European Elections & US Politics
Bottom Line: What happens in Europe doesn’t stay in Europe. Whether it’s economic influence or policy ideas, there’s a lot in American politics and our society that’s been at least somewhat related with what happens overseas. In 2016, there was one vote, one election, that was the greatest precursor to a Donald Trump presidency than any other. Brexit. Our elections are still more than 17 months away, however, after this weekend’s elections across Europe – one thing is generally clear. Establishment politics still aren’t in vogue and politicians that are focused on each country’s interests, not the collective, are most desired.
Because of the complexity of foreign politics, it’s not as easy as saying the Democrats or Republicans won this or that. But in terms of which ideas fared best – that’s doable. Here’s the rundown of how many elections were won across Europe.
Left of center parties: 363 (+5 seats)
Centrists: 37 (+16 seats)
Right of center parties: 351 (-20 seats)
On the surface that looks like a slight win for the left in Europe but again, politics is complicated within their systems of government with coalitions needed pull together a functional government. With that in mind, there was a big shift away from the hard left and towards the right.
In Europe, the two hardest left political groups are the Socialist Democrats and the “Left” party. Collectively they lost 53 seats in government. The two hardest right political groups are the Right-Wing Nationalists and Populists. Those two gained 34 seats. And in fact, Italy, France and Greece are on the verge of flipping from generally left-wing leadership towards right leaning leadership after these elections. Those are big shifts in those significant European countries. In Europe, only Spain delivered a solid victory for Socialists. What’s interesting is this (back to our politics). Three takeaways from Europe’s elections...
- Europe, which has long dabbled with the hard left/socialism is consistently moving further away from it after seeing the effects on their economy and immigration policy – just as Democrats in the US are warming up to it
- Europe’s politics are still slightly left of center generally but are moderating to less radical leftist political parties
- Brexit and a rise towards a greater focus on one’s own country and interests didn’t start with England and end with Trump. It’s still growing around the world