I certainly enjoyed seeing the conservatives winning in the European Parliament elections this past weekend. What a breath of fresh air on the continent where socialism has been the norm for so long. I can only think that this is due to what's left of the producers in the Western Democracies getting fed up with the tax and spend liberals.
Conservatives won by fairly large margins in Britain, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and in many of the smaller nations (by industrialization rather than geography). I bring this up in this forum simply because these wins give me some hope that America might wake up from this delusional, love-sickness over The ONE (hopefully before he spends Trillions more into a Depression).
Not sure what's up with Germany but there are no returns for that nation yet.
I think that the most interesting result was "The Pirate Party" in Sweden winning it's first ever seat in the EU Parliament. "The Pirate Party" stands for
more rights for Internet users and free flow of data on the Web. Support for the party rose in polls after a court verdict against the Internet data-swap site The Pirate Bay, which is based in Sweden.
Anyway, for those interested, here's some excerpts edited from Der Spiegel Online:
European Parliament Election Results by Country
The June 4-7 European Parliament elections delivered a setback for the European left and gains for center-right and right-wing parties across the continent.
In Belgium, the ruling Christian Democrats came out on top, winning 15 percent, ahead of the Liberal Democrats at 13 percent. The far-right Vlaams Belang or Flemish Interest Party was the obvious loser, falling from 14 to 10 percent, about the same level as the francophone Socialist Party (PS). The Green Party Ecolo, meanwhile, more than doubled its support to 8 percent.
In the Czech Republic, the conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) succeeded in defending its position as the leading party.
In Denmark, the right-wing populist, anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DVP) led the election. The party increased its share of the vote from 6.8 percent in the last EU election to 15 percent.
In Estonia, the opposition Center Party is out in front with 26 percent, followed by the Reform Party of the incumbent Prime Minister Andrus Ansip at 15 percent. The opposition conservative Res Publica party have 12 percent, while the Social Democrats, who are also members of the coalition government, are at around 9 percent.
In Finland, right-wing populists known for their anti-foreigner rhetoric gained massive ground.
President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling conservative UMP party won an easy victory in France, getting 28 percent of the vote. The Socialist Party (PS), a sister party to Germany's Social Democrats, earned only 17 percent -- slightly more than Daniel Cohn-Bendit's Greens, who won 16 percent.
In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's party easily won the most support. Early results showed his People of Freedom (PdL) party at 35 percent; its coalition partner the Northern League managed around 10 percent. The center-left opposition Democratic Party (PD), however, earned only 27 percent. They were hoping for signs of weakness in Berlusconi's party as a result of recent scandals involving the prime minister.
The governing conservative Homeland Union - Lithuania Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) party in Lithuania proved to be the strongest force in the European election.
In Poland, the center-right incumbent parties have maintained their edge. Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Civic Platform (PO) earned around 45 percent, while the nationalist-conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), led by President Lech Kaczynski, ran a distant second place with 29 percent.
In Portugal, the ruling Socialist Party (PS) of Prime Minister Jose Socrates suffered an unexpected defeat, winning around 27 percent, a significant drop compared to its 2004 result of 44.5 percent. The opposition conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD) won around 32 percent, a similar result to 2004.
In Spain, the conservative People's Party won over 42 percent of the vote, gaining 23 seats, compared to the 38.5 percent (21 seats) won by the ruling center-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) of Prime Minister José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero.
Among the election's biggest losers was the Labour party in the United Kingdom, which saw its support drop from 19 seats in 2004 to 11 and won just 15.3 percent of the vote -- its worst post-war election result. It finished in third place behind the Conservatives (24 seats) and the euroskeptic United Kingdom Independence Party (13 seats).
Full story:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,druck-629142,00.html
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