Financial Times
Editorial
May 11, 2012
For much of the past few months, the debate about Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has been dominated by dry economic arguments and technical fixes. This week’s elections in France, Greece and Italy are a reminder that politics will ultimately decide the fate of the monetary union.
The administration of the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was only the latest in a series of incumbents to be toppled. In some cases, most notably Italy, technocratic cabinets have been installed to fill temporarily the gaping hole left by discredited political parties. In France, the strong political mandate received by François Hollande has already changed the European conversation, challenging the mantra of austerity.
The crisis has shaken the political establishment in many countries. In the Greek general election, the two parties that had dominated the political scene since 1974 were backed by a bare 30 per cent of the electorate. In Italy’s local elections, the support for Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom melted like an ice-cream in the Roman sun.
The reaction of many mainstream politicians has been a mixture of complacency and dismay. In the Greek case, they hope the stalemate following the elections will result in a second vote with a happier outcome for them.
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