On Saturday November 29, the Union for Popular Majority (UMP) elected their new president through an internal procedure. The UMP thus put an end to the provisional trio that had been heading the French political party since the resignation of Jean-François Cope by the alleged fraud in the financing of the election campaign of 2012. But the UMP also sought with this internal campaign to reunite their members around a new political platform that would boost the 'inevitable candidacy' for the presidential elections of 2017, i.e. Nicolas Sarkozy's return to the Élysée Palace before the decline of the French Socialist Party and of the current President, François Hollande, who has collapsed at all levels of public opinion.
While populism is the most serious threat faced by European democracies – probably since the 20s of the last century,– it does seem particularly striking that an option featuring such ideas is achieving a growing electoral support in the UK, a country proud of its liberal and parliamentary tradition. As is well known, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has become the centre of British politics in recent years. This party has established last term's political agenda, focusing public debate on two typical populist issues: first, the anti-establishment criticism which profiles the traditional political class as an oligarchy separate from the people and alien to its interests; and second, the criticism to uncontrolled immigration, arising from the UK's membership to the...
To everyone's surprise and contrary to forecasts, Klaus Johannis (National Liberal Party, PNL), Mayor of Sibiu and member of the Democratic Forum of Germans of Romania (FDGR) won the second round of the presidential election that took place on 16th November in Romania. The right-wing opposition candidate won 54% of the vote against 46% for Victor Ponta, outgoing Prime Minister and chair of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). The difference in votes between the two men (8 percentage points) is unusual in Romania where presidential elections are often very tightly run.
The Prime Minister of Japan, conservative Shinzo Abe, announced last November 18 the dissolution of the House of Representatives of the Diet (lower house of the Japanese Parliament) and called for early general elections to be held on December 18. It is highly unlikely that the Japanese political landscape will change in such a short period of time as much as to make the coalition government headed by Abe, made up by the historic Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Buddhist party Komeito, lose their majority – currently overwhelming – in the House of Representatives. According to the polls, the LDP would reduce its parliamentary representation by 55 seats maximum, allowing for the comfortable survival of the ruling coalition.
On Tuesday November 11, Susanna Camusso, secretary-general of the CGIL (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro), announced the call for an eight-hour general strike next December 5th. The CGIL has justified the call for a strike in protest against the labour reform promoted by the Government of Matteo Renzi. The strike announcement thus culminates a process of gradual estrangement between the Partito Democratico and its historical ally, used to having, in the past, a harmonious coexistence between party and union.
Cuba hoy: la lenta muerte del castrismo. Con un preámbulo para españoles
Retos del trío de la Presidencia del Consejo de la UE
12.04.2014. On Saturday November 29, the Union for Popular Majority (UMP) elected their new president through an internal procedure. The UMP thus put an end to the provisional trio that had been heading the French political party since the resignation of Jean-François Cope by the alleged fraud in the financing of the election campaign of 2012. But the UMP also sought with this internal campaign to reunite their members around a new political platform that would boost the 'inevitable candidacy' for the presidential elections of 2017, i.e. Nicolas Sarkozy's return to the Élysée Palace before the decline of the French Socialist Party and of the current President, François Hollande, who has collapsed at all levels of public opinion.
12.02.2014. While populism is the most serious threat faced by European democracies – probably since the 20s of the last century,– it does seem particularly striking that an option featuring such ideas is achieving a growing electoral support in the UK, a country proud of its liberal and parliamentary tradition. As is well known, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has become the centre of British politics in recent years. This party has established last term's political agenda, focusing public debate on two typical populist issues: first, the anti-establishment criticism which profiles the traditional political class as an oligarchy separate from the people and alien to its interests; and second, the criticism to uncontrolled immigration, arising from the UK's membership to the...
12.01.2014. To everyone's surprise and contrary to forecasts, Klaus Johannis (National Liberal Party, PNL), Mayor of Sibiu and member of the Democratic Forum of Germans of Romania (FDGR) won the second round of the presidential election that took place on 16th November in Romania. The right-wing opposition candidate won 54% of the vote against 46% for Victor Ponta, outgoing Prime Minister and chair of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). The difference in votes between the two men (8 percentage points) is unusual in Romania where presidential elections are often very tightly run.
11.28.2014. The Prime Minister of Japan, conservative Shinzo Abe, announced last November 18 the dissolution of the House of Representatives of the Diet (lower house of the Japanese Parliament) and called for early general elections to be held on December 18. It is highly unlikely that the Japanese political landscape will change in such a short period of time as much as to make the coalition government headed by Abe, made up by the historic Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Buddhist party Komeito, lose their majority – currently overwhelming – in the House of Representatives. According to the polls, the LDP would reduce its parliamentary representation by 55 seats maximum, allowing for the comfortable survival of the ruling coalition.
11.20.2014. On Tuesday November 11, Susanna Camusso, secretary-general of the CGIL (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro), announced the call for an eight-hour general strike next December 5th. The CGIL has justified the call for a strike in protest against the labour reform promoted by the Government of Matteo Renzi. The strike announcement thus culminates a process of gradual estrangement between the Partito Democratico and its historical ally, used to having, in the past, a harmonious coexistence between party and union.
01.01.1995. Cuba hoy: la lenta muerte del castrismo. Con un preámbulo para españoles
