Europe Swings to the Right

Europe Swings to the Right - Two big election upsets in Europe further mark the continent's swing to the right (by their standards).

In the German Land, or State, of Sachsen-Anhalt, the industrial heart of the former East Germany (to the extent that East Germany had industry or heart), the Christian Democrats clobbered the currently-ruling Social Democrats. Sachsen-Anhalt is regarded as the electoral belwether of the unified Germany - as they go, frequently, so goes the rest of the country - so this defeat is regarded as a bad omen for German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

In the meantime, an even more telling upset in France, current Socialist premier Lionel Jospin has been ejected from the final round of voting in their upcoming presidential election in yesterday' s presidential runoff. The Socialists came in third in the biggest French upset since the Battle of Sedan.

Look for all sorts of spin and electoral shenanigans in Germany, Italy (where the pan-Euro left is mobilizing against Silvio Berlusconi as we speak) and, as we noted earlier this week, Hungary, where the relatively conservative and successful government faces a full-court press of Euro-socialists eager for a victory.

Any victory.