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Stratfor first forecast the decline of the European left in 2005, when Germany and Poland both elected center-right coalitions. The current agenda of the right in both countries favors participation in military alliances such as NATO and closer U.S. relations.
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The biggest recent leftist loss occurred in France, where Nicolas Sarkozy beat out socialist Segolene Royal for the presidency. This defeat clearly suggests that something more than cyclical politics is at work.
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This change is not limited to Germany; the left has faltered throughout Europe, even in places where the right has historically been the underdog. For example, in September 2006, Sweden's Social Democrats -- the country's oldest political party -- lost control of Stockholm.
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....I don’t see it happening - I may be wrong though....
Of course while it’s a step in the right direction, lets not lose sight of the fact that what passes for a conservative in Europe would still be way to the left of Hillary Clinton here in the US.
BUMP
“This change is not limited to Germany; the left has faltered throughout Europe”
And what about Spain?
Europe is, undeniably, a continent that has grown tired of Socialism.
As a Swede, I can testify to the changes my own country has gone through.
Sweden has always been good at the sheer ‘game’ of Capitalism and the ‘enforcement’ of Lutheran work ethics, but Sweden has, since the early 1900’s likewise been a nation associated with anti-Capitalist policies, hypocrite Socialist slander of the US and absurd taxation.
What is the face of Sweden today?
- A Conservative government (and a popular one it is!)
- Skyrocketing GDP growth levels
- An unemployment rate of a decent 3.3% (lowest in almost 20 years)
- Solid improvements in real wages (a decent 42” plasma costs less than an average worker earns, POST tax, in 7 days of work), cars like Volvo XC90’s, BMW X-5’s and Porsche Cayenne’s being affordable to average families (although ‘average’ people here prefer Volvo V70’s)
- Most companies making record profits
- ‘Kapitalism’ no longer being a dirty word in Swedish
To Eastern Europeans, the absence of Socialism means so much more than it does to their wealthy Norwegian, Icelandic, Finnish, Swedish and Danish neighbors (who never were a part of the Soviet sphere).
Among other things, it means freedom to speak your mind in the company of your workmates without the fear of never seeing your children again.
In germany we have a coalition between the conservatives and the social democrats with the social democrats having nearly the same amount of votes within the parliament and by the way someone could ask where the difference between the CDU nad the SPD really is.
In Austria the conervaties lost the election and there is a new socialist Bundeskanzler.
In the UK The Labor party rules for more than ten years now.
The socialists in France have huge internal problems and the french election system helps here a lot.
in sweden after so many decades it is clearly a very good thing for the country and for the democracy within a country that a new government get s a chance.
In the end as we all know there is always an up and down for the different parties and the different conservative parties are hard to compare. The german CDU is on many issues much more on the left than the democrats in the US. That´s why german governments (and the vast majority of the german people) if they call them self conservative or not favor a US president from the democratic party.
being conservative is simply not the same around the world and i doubt that BUsh liked the work with the conservative french president.
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