There’s been a lot of news regarding Andy Burnham becoming the new PM (is he actually changing anything or is it all talk?), the silly election between Farage and Count Binface, the three sort of maybe pro-independence (or pro-unification in the case of Northern Ireland) of the countries within the UK meeting, Burnham possibly looking to reverse Brexit (big if true), etc. Are referendums on the future of the countries of the UK likely, is the reversal of Brexit likely, what policies has Burnham made to improve standard of living?
Is the rise of AfD in Germany a concern, what has the other parties done to slow it down? What has the other parties / incumbent governments across Europe done to respond to the rise of the far-right?
In France, there’s news of student protests that have gotten violent (by both sides), what’s up with that? I’ve heard news of the rise of both LFI (left wing populist, their leader from my understanding is pro-Putin and tankieish, is this true?) and the National Rally (the far-right), what’s happening around that?
What has the new leader of Hungary (Peter Magyar) done to reform? What about other Eurosceptic (or formerly Eurosceptic?) nations like Slovakia? I’ve seen some news regarding recent elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (where nationalist leaders have been elected), how significant are those?
There’s been lots of drone attacks, tampering of infrastructure, etc. by the Russians on various neighbouring countries (Poland, the Baltics, Moldova, etc.), have those affected the policies of those states in any way? And of course, how is Ukraine doing against the invasion by Russia (has support changed, have there been any significant advances or retreats, etc.)?
And what about Spain, the Nordics, Italy, Portugal, etc.?
Most of these countries have local news organisations offering news in English. I would also suggest next time you group some of these questions in separate posts. You’ll get more people reading a few shorter threads than one loooong one.
If the UK had proportional voting and not first past the post for parliament seats, they’d have a greater problem with far right politics. Burnham just started and is the first PM to point out very publicly that Brexit was a mistake. That won’t solve any of the most pressing problems the people are feeling right now because rejoining would, like leaving did, take bloody ages. But it would probably be a net plus for the UK economy. I have a suspicion that the guilty verdict of criminal financial shenanigans for Manchester City Football Club, the city where he used to be mayor, and the ensuing scandal will spill some shit on him as well. So there is every chance the revolving door at Downing Street will keep spinning. Too early to tell.
The AfD in Germany has already risen. They are the party with the second most seats in this Bundestag. In the state of Saxony-Anhalt we now may get the first AfD minister-president (governor). While his election isn’t guaranteed at this point, he’s a handful of votes short of a majority, the election, on whose result this state parliament will constitute itself, has already happened. The damage a single Trumpian minister-president can cause is significant but not irreversible. The other parties don’t have a clue how to stem the tide. However, there are still enough people who would stand up for German democracy right now so we aren’t quite back in Weimar yet. The situation is shit but not hopeless.
