European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 1383

BRUSSELS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - NATO has authorized additional forces for Kosovo, the military alliance said on Friday, following the worst violence in northern Kosovo in years.

A battle between police and armed Serbs holed up in a monastery turned a quiet village in northern Kosovo into a war zone earlier this week.

NATO said in a statement that it had "authorized additional forces to address the current situation" but did not immediately specify how many or from which countries. A later statement from Britain's Ministry of Defence said it had transferred command of a battalion of troops to the alliance.

Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla uprising and 1999 NATO intervention, accuses Serbia of arming and supporting the Serb fighters.

Serbia, which has not recognised its former province's independence, blames Kosovo for precipitating violence by mistreating ethnic Serb residents. Serbia and the main Serb political group in Kosovo have proclaimed public mourning for the Serbs killed in the battle.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said it had transferred command of the 1st Battalion of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment - a reserve force for NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) - to NATO so it could provide support if required.

It said the battalion had recently arrived in the region for a long-planned training exercise.

On October 16 2023 04:44 Sent. wrote:
I wonder if this result will allow the EU to act more aggresively toward Hungary. I doubt anyone will support them in their rule of law disputes. They should be completely alone in that now.

On October 15 2023 20:05 xM(Z wrote:
so is poland going alt-right?

On November 25 2023 17:05 WombaT wrote:
Right so in addition to recent right wing riots in Dublin of all places, Geert Wilders and his PVV have come out as the largest party in recent Dutch elections.

Is there like any positive political news across Europe these days? Feels like we’ve been collectively eating shit for at least half a decade.

To my Dutch, or otherwise informed Liquidians, how likely is his party to actually form a government and how much would one view his attempts to soften his image and project a more moderate stance as something that might continue in governance, or was merely an exercise in improving electability prior to reversion?

On November 25 2023 19:35 RvB wrote:

The short answer is that Wilders forming a government is the most likely scenario at this moment. The moderation in his stance will have to continue since he'll need to find multiple coalition partners and one of them will almost certainly be NSC. NSC has campaigned on good governance and the rule of law.

The long answer requires more explanation about our political system. Similar to most parliamentary democracies we have two legislative chambers. The tweede kamer (similar to house of commons) and eerste kamer (similar to the house of lords). The tweede kamer elects the government and is the primary legislator but for any law to pass it also has to pass in the eerste kamer as well. Seats in the tweede kamer are elected via proportional representation and there's no minimum threshold. So if you have enough votes for one seat you're in. Elections for the eerste kamer are a little more complex but for practical purposes it works the same.

In practice this has led to two things:
1. Every since Pim Fortuyn at the start of the 2000s we've had a large segment of the population voting for right wing protest parties. We've had LPF, PVV, BBB, and FVD.
2. Because it's so easy to get in we have a large amount of parties in our parliament. 15 after this election. Parties are also relatively small so 3-4 party coalitions are standard nowadays.

For the PVV this means that to form a government they need a majority in the tweede kamer. For that they have to coalition with other parties. As you can imagine the centre-right parties are their most realistic option. The only two parties on the right big enough are NSC and VVD. VVD is the party from Rutte and similar to the Tories in the UK (conservative liberal). VVD has already said they won't directly join a government but they'll consider supporting a minority government. NSC is a new party from an experienced politician called Omtzigt. He basically built his party and his brand around good governance and the rule of law. It's not something he can compromise on. So for Wilders to have any chance of forming a government he'll have to scrap the most extreme parts of his programme.

Additionally, to pass any laws they'll also need a majority in the eerste kamer. In the last election BBB (farmers party) was the right wing protest party and became the biggest. They're right-wing but not as extreme as Wilders. Even with the BBB they still have no majority there. So they'll need to gain the support of BBB and then 1-2 other parties as well.

So to conclude to implement any of his policies he'll need to cooperate with a large amount of other parties. Those parties aren't as extreme and operate mostly according to the rule of law.

Anyway that this is the most likely does not mean it will happen. Negotiations will take months at the least and what will happen is unpredictable.

Edit: To be clear I still think it's a disastrous result. Just not as damaging as you might expect. It's not like Trump who was able to take over one of the parties in a two-party system.