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Keith Grech
The reality is more complex than a simple story of social democracy in inevitable decline.
On the face of it these are testing times for left-of-centre, social-democratic movements in Europe. The results of the June 2009 European parliamentary elections served to stress the point that in spite of the economic meltdown, social-democratic parties have been largely unable to attract to themselves the confidence of the electorate.
But is this the true picture?
The European Parliament elections were not the only electoral contests to have taken place in Europe over the last few months. Various national and regional elections have been taking place, and the emerging results would seem to depict a somewhat inconsistent picture. It is true that in Germany the SPD has suffered a crushing defeat, in Bulgaria the Socialist Party has seen its vote tally reduced by 13 per cent, and in Portugal prime minister Socrates is presiding over what has become a minority socialist government. But electoral victories have been registered in Norway and in Greece. And in Malta the Labour Party registered its best-ever electoral performance at the European parliamentary elections, garnering 54.77 per cent of first-count votes, against the 40.49 per cent of the Nationalist Party.
This leads me to at least pose the question of whether or not we should take at face value the apparently irrefutable evidence of a supposed decline of social democracy in Europe. Could there be other factors that explain what has happened?
Since the first European parliamentary elections were held in 1979, they have never been contested on a truly European agenda. Most political movements, of the left as much as of the right, tend to use these elections to sound out the electorate on the levels of support they are currently enjoying amongst the national population. The elections are largely contested on national issues, and are often seen by the electorate as a chance to vent its anger and frustration against whatever party is in government.
This conclusion would seem to be supported by the statistics emerging from the 2009 elections across Europe. In the wake of the worst economic global recession in living memory it should come as no surprise that parties in government are facing difficulties in attracting popular support. After all, the world over, parties in government tend to be lambasted for the failures of the governments they lead.
This is not to say that as socialists and social democrats we should not be concerned by the emerging picture. We should not rest on our laurels, and must accept the need to embrace change. It is high time we acknowledged the possibility that many of the premises upon which our political agenda is based may no longer hold true. Similarly, we need to understand that the electorate is not a singular homogenous body that can be catered for through a one-size-fits-all policy programme. The modern electorate is a discerning one, whose vote cannot be taken for granted. Irrespective of whether they live and vote in Germany or in Malta, in Finland or Greece, European voters need to be engaged with, and convinced that they can make a difference through their votes - and that their interests can be better served by voting for the socialist or social-democratic groupings.
Anything less will result in a growing number of people who choose to vote with their feet, through exercising their democratic right to abstain from voting, or who choose to manifest their discontent by voting for fringe parties, in the knowledge that such parties stand no realistic chance of making it into government.
Keith Grech is Policy Co-ordinator of Fondazzjoni Ideat. He served as Deputy General Secretary of the Malta Labour Party between 1997 and 1999. He holds first degrees in Commerce, Public Policy and Law, has read European Studies at Masters Level, and has successfully read for a Doctorate in Law. He is a practising advocate in Malta.
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