EPTEuropean Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 583
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Dangermousecatdog
United Kingdom7084 Posts
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RoomOfMush
1296 Posts
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Artisreal
Germany9235 Posts
Someone who shits on everyone but the perceived majority can be seen as strong. Someone who follows his own programme and stands proud and firm against opposition using arguments to support his position can be seen as strong too. Just chanting slurs against minorities and speaking badly of / discrediting the opponents, dismissing their arguments as per se wrong without even remotely rebuting them can be seen as strong as well. Putting "the truth out there" against the mainstream, even though onself stands for the "silent majority". E.g. ADF in Germany is similar to that. | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
The European Union has scaled back plans for a military headquarters, as America’s allies scramble to work out what a Donald Trump presidency means for the transatlantic alliance. EU foreign and defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday signed up to a plan aimed at improving Europe’s response to conflicts and crises on their borders, but downgraded plans for the headquarters. Nevertheless, Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, who has spent more than two years drawing up a blueprint, described the plans as “a qualitative leap” and promised the EU would start implementation on Tuesday. She described the EU as a superpower that was not using its security and defence potential. EU ministers promised to “strengthen the relevance” of the EU’s rapid-reaction forces, known as battlegroups. The EU has been able to send rapid-reaction forces of 1,500 soldiers abroad to stabilise crises since 2007, but has never done so. Michael Fallon, Britain’s defence minister – and a long-term sceptic on EU military plans – expressed approval that the EU headquarters would only be used for civilian missions. The EU plan “does not extend to the military … or any kind of EU command and control”, he said. The document ministers agreed refers to “nonexecutive military missions”, which would limit the role of an EU military HQ to overseeing operations to train soldiers, as well as civilian operations, such as police. Elsewhere the document refers to consideration of “developing a concept” on a headquarters, another sign of the incrementalism of the plans. The EU currently runs 17 military and civilian missions, including the British-led naval force protecting ships from Somali pirates, run from Northwood in north-west London, to the multinational team of experts training Ukraine’s police force and judiciary. Source | ||
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Nyxisto
Germany6287 Posts
On November 16 2016 06:07 Artisreal wrote: Define stron leader though. Someone who shits on everyone but the perceived majority can be seen as strong. Someone who follows his own programme and stands proud and firm against opposition using arguments to support his position can be seen as strong too. Just chanting slurs against minorities and speaking badly of / discrediting the opponents, dismissing their arguments as per se wrong without even remotely rebuting them can be seen as strong as well. Putting "the truth out there" against the mainstream, even though onself stands for the "silent majority". E.g. ADF in Germany is similar to that. Yup heavily depends on the culture. In Germany it's definitely all about stability, temperament, civility and so on. Merkel, Kohl, Schmidt are all widely popular. On the other hand strongman personalities like Schröder are pretty much reviled, even within his own party nowadays. | ||
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TheDwf
France19747 Posts
On November 16 2016 00:55 LegalLord wrote: 3. In France, what's going on with the elections? I read the wiki page but I would certainly be interested in hearing more. Who are expected to be the front-runners this time around? A lot is said about Le Pen and her likelihood of making it to the runoffs, but it has been mentioned before that it doesn't look like she's close at present. Is the momentum as of now heading in the favor of FN or against them? Thanks. The last debate for the UMP/LR primaries is Thursday, and the first round is Sunday. Apparently Fillon (Prime minister for 5 years under Sarkozy) rose in the polls last week, so maybe he will disrupt the announced Juppé vs Sarkozy duel. One of those three will be the UMP/LR candidate for sure. Sarkozy is more popular among the party's base, but most centrists hate him and will vote against him (the primary is opened to anyone from the right or the centre; you can even vote if you're a left-winger...). Sarkozy tried to depict Juppé as too moderate, and too compromised with the center. Juppé takes no particular risks and simply tries to capitalize on his favorite status, playing upon the fact that he's seen as less polarizing than Sarkozy. Should Sarkozy win, Bayrou (center-right) said that he would be candidate; for now, he endorses Juppé. Hollande should say next month if he's candidate or not. His approval ratings are still terribly low, he's the most unpopular president of the Vth Republic so far, and he's deeply rejected by the population (~90% don't want him to run again for the presidency). Valls, the Prime minister, will likely replace him if he doesn't go to the slaughter. The primaries are scheduled the 22 and 29 January. The PS wanted everyone in the left to be there, but Mélenchon (currently the third man in the polls), the PCF (Communist Party) and EELV (Greens) rejected that; so it will mostly be the government candidate challenged by some candidates from the left wing of the PS, plus a few irrelevant satellites. Montebourg, former minister of the Economy (was “fired” in 2014), is the one who has the most chances to win against Hollande or Valls; he runs his campaign on an anti-austerity line, wants to address deindustrialization and criticized the economic action of the government. He'll position between the left wing of the PS and the government candidate. The left wing of the PS is trying to regain control of the party, à la Corbyn. There is a deep mistrust/anger towards the PS in the far left and radical left, so the PS' (desperate) calls to union against the right and the far right mostly fall on deaf ears. Apparently Macron will announce tomorrow that he's candidate. He's economically liberal, but not as conservative as the right on other topics, so he'll have a limited space between the center-left and the center-right. Both sides will fire at him. He's the living symbol of financial capitalism