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L O N D O N, June 16 — Left-leaning governments across Europe are being kicked out by voters worried about ailing economies, crime, illegal migrants and a fear that traditional policies of state control don't work.
Europeans are turning to conservative, and even far-right parties, for tough economic reforms and law-and-order policies. Many see the left as out of step with ordinary people.
Left-of-center governments have fallen in Italy, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. France's Socialists lost power in Sunday's parliamentary elections, according to exit polls, while Germany's once popular Social Democratic government is the underdog in September's elections.
In the greatest shock, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin of the Socialist Party was knocked out of France's presidential elections this spring and resigned. Left-wing voters found themselves having to vote for conservative incumbent Jacques Chirac to ensure the defeat of far-right candidate Jean Marie Le Pen in the second round.
It is a far cry from the 1990s, when the left swept to office across Europe and ecstatic supporters talked of decades in power. The left believed it had the answers for post-Cold War Europe in a globalized economy - a blend of capitalism and traditional left-wing social policies to protect workers and fund generous welfare programs.
There was also a strong belief that the left would speed up integration of the European Union, turning it into a 15-nation power to rival, even eclipse, the United States.
Reality proved to be very different.
Most of the governments were coalitions of left and centrist parties, constantly weakened by internal disagreements that often hampered efforts to cut chronic unemployment and make their economies more competitive in the global market. Some governments had to curb welfare programs or, when faced with powerful lobbies such as trade unions, to drop needed reforms to fix ailing economies.
"Today, the main issue in Europe is implementing reforms. Center-left leaders know, but sometimes they have a coalition behind them that doesn't leave them room to do it," said Sergio Romano, an Italian analyst.
The left has been hit by a pervasive sense among voters that governments are more a problem than a solution. Some politicians say voters blame whatever government is in power and that whoever replaces the left will be booted out after a term or two in what is a revolving-door system.
But perhaps more than any other factor, the left has failed to tackle key law-and-order issues worrying many voters, especially illegal immigration and crime. Rightly or wrong, many voters link the two and feel threatened in their own homes.
A growing number of Europeans are worried or feel threatened by the influx of hundreds of thousands of newcomers, legal and illegal, from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Even in traditionally tolerant nations like the Netherlands and Denmark, populist outsider parties have made strong gains by capitalizing on fear of large ethnic minorities that show little sign of integrating.
Peter Mandelson, a former British minister, said the left lost touch with middle-of-the-road voters that having long preached racial tolerance and welcomed immigrants, it has trouble even discussing such issues meaningfully, let alone coming up with policies.
"What recent electoral experiences show is that center-left parties lose where they are out of touch and refuse to face up to tough issues that are 'cultural' rather than ideological," he wrote in The Times newspaper.
Voters think right-wing parties are better at coming up with tough policies to tackle illegal immigration and other problems, said Romano. "The right does a better job at giving public opinion the feeling that the problem is under control," he said.
Some analysts say conservative parties also don't have solutions and that is why more and more voters are turning to anti-immigrant firebrands such as Le Pen in France, Joerg Haider in Austria, and Pym Fortuyn in Holland, whose party did well in parliamentary elections a month ago even though he was assassinated days earlier.
The far right will grow stronger if voters continue to believe the mainstream parties don't care about them, analysts say.
"Parties arise that can't be ideologically pinned down," said Dietmar Herz, an analyst at Erfurt University in Germany.
"They take up issues loaded with resentment - immigration, asylum seekers, integration of foreigners and disgust with politics."
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Well this might be something to argue about...
Europeans are turning to conservative, and even far-right parties, for tough economic reforms and law-and-order policies. Many see the left as out of step with ordinary people.
Left-of-center governments have fallen in Italy, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. France's Socialists lost power in Sunday's parliamentary elections, according to exit polls, while Germany's once popular Social Democratic government is the underdog in September's elections.
In the greatest shock, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin of the Socialist Party was knocked out of France's presidential elections this spring and resigned. Left-wing voters found themselves having to vote for conservative incumbent Jacques Chirac to ensure the defeat of far-right candidate Jean Marie Le Pen in the second round.
It is a far cry from the 1990s, when the left swept to office across Europe and ecstatic supporters talked of decades in power. The left believed it had the answers for post-Cold War Europe in a globalized economy - a blend of capitalism and traditional left-wing social policies to protect workers and fund generous welfare programs.
There was also a strong belief that the left would speed up integration of the European Union, turning it into a 15-nation power to rival, even eclipse, the United States.
Reality proved to be very different.
Most of the governments were coalitions of left and centrist parties, constantly weakened by internal disagreements that often hampered efforts to cut chronic unemployment and make their economies more competitive in the global market. Some governments had to curb welfare programs or, when faced with powerful lobbies such as trade unions, to drop needed reforms to fix ailing economies.
"Today, the main issue in Europe is implementing reforms. Center-left leaders know, but sometimes they have a coalition behind them that doesn't leave them room to do it," said Sergio Romano, an Italian analyst.
The left has been hit by a pervasive sense among voters that governments are more a problem than a solution. Some politicians say voters blame whatever government is in power and that whoever replaces the left will be booted out after a term or two in what is a revolving-door system.
But perhaps more than any other factor, the left has failed to tackle key law-and-order issues worrying many voters, especially illegal immigration and crime. Rightly or wrong, many voters link the two and feel threatened in their own homes.
A growing number of Europeans are worried or feel threatened by the influx of hundreds of thousands of newcomers, legal and illegal, from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Even in traditionally tolerant nations like the Netherlands and Denmark, populist outsider parties have made strong gains by capitalizing on fear of large ethnic minorities that show little sign of integrating.
Peter Mandelson, a former British minister, said the left lost touch with middle-of-the-road voters that having long preached racial tolerance and welcomed immigrants, it has trouble even discussing such issues meaningfully, let alone coming up with policies.
"What recent electoral experiences show is that center-left parties lose where they are out of touch and refuse to face up to tough issues that are 'cultural' rather than ideological," he wrote in The Times newspaper.
Voters think right-wing parties are better at coming up with tough policies to tackle illegal immigration and other problems, said Romano. "The right does a better job at giving public opinion the feeling that the problem is under control," he said.
Some analysts say conservative parties also don't have solutions and that is why more and more voters are turning to anti-immigrant firebrands such as Le Pen in France, Joerg Haider in Austria, and Pym Fortuyn in Holland, whose party did well in parliamentary elections a month ago even though he was assassinated days earlier.
The far right will grow stronger if voters continue to believe the mainstream parties don't care about them, analysts say.
"Parties arise that can't be ideologically pinned down," said Dietmar Herz, an analyst at Erfurt University in Germany.
"They take up issues loaded with resentment - immigration, asylum seekers, integration of foreigners and disgust with politics."
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Well this might be something to argue about...
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