The ongoing, ever-unfolding tale that is...
SAVING DEMOCRACY FROM ITSELF
...continues apace in Europe.
Only instead of a heroic saga of the triumph of the people, it's more an authoritarian Keystone cops tragi-comedy flavored by the usual dark Euro-twist.
We've spent the fall watching Germany convulse, react, vote, and emerge utterly betrayed by their aversion to real change.
...For survival's sake, he had to buy into a palatable enough version of their schtick to attract voters who were squeamish about voting for the 'extremist right-wingers' but damn sure wanted something done about the illegal immigrants knifing their neighbors and using all their tax money up.
So he did.
And won.
Until he didn't.
Less than 24 hours after winning.
Merz pulled the old Magoo on the German electorate like he was born doing it.
...NONE OF US ARE TALKING ABOUT BORDER CLOSURES
The French had their one moment of rebellion, overwhelmingly voting for the populists in the first round of the elections last spring. That was enough to rouse the entrenched parties to form unthinkable coalitions to deprive the Round 1 victors of any hope of a repeat and capturing control of the French government during Round 2.
...The French citizenry had themselves a moment of rebellion against the elites two weeks ago. The euphoria of watching Rally Nationale, Marine LePen's populist party, sweep to an astonishing victory in the first round of the snap elections was quickly tempered by the frantic, entirely legal Leftist deal-making that began within minutes of the final tally.
Thanks to that, the results of this past Sunday's second round were devastating for RN. France is now looking at the possibility of a vile, anti-Semitic communist as its potential prime minister, with a four-party ruling coalition of socialists, communists, Leftists, and Greens.
For good measure, the co-conspirators made sure the investigations began.
Brazil. America. France.
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) July 9, 2024
Communists are taking over and prosecuting any challengers that threaten their global hegemony. https://t.co/ypNoqALCQX
Yesterday, in Romania, it all played out again like clockwork as the leading presidential candidate headed downtown to file for the rescheduled May elections.
...Bloomberg couches it in leftist shades for their readers.
Romanian Far-Right Candidate Georgescu Charged in Election Probe
Romanian prosecutors have charged Calin Georgescu, the frontrunner in May’s presidential election, in an investigation into his electoral campaign.
Georgescu faces six charges, including membership of a far-right and racist organization and providing a false statement about campaign financing, prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday.
Get the message - 'far-right'?
The country's High Court says Georgescu is facing any number of possible charges, including incitement and planning a possible coup.
Back in September, as I noted at the time, thanks to Germany's spectacular economic meltdown and the fracture of its ruling coalition, nobody noticed that the Austria Freedom Party - another 'right-wing' anti-immigrant, populist group - had won their general election decisively.
AUSTRIA'S FREEDOM PARTY (FPO) HAVE WON THE GENERAL ELECTION.
— Basil the Great (@Basil_TGMD) September 29, 2024
Another fiercely anti-imm!gration party has won an election in Europe.
Europe for Europeans 👏 pic.twitter.com/cCuSU0qZxD
'EUROPE FOR EUROPEANS' - how quaint, no?
As with all European parliamentary elections, though, 'winning' didn't matter.
...As with Germany and France, losers big and small immediately decided they wouldn't play with the party that had pulled nearly 30% of the votes cast or let the FPO 'win' at all. They moved to form a coalition to ice the Freedom Party out of government.
That didn't work out so well, though. It turns out the reason they all ran as separate parties is that they all can't get along. And, after four months of haggling and snarling, their attempt to keep the Freedom Party from forming a government blew apart.
The Freedom folks then demanded the resignation of Austria's chancellor, who then obliged. All of which, much to his dismay, forced Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen to give the Freedom Party its chance to form the government it had earned.
Van der Bellen did so with evident and reluctant disgust, though - issuing a virtue-signaling addendum even as he ignored his part in circumventing the voters' express wishes.
The leader of Austria’s Freedom Party received a mandate Monday to try to form a new government, which would be the first headed by the far right since World War II if he succeeds.
The anti-immigration and euroskeptic Freedom Party, which opposes sanctions against Russia and is led by Herbert Kickl, won Austria’s parliamentary election in September. It took 28.8% of the vote and beat outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party into second place.
