Article

2004-06-13 Europe

Voters Reject French/German Governmentâs Iraq policy

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Phil B 2004-06-13 6:48:56 PM|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I just watched the BBC news. Truly unbelieveable! The British and Italian governing parties do badly becuase of Iraq. The French and German governing parties do badly because of economic and social policies. BTW, the French gov got hammered far worse than Blair or Belusconi.

Posted by Phil B 2004-06-13 7:05:40 PM|| 2004-06-13 7:05:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Correct Me if I'm wrong (as if I need to say that here...), but aren't the Conservatives more pro-Iraq than the Labour as a whole? Granted, Blair is Labour, but so are the far-left anti-Americans. It seems that voting Tory might mean that Blair wasn't pro-US enough.

That would be like people in the US voting Democrat because Bush hasn't been aggressive enough in the war.

Posted by jackal 2004-06-13 7:37:30 PM|| [http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2004-06-13 7:37:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Jackal,the Tories have caught the hate-the-man-hate-the-policy virus.Whatever may be sentiments of individual members,the Tory Party has been against Blair's Iraq policy.

The big story is how disillusioned European voters are w/EU,and the disconnect between populance and media/political elites.

Posted by Stephen 2004-06-13 10:51:31 PM|| 2004-06-13 10:51:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Stephen, thats my read on it too. If there is a common thread its an anti-EU vote.

Posted by phil_b 2004-06-13 11:01:43 PM|| 2004-06-13 11:01:43 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Ah, another case of BDS. A lot of that going around, it seems.

Posted by jackal 2004-06-13 11:09:05 PM|| [http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2004-06-13 11:09:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Stephen - that's completely untrue. The Conservatives supported the Iraq war, and were more united as a party on that issue, than Labour. They have made a few discontented noises in the last six months, but official policy is still pro-war. Their complaints have often been along the lines of the need for more troops to be sent as reinforcements.

Where did you get the idea they were anti-war?

Posted by Bulldog 2004-06-14 3:56:06 AM|| 2004-06-14 3:56:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 If anyone's ever 'up for' a war , it's the Tories!

Posted by Howard UK 2004-06-14 5:19:02 AM|| 2004-06-14 5:19:02 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 That above comment referred to your first remark, btw. That the EU voters are disillusioned is spot on.

Posted by Bulldog 2004-06-14 5:19:50 AM|| 2004-06-14 5:19:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Howard - UKIP did do rather well, didn't they?! :)

Posted by Bulldog 2004-06-14 5:20:30 AM|| 2004-06-14 5:20:30 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Yes, good to see. Got one of my votes - let's hope it puts the Euro-constitution to bed once and for all.

Posted by Howard UK 2004-06-14 5:22:26 AM|| 2004-06-14 5:22:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Mine too. But the risk is the Tories might go nuts again over Europe as a result of the UKIP threat and go for each others' throats, leaving Labour looking like the only credible governing party, and free to pursue a decidedly pro-European agenda. Which presumably they would do under Blair. But if Brown got the Labour leadership, signing the constitution and joining the euro might be dead in the water. That would make life harder for the Tories, and leave the Lib Dems sucking up any floating pro-Euro voters. I think it's going to be an interesting time in politics as regards the EU, and events could either work for the Eurosceptics, or possibly against them. Amazing that UKIP came second place in quite a few many regions, eh?!

Posted by Bulldog 2004-06-14 5:38:41 AM|| 2004-06-14 5:38:41 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 Brown being more euro-sceptic than Blair, one presumes. Is that correct? I know he has doubts about the Euro but didn't realise he was anti-constitution. I think Brown may make a decent leader of the Labour Party - at least the economy's been decently run for a while... I definitely sense a sea-change amongst the population regarding Europe - thankfully.

Posted by Howard UK 2004-06-14 6:29:35 AM|| 2004-06-14 6:29:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 Brown's scuppered a few of Blair's EU dreams (he effectively vetoed the UK's adoption of the euro, and has been responsible for the repeated postponement of a euro referendum, IIUC, and I think he was one of the ones pressuring Blair to go for a referendum on the constitution). I don't know how much of his apparent euroscepticism is ideologically-driven, or simply to piss off Blair and his legacy-chasing, however.

I'm not sure how good a PM Brown would make. I do think he's a shade more old Labour than Blair, which, IMO, can't really be good news, though his actions on Europe look more pragmatic than Blair's.

Posted by Bulldog 2004-06-14 6:15:18 PM|| 2004-06-14 6:15:18 PM|| Front Page Top

18:07 Anonymous5892
18:15 Bulldog
12:41 ex-lib
12:40 Anonymous4617
12:13 Ptah
08:49 Aris Katsaris
06:29 Howard UK
05:38 Bulldog
05:22 Howard UK
05:20 Bulldog
05:19 Bulldog
05:19 Howard UK
03:56 Bulldog
00:17 GK
00:16 Zenster
23:51 Zenster
23:39 Zenster
23:27 A Jackson
23:26 Zenster
23:24 Phil Fraering
23:12 Phil Fraering
23:09 B
23:09 jackal
23:03 Fred