Forget the Ides of March – December 4th Is the Risky Date

Will Europe Take Another Step Towards Being Ungovernable?

This Sunday there are two critical elections in Europe.  In Austria a far right party has at least a 50-50 chance of winning the Presidency.

Nazi Redux

Austria home to, well you know, is likely to elect a neo Nazi

In Austria, the Freedom Party regularly leads opinion polls, with about one-third of the vote, easily surpassing the mainstream center-left and center-right parties and raising the once unthinkable possibility that the party will not only win the presidency, but soon head the government as well.

Its candidate for the Presidency espouses this.

Mr. Hofer, who has picked up on a previously little-noticed provision that could allow the president to dismiss a government or individual ministers, clearly aims to mold policy. He has visited neighboring Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and speaks of forging an alliance of Central and Eastern European nations under Austrian guidance.

In the interview, he repeatedly expressed hope that Mr. Trump’s victory will lead to relations’ being mended between the United States and Russia.

Sanctions against Moscow over its seizure of Crimea and meddling in Ukraine should be lifted, he said, “because they have not moved anything politically,” yet “have affected the economy and destroyed jobs.”

Vienna, a neutral meeting place for the Cold War superpowers, should once again host peace-seeking summits and foster economic cooperation with Russia, he said.

Yes, an Austria ultra right winger leading eastern Europe and having common calling with Russia.  Uh, been there, done that, didn’t turn out well.

In Italy a vote will be taken an amending the Constitution to make the country a little more governable.  Failure will likely cause the fall of the government, and a major banking crisis looms that could easily doom the EU to another financial disastere.

Fun times are here again.