Yesterday the political face of Europe changed colour. And not just in France, where the socialists have returned to the Elysée after 17 years with the victory of François Hollande. The elections in Greece have launched a strong anti-European signal and people are starting to talk again about a possible exit from the euro. Even in Germany, citizens went to vote in the northernmost Land of the country and there was a sensational thud from the Christian Democrat party of the chancellery Angela Merkel. But if Europe pushes against the euro, in Serbia, whose candidacy was approved by the EU family on March 2012, XNUMX, the ballot will see two pro-European parties face off.
GREECE – The ballot is now completed (99% of ballots) and it is clear that austerity was the loser. The only two parties that have pledged to continue on the heels of the reforms imposed by the European Union, the conservatives of New Democracy and the Pasok of Evangelos Venizelos obtained 18,8% of the votes and 13,2% respectively. The defeat is evident if one compares it with the result of 2009: Pasok, whose number one at the time was George Papademos (later accused of having contributed to exaggerating the crisis) obtained 44% of the votes. Thanks to the majority bonus, New Democracy would be able to get 108 deputies elected, Pasok only 41. Together therefore, in the pro-Europe-pro-euro coalition, they would only achieve 149 seats out of 300.
Difficult to think of an alliance with a third force since all the other parties are strongly opposed to continuing the austerity measures imposed by the EU and the extremists are even calling for an exit from the euro. Consultations begin today, but any possible coalition seems destined to be short-lived.
The real victory was that of the radical left of Syriza who got the 16% of votes. Alexis Tsipras, Syriza's number one and the youngest of the political leaders (37), spoke of a peaceful revolution: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel must understand that austerity policies have been defeated," he said. This is also confirmed by the data of the smaller parties. The right of Independent Greeks gained 10% and Golden Dawn neo-Nazis almost 7%: thus these extremists will enter Parliament for the first time since the fall of the dictatorship in 1974. The Communists of the Kke, with 8% of the votes.
GERMANY – Not only in Greece was Angela Merkel defeated. In Schleswig-Holstein, the Land bordering Denmark, the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) of the German Chancellor scored the worst result since 1950. The governing coalition no longer has a majority in the Land, having garnered only 30,6% of the vote. The liberals of the FDP won 8,3%, almost 7 points less than in the 2009 elections. This result does not allow the two parties to remain in power. Indeed i SPD Social Democrats got 29,9% of the consents and have declared to want to ally with Verdi (11%) and with the party of the Danish ethnic minority. The three opposition parties together would thus obtain 35 seats out of 69 in the local state parliament.
These elections are an important thermometer for measuring the country's political trend, since new elections will take place between September and October 2013 and Merkel will try to obtain a third mandate. Waiting for the vote in North Rhine-Westphalia, scheduled for Sunday 13 May, the Cdu could stand in the elections with the government of only 7 out of 16 states. The hypothesis of a Grosse Koalition between the Cdu and the Spd is becoming increasingly realistic.
SERBIA – While Europeans send out anti-European signals, those who are not yet part of the big EU family are eager to enter. In Belgrade it will be decided with the ballot on May 20 between the pro-European reformist and outgoing premier Boris Tadic, who obtained 26,8% of the votes and nationalist conservative (slightly more moderate and converted to pro-European positions) Tomislav Nikolic who got 25,6% of the votes. The situation is different with regard to legislation. Nikolic's SNS coalition won more seats than the Social Democratic party: 73 against 68.
In third place we find the socialists of Ivica Dacic, allied with Tadic in the last legislature, with 14,4%. If they were to side again with the outgoing prime minister, the new government would have the same composition as the previous one. The other parties did not go beyond 7%: the Democratic Party obtained 6,9% of the votes, the Liberals stopped at 6,6% and the United Regions of Serbia at 6,1%. However, the pro-independence extremists of the Serbian Radical Party failed to overcome the 5% barrier.
RUSSIA – This morning Vladimir Putin, elected by a controversial 63,7% of the population, will take office in Moscow for the third time in 12 years. Italian ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi is also present at the Kremlin swearing-in, after which he will formally take the place of Dmitri Medvedev. Meanwhile, numerous demonstrators are parading on the streets of the capital and over 120 people have been arrested, including former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov (already released on payment of a fine).
