ruling-out-same-sex-marriage-idUSKCN1LR24R
It's already illegal, you retrograde morons, what more could you possibly want? Way to further widen the gap between Eastern and Western Europe – and this time, we won't have communism to blame.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 11:02 (five years ago) link
98% of Romanians are Christian – could that have something to do with it, I wonder? Never mind that in practice, this merely means crossing yourself when you walk/drive in front of a church, saying 'God help us' when you bump into a priest, and making copious use of homophobic/antisemitic slurs at all times.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 11:06 (five years ago) link
Thought this thread was bumped because of the pending use of Article 7 against Hungary. But it is sorta related, perhaps? A clash between two parts of Europe.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 11:18 (five years ago) link
It seems to me that Hungary's neo-fascism is less religiously-oriented than its Romanian counterpart. For what it's worth, I think the latter is less deleterious at the moment, but that's liable to change, especially if Patriarch Daniel has his way with it.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 11:20 (five years ago) link
'Patriarch' is a title that goes without saying in Romania but that is quite… amusing when you look at it from a Western perspective.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 11:22 (five years ago) link
Austrian and Italian fascists giggling at your East v. West take on things.
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 12:05 (five years ago) link
Oh, I'm just commenting on perceptions, what the EU might think it's doing. I'm also fairly certain that the Visegrad countries consider themselves Central Europe, no?
The Parliament overwhelmingly voted for Article 7, btw.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 12:07 (five years ago) link
Have you seen a breakdown of the voting? (A genuine question; I haven't seen it yet.) The Austrian conservative party announced they would vote for it, which is taken as a sign that they aren't worried about Hungary facing any actual sanctions given Wunderboy's adoration of Urban.
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 12:31 (five years ago) link
Orban.
The UK Conservatives voted with Hungary - though Theresa May is saying the MEPs didn’t tell her they were going to do so, which is bizarre.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 15:26 (five years ago) link
OK, the Austrian governing parties split on the vote: "conservative" ÖVP voted yes, far right FPÖ voted no -- given that Austria would be in charge of proceedings under Article 7, I think Sebastian "Hey, I'm a high school graduate" Kurz has something cute planned.
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 13 September 2018 09:39 (five years ago) link
It's unusual insofar that not before Austria expressed their intention to vote for it - breaking the christian democratic ranks, which also include Orban and Merkel, for one - no one gave this a chance. I'm assuming Merkel gave her MEP's the nod to follow Austria and that sealed the deal.
May's reading is bizarre indeed, in more than one way. Saying her MEP's don't actually listen to her/keep her informed isn't agl.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 13 September 2018 10:00 (five years ago) link
maybe marginally better look than "i control my racist MEPs"??
― every day there's a whining choad (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 13 September 2018 10:12 (five years ago) link
Perhaps. Is it better to have controlled and lost them than to not ever have controlled at all?
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 13 September 2018 10:34 (five years ago) link
French right-wing MEPs split on Hungary. There's a hope among some French that the EPP will split and one side will ally with LREM, Macron's party, thus (I suppose) strengthening Macron.
― droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 13 September 2018 11:38 (five years ago) link
Macedonia votes 90% in favour of changing their name but with only 36% turnout. Standard reports of Russian interference, PM determined to carry on regardless
― ogmor, Monday, 1 October 2018 15:27 (five years ago) link
Wanted to write something about the #CumEx scandal that has scammed European taxpayers for billions of euros, but I'm having trouble finding English-language stories, lol. A German whistleblower says thank god for Brexit, because apparently it was organized from London. Plenty of continental banks involved, though.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:11 (five years ago) link
Le Monde is calling it 'the tax heist of the century' while The Guardian is harping on about the Irish backstop. I guess when you're already on your way out…
― pomenitul, Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:21 (five years ago) link
iirc English media wasn't in the #CumEx media group exposing this (Le Monde, Die Zeit, De Tijd, NDR, Politiken, DR, Reuters, Follow The Money etc)
Give it time though, the project names #CumEx and #CumCum are guaranteed to draw attention to English media. xp
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:22 (five years ago) link
so excited for our future as the Nigerian 419 centre of Europe
― the Warnock of Clodhop Mountain (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:23 (five years ago) link
Reuters is British, no? I checked their frontpage, and there is nothing.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:26 (five years ago) link
'BREAKING NEWS: A case of BSE, known as mad cow disease, has been confirmed on a farm in Aberdeenshire - Scottish government'.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:30 (five years ago) link
The latest from Reuters.
They've this about consequences for Santander
xxp
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:31 (five years ago) link
I get why British media are less concerned, the countries involved are Belgium, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, France, Spain and Italy, perhaps Finland as well. But the firms involved are British, and the banks are from all over the world.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:31 (five years ago) link
it's truly infuriating
good piece here https://cumex-files.com/en/
fuck those goddamn investment assholes
― niels, Friday, 19 October 2018 10:32 (five years ago) link
How can nick mullen remain as president of the DSA after this
― All right! A new season! (Bananaman Begins), Friday, 19 October 2018 10:46 (five years ago) link
Jesus, the Mayor of Gdansk - Pawel Adamowicz - has died, having been stabbed on stage at a charity event last night.
― ShariVari, Monday, 14 January 2019 14:04 (five years ago) link
https://www.ft.com/content/0037f404-4fea-11e9-9c76-bf4a0ce37d49
is portugal the anti-austerity success story some are touting it as?
― ogmor, Wednesday, 27 March 2019 11:03 (five years ago) link
hard to tell without a subscription!
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Wednesday, 27 March 2019 11:05 (five years ago) link
The arrival of a left coalition* into government happened to coincide with an economic upswing. I think it's fair to say that austerity politics were a fucking disaster for Portugal, destroying a lot of the social fabric, forcing a generation of uni grads into immigration, etc. but am less certain that what's come after can be called a success story - economic recovery is overwhelmingly due to a boom in tourism, which of course is bringing its own troubles: gentrification, downtown Lisbon and Oporto becoming almost all airb&bs, destruction of the environment.
Basically I fear that once the next crisis hits we'll be as badly off as the last time - or worse.
* not actually a coalition, more like a group of deals
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 27 March 2019 11:10 (five years ago) link
are other industries in decline?
― ogmor, Wednesday, 27 March 2019 11:14 (five years ago) link
I'd say yes, but with the caveat that this has been happening for decades and is not down to the current government: you gotta remember being an isolated fascist dictatorship for much of the 20th century means we've always lagged behind a lot. Fishing and agriculture, still the main sectors when I was growing up, have been in dramatic decline for a long time; the textile industry got badly mutilated once competition moved in from South East Asia. It's a small country, and there's very little we produce that is competitive on an international scale - cork is the big one, which is why I get angery whenever I see wine bottles here in the UK that do without it.
This is also why, despite being fucked in many ways by the EU, you'll never get a strong euroskeptic movement in Portugal - we know that if it goes bust we're done for.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 27 March 2019 11:37 (five years ago) link
bless yr country for Clean Feed Records and proper wine corks.
― calzino, Wednesday, 27 March 2019 11:50 (five years ago) link
I thought there was a cork shortage! to what extent do you think the perhaps overstated tech boom can be put down to govt management or is it totally coincidental?
― ogmor, Wednesday, 27 March 2019 11:55 (five years ago) link