for the radical left, so he won't get votes from there. (It's interesting to note than no less than 4 former ministers of Hollande were or are running against him… It's never seen before.) The PCF (Communist Party) is torn between endorsing Mélenchon (who's between 12 and 15% in the polls so far, first in the left and overall third) and waiting an unlikely single candidate for the left. Some communists endorse Mélenchon, others would like to endorse Montebourg, some want an autonomous PCF candidate, others want neither of the 3 options. The national representatives of the PCF voted against rallying Mélenchon (55% for a PCF candidate), but militants will have the final word at the end of the month. Mélenchon had been their candidate in 2012, but since then they disagreed about what to do. The Green candidate scores between 1 and 2.5% in polls, not much to say. The Greens usually passed a deal with the PS to get some députés, but after the Hollande mandate they don't want to do it anymore. The Front National is above 25% in polls for quite some time, no particular change there. They noisily rejoiced about Trump's election, and are trying to capitalize on it; but there is a second round in France, so as I have said before they have no chance in 2017. Both the PS and the UMP/LR play the “I am the best rampart against the FN” game. It's widely admitted that the FN will be at the second round, so whoever meets them there has a free win… | ||
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WhiteDog
France8650 Posts
On November 16 2016 02:18 RvB wrote: Macron will announce his candidacy on wednesday according to Euronews. www.euronews.com A few of my students threw some eggs on his head last year lol. | ||
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corumjhaelen
France6884 Posts
I'm no Nostradamus, and wont hazard a prediction, but one thing is sure, we'll have plenty to laugh at in the coming months. | ||
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WhiteDog
France8650 Posts
On November 16 2016 07:49 corumjhaelen wrote: He's the anti-system candidate according to him and centrists start-up creators who can't read a resume. Well, everybody is the anti-system candidate I guess, including Sarkozy (lol) and excepting Juppé. I'm no Nostradamus, and wont hazard a prediction, but one thing is sure, we'll have plenty to laugh at in the coming months. Let's meet up in the street to see the shitstorm if Marine get elected or what ?  | ||
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Nyxisto
Germany6287 Posts
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WhiteDog
France8650 Posts
On November 16 2016 08:51 Nyxisto wrote: Does Le Pen really have a chance if she makes it to the second round? Doesn't France usually gang up on FN candidates? Usually, but people are starting to get bored with the idea of voting for someone they don't want just to prevent Marine. The FN changed their discourse to make it a little more acceptable (and they splitted with Jean-Marie Le Pen to do so). Personally I will not vote against Le Pen for someone like Sarkozy or Juppé (or even a socialist candidate for that matter). | ||
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RvB
Netherlands6274 Posts
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Nyxisto
Germany6287 Posts
On November 16 2016 08:53 WhiteDog wrote: Usually, but people are starting to get bored with the idea of voting for someone they don't want just to prevent Marine. The FN changed their discourse to make it a little more acceptable (and they splitted with Jean-Marie Le Pen to do so). Personally I will not vote against Le Pen for someone like Sarkozy or Juppé (or even a socialist candidate for that matter). Jeez you can't let the FN win, who would you vote for? | ||
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WhiteDog
France8650 Posts
I can't even bear a Macron president, might even vote Le Pen to prevent it. I just can't bear this guy, he represent everything I hate in modern society. | ||
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TheDwf
France19747 Posts
On November 16 2016 08:51 Nyxisto wrote: Does Le Pen really have a chance if she makes it to the second round? Nope, the FN is deeply hated by ~60% of the electorate, and most of those people would come—even reluctantly—to vote against it. | ||
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Sent.
Poland9299 Posts
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WhiteDog
France8650 Posts
On November 16 2016 09:11 Sent. wrote: What if she gets to the second round and her opponent will be some super leftist? I mean something similar to American or Austrian elections where you had a far/alt right candidate against a left wing "hero". Is it possible that people will elect Le Pen because they hate socialists or communists? We have a socialist president (altho he is a traitor), and the communist party was the biggest party in France for half the XXth century. We're not american. | ||
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Sent.
Poland9299 Posts
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TheDwf
France19747 Posts
On November 16 2016 08:57 Nyxisto wrote: Jeez you can't let the FN win, who would you vote for? There's virtually no difference between the hardcore right and the far right on some subjects, so some left-wing voters would not bother to vote. You have to consider that this scenario already happened in 2002, and people saw what happened afterwards: nothing good. The PS kept shifting to the right, the right shifted to the far right, and as of now the far right has never been higher. It makes no sense to keep voting for the very people who are responsible for the high level of the FN because they failed for decades. The “lesser of two evils” narrative is losing more and more strength with each passing year. Many people already see 2017 as bleak. Whoever gets elected will quickly be unpopular and contested. I don't think there's a solution within this dying political system. | ||
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WhiteDog
France8650 Posts
On November 16 2016 09:13 Sent. wrote: Nyxisto mentioned that the rest usually gangs up against Le Pen's party but wouldn't it work in her favor? I mean look at Trump, all those establishment republicans refused to endorse him or even endorsed Clinton and it only helped him. It might, she have been saying "UMPS" for years (UMP, the main party in the right + PS the main party of the left) just to discredit this alliance of people who are supposed to be politically opposed. To her (and she is right, the last few laws, like the law on labor, proved her to be right) they are both vassals of the european bureaucrats. | ||
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