Letters
Letters to the Editor •
The notion that anti-European sentiment has triumphed in the EU (for now) is greatly exaggerated
Who has written to the editor-in-chief, Claudio Cerasa
10 SEP 26
Translated by AI
Photo: LaPresse
To the Editor – Germans are waiting with bated breath for the elections to be held on 20 September in the Länder of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The same goes for the Swedes, who will go to the polls exactly one week earlier to elect a new Parliament (Riksdag). In fact, a neck-and-neck race is expected between the ruling centre-right coalition and the centre-left bloc led by Magdalena Andersson’s Social Democrats. Sweden operates a proportional representation system with preferential voting in multi-member constituencies and a four per cent national threshold. It is a system that has proved its worth, ensuring a reasonable balance between stability and political representation. An interesting fact: the 349 MPs (the odd number is no coincidence) are not seated in the Chamber according to their party. Instead, they are grouped according to the constituency in which they were elected. Just imagine what would happen if this system were adopted in the Chamber of Deputies (in Sweden there is only one chamber). We would be treated to some spectacular scenes.
Michele Magno
Further points of interest. In recent months, Orbán has been ousted from Hungary, Moldova has remained firmly committed to European integration, the Netherlands has ousted Wilders’ extremism from government, Portugal has blocked the path for right-wing extremists in the presidential elections, in Romania pro-Russian parties have not had the success they had hoped for, in Italy pro-Putin sentiment stands at 7 per cent, and the longest-serving government in the history of the Republic – also in Italy – has chosen to make adherence to a pragmatic pro-European stance a defining feature of its identity. It is true that Iceland has voted to remain outside the EU; France may soon—though this remains to be seen—have an extremist government; and in Spain, Vox could win a landslide. However, the purported inevitable victory of anti-European sentiment in Europe is a development worth monitoring, but one that is still greatly exaggerated.
To the Editor – Carlo Fidanza claims that the cordon sanitaire around the AfD represents ‘an anti-democratic stance’. What is anti-democratic about a coalition of political forces which, by pooling the seats they have won thanks to the citizens’ votes, join forces to prevent German sovereigntists from governing? Nothing, of course. If the head of the Fratelli d’Italia delegation to the European Parliament had said that such a strategy is ineffective, even counterproductive, then yes, one could agree. Indeed, this now seems well established. But why on earth would an alliance of the centre-right and centre-left that has secured a majority be undemocratic? It really is beyond comprehension.
Luca Rocca