Atlantic Sentinel

Author: Atlantic Sentinel

  • Liberal Democrats Are Least Bad Option in British Election

    Nick Clegg Jo Swinson
    British Liberal Democratic party leaders Nick Clegg and Jo Swinson visit Bishopbriggs, Scotland, April 1, 2015 (Liberal Democrats)

    British politics hasn’t given liberals hope in recent years.

    In 2015, we called for another Conservative-Liberal coalition. When the Conservative Party won an outright majority that year and veered to the right, embracing Brexit with a gusto, we switched to the Liberal Democrats. We still supported Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives in Scotland in 2017, but she is gone and with her any hope of moderation on the right.

    Boris Johnson, who once described himself as a liberal, has made common cause with the reactionaries in his party to take power; forced out 21 principled moderates who opposed his Brexit policy, including ten former cabinet ministers, two former chancellors and one former deputy prime minister; and unlawfully suspended Parliament in an attempt to prevent debate on his Brexit deal, which, for all his bluster, is essentially the deal the EU offered two years ago.

    Worst of all, Johnson frames this election as a choice between “the people” and Parliament. That is the sort of insidious rhetoric which paves the way for the erosion of liberal democracy. (more…)

  • Give Regional Parties the Balance of Power in Spain

    Pedro Sánchez
    Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez makes a speech in Congress in Madrid, July 17, 2018 (La Moncloa)

    There doesn’t seem to be market in Spain for a political party that is liberal and pragmatic on the issue of Catalonia. (more…)

  • Sánchez Wins in Spain But Could Need Separatists for Majority

    • Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez won the election on Sunday with 29 percent support for his center-left Socialist Party.
    • But his alliance with the far-left Podemos does not have a majority, forcing Sánchez to negotiate with parties from the Basque Country and Catalonia.
    • The conservative People’s Party imploded, losing half its votes to the center-right Citizens and the far-right Vox, which enters Congress for the first time. (more…)

  • Sánchez Is the Reasonable Choice in Spain’s Election

    Pedro Sánchez
    Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez arrives in Salzburg, Austria for a meeting with other European socialist party leaders, September 19, 2018 (PES)

    As long as Spain’s mainstream right would rather do a deal with the far right than the center-left, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’ Socialists are the most reasonable choice in the country’s general election on Sunday.

    Sánchez’ only possible partners are the far-left Podemos and regionalists from the Basque Country, the Canary Islands, Catalonia and Valencia. Even if, as the polls predict, the Socialists expand their plurality in Congress, the next coalition government could be unwieldy.

    Podemos will require concessions and its platform is full of unwise proposals, from abolishing spy agencies to nationalizing energy companies to withdrawing from international trade deals.

    If the regionalists end up as kingmakers, they can be expected to leverage their position to extract more money from Madrid. The two largest parties in Catalonia insist they will only back Sánchez if he comes out in favor of a legal independence referendum. Sánchez insists he won’t.

    But those complications are preferable to the alternative: a hard-right government that would need the Franco apologists in Vox for its majority and exacerbate the separatist crisis in Catalonia by once again suspending self-government in this part of Spain. (more…)

  • Rutte Loses Senate Majority, Gains for Dutch Far Right

    The Hague Netherlands
    Aerial view of Dutch government offices and parliament buildings in The Hague (Tweede Kamer)
    • Dutch voters elected provincial deputies on Wednesday, who will elect a new Senate in May.
    • The four parties in Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s ruling coalition are projected to lose their majority in the upper chamber.
    • Far-right parties posted their best result to date, taking 21 percent of the votes. (more…)

  • May’s Brexit Deal Splits Conservatives

    Theresa May
    British prime minister Theresa May attends a NATO summit in Brussels, July 11 (Shutterstock/Alexandros Michailidis)
    • Seven members of the British government, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, have resigned in protest to Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
    • They — and many Conservatives — object to a potentially indefinite “backstop” in the withdrawal agreement that would keep the United Kingdom in a customs union with the EU in order to avoid closing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. (more…)

  • Divided Congress After Midterm Elections in America

    United States Capitol Washington
    United States Capitol in Washington DC (Shutterstock/Brandon Bourdages)
    • Democrats are poised to take control of the House of Representatives after midterm elections in the United States.
    • Republicans maintain a majority in the Senate.
    • In addition to all 435 House and 35 Senate seats, 38 state and territorial governorships were contested. (more…)

  • American Elections: Analysis and Opinion Blog

    Washington DC
    View of Washington DC with the United States Capitol in the distance, February 17, 2015 (Matt Popovich)
    • Americans vote in midterm elections on Tuesday, November 6.
    • All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate and 39 state and territorial governorships are contested. Many states also hold legislative elections. (more…)

  • Theresa May Loses Pro-Brexit Ministers

    Theresa May
    British prime minister Theresa May and her husband, Philip, arrive in Hamburg, Germany for the G20 summit, July 6, 2017 (Bundesregierung)
    • Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson have resigned from Theresa May’s government.
    • Both opposed her Brexit strategy of seeking as close as trade relationship with the EU as possible without accepting free movement of EU nationals. (more…)

  • Italy in Crisis After President Blocks Anti-EU Government

    Saint Peter's Basilica Rome Italy
    Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy at night (Unsplash/Matthias Mullie)
    • Italian president Sergio Mattarella has blocked a government of the Euroskeptic Five Star Movement and League by vetoing its candidate for finance minister.
    • A technocratic government, led by Carlo Cottarelli, is due to take power until new elections can be held. (more…)

  • No Party or Coalition Wins Majority in Italy

    • Italians elected a new parliament on Sunday.
    • The populist Five Star Movement and (formerly Northern) League made gains at the expense of mainstream parties.
    • Neither the combined right nor a left-right coalition of Matteo Renzi’s Democrats and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia would have a majority. (more…)

  • Left-Right Coalition Would Be Best Outcome for Italy

    Matteo Renzi
    Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi answers questions from reporters in Berlin, Germany, July 1, 2015 (Palazzo Chigi)

    There are two realistic outcomes to Italy’s election on Sunday: a right-wing government that includes the xenophobic Brothers of Italy and Northern League or a German-style grand coalition between Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and the Democrats.

    The second would be better for Italy and for Europe. To make that outcome more likely, Italians should vote for the center-left. (more…)

  • German Parties Finalize Centrist Coalition Agreement

    Angela Merkel
    Angela Merkel delivers a televised address from the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, November 18, 2015 (Bundesregierung/Sandra Steins)
    • Christian Democrats and Social Democrats have finalized a deal for another “grand coalition” government in Germany.
    • The agreement would allow Angela Merkel to remain chancellor for four more years. (more…)

  • Separatists Defend Majority in Catalan Election

    Plaça de Sant Jaume Barcelona Spain
    Early morning in Plaça de Sant Jaume, Barcelona, seat of the Catalan regional government (iStock)
    • Separatists defended their majority in Catalonia’s regional parliament on Thursday.
    • Parties that want to secede from Spain won seventy of the 135 seats against 57 for unionists.
    • The remaining eight seats went to Catalonia in Common, a left-wing party that supports self-determination but opposes independence. (more…)

  • Independence Crisis in Catalonia

    Plaça de Catalunya Barcelona Spain
    Night falls on Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, September 11 (Sergio Marchi)
    • Spain has dissolved the autonomous Catalan government and charged its members with rebellion and sedition after they declared independence.
    • Elections for a new parliament will be held on December 21.
    • 92 percent voted to break away from Spain in a referendum on October 1, but only 43 percent of Catalans participated. (more…)