While swathes of Europe – including significant parts of the UK – turned to the Right in last week’s European elections, some parts of the continent opted for a different direction when it came to placing a cross on their ballot paper.
Nowhere more so was this the case than in Ireland, one of the countries that has benefited from the largesse of the European Commission – and its partners in the Troika – thanks to a €67.5bn (£54.9bn) bail-out. There, the continental swing to the Right was replaced by a somewhat unexpected swing to the hard Left.
Last Sunday’s election result has led politicians and economists alike to privately question whether the meltdown of Labour, the country’s junior coalition partner, in last weekend’s local and European elections, which led to the surprise resignation of Labour leader and Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, could increase the probability that the Irish government could fall before its term is up in 2016.
Waiting in the wings is a rump of hard Left parties, including Sinn Fein, which made considerable gains in both elections at the expense of the government parties, but in particular Labour.
At stake is the potential unravelling of six years of painful fiscal consolidation that has stabilised an economy buffeted by one of the worst property and banking crashes among OECD countries.
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Irish swing to the hard Left as voters tire of austerity - Telegraph
Nowhere more so was this the case than in Ireland, one of the countries that has benefited from the largesse of the European Commission – and its partners in the Troika – thanks to a €67.5bn (£54.9bn) bail-out. There, the continental swing to the Right was replaced by a somewhat unexpected swing to the hard Left.
Last Sunday’s election result has led politicians and economists alike to privately question whether the meltdown of Labour, the country’s junior coalition partner, in last weekend’s local and European elections, which led to the surprise resignation of Labour leader and Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, could increase the probability that the Irish government could fall before its term is up in 2016.
Waiting in the wings is a rump of hard Left parties, including Sinn Fein, which made considerable gains in both elections at the expense of the government parties, but in particular Labour.
At stake is the potential unravelling of six years of painful fiscal consolidation that has stabilised an economy buffeted by one of the worst property and banking crashes among OECD countries.
more
Irish swing to the hard Left as voters tire of austerity - Telegraph