But in October, President Alexander Van der Bellen gave Nehammer the first chance to form a new government after Nehammer’s party said it wouldn’t go into government with the Freedom Party under Kickl and others refused to work with the Freedom Party at all. Those efforts to form a governing alliance without the far right collapsed in the first few days of the new year and Nehammer said Saturday that he would resign.
...“I did not take this step lightly,” the president told reporters. “I will continue to take care that the principles and rules of our constitution are correctly respected and adhered to.”
Sadly, a Freedom Party-led government was not meant to be. One cannot form a coalition government if there are no dance partners, and, as we've seen time and again, the European populist parties have no one to dance with, no matter what their vote totals or the overwhelming sentiments of citizens are.
Democracy is when no matter who wins an election, communists get to control the government https://t.co/569j5LUUNu
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) February 27, 2025
SAVING DEMOCRACY FROM ITSELF
They broke the old record of taking over one hundred twenty-nine days to form a government of dissimilar, competing interests without the winners included.
Let's see how long this lasts.
Three parties reached a deal on Thursday to form a new centrist Austrian government, five months after a far-right party won an election but later failed to form an administration.
The conservative Austrian People’s Party, the center-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos agreed on a program for a coalition after what Christian Stocker, who is expected to become chancellor, called “perhaps the most difficult negotiations on a government in the history of our country.”
...Their first effort collapsed in early January, prompting the resignation of conservative then-Chancellor Karl Nehammer — and setting the scene for Austria’s president to ask Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl to try to form a government.
Kickl’s own attempt to put together a coalition with the People’s Party, which finished second in the election, collapsed in mutual recriminations on Feb. 12. The mainstream parties, which faced the risk of a new election that was unlikely to do them any favors, resumed their effort to find common ground.
The new coalition is at least offering sops on immigration along with window-dressing like bans on headscarves for girls under 14 years of age, unlike the German CDU's bait and switch.
...The coalition deal calls for strict new asylum rules in the European Union country of 9 million people. It foresees setting up “return centers” to house rejected asylum-seekers and suspending family reunions. Stocker said the new government will “reserve the right to impose an asylum freeze” if the number of asylum applications increases.
The agreement includes a “mandatory integration program” for all seeking asylum in Austria, which will include tuition in language and values as well as community service.
A child has been stabbed to death and four others injured in a mass stabbing attack in Villach, Austria today. The suspect is a Syrian migrant.
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 15, 2025
He reportedly shouted, “Allahu Akbar.” When police responded he smiled and put up the one finger salute that many Muslims do.
The… pic.twitter.com/XVB2eJhzQw
THERE'S NOT ENOUGH PROOF, THEY SAY
A 12 year old girl consented to having sex with 17 different immigrants in parks and garages over several months? She constended to being beaten? Really, Austria?
— Rebecca Mistereggen (@RMistereggen) January 11, 2025
My blood is boiling. pic.twitter.com/tdgKTPHXEv
I don't believe the coalition's headscarf idea is going to begin to address the problems they have nor is it what voters were looking for back in September.
And, again, none of the coalition partners have much in common, to begin with, and little, if anything, in common with the party who actually won.
...There is some concern that members of Neos, the most junior coalition member with only 9% of the vote, might not be that enthused about the deal. Two-thirds of party lawmakers must agree to deal at a summit on Sunday.
The coalition deal sidelines the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), who with 28.8% of the vote were the strongest party in September's election. The FPÖ tried to form a government, but coalition talks collapsed earlier this month.
COALITION OF LOSERS
...FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl called it a "coalition of losers" and called for a snap election. His Russia-friendly, anti-immigration party won 29% of the vote in September but could not make a coalition deal work with the ÖVP.
Austrian political analysts noted that the possible three-way coalition faces several major hurdles on top of a struggling economy. The ÖVP, SPÖ, and Neos already tried to form a coalition once in the fall and failed. Their policy differences represent a major challenge to forming a cohesive government.
It was also clear ahead of the negotiations that the one of the few wishes tying the three together was not having Kickl as chancellor of Austria, which observers noted is not something that could hold them together long-term.
The one thing holding the new coalition together is not a better Austria.
Its sole intent and purpose is to keep the Freedom Party out in the cold.
European 'Democracy' is for losers.
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