French labour reform may be watered down further

Significance The draft law was presented by Labour Minister Myriam El Khomry in late February and aims at introducing more flexibility in France's rigid labour market. The government has led a promotional campaign in favour of the reform, against a backdrop of opposition from trade unions, students and public opinion. Valls has watered down the most controversial proposals but even in its current state the proposed reform would be a significant step forward. Impacts The government will need to assemble a diverse majority spanning the centre-left to the centre-right in order to pass the draft law by July. Reformist trade unions support the revised version of the law but more militant unions maintain their opposition. The right wing and the main employer association oppose the revised draft which they consider not favourable enough to companies.

Significance The new government will have only 34 of the 179 seats, because policy differences among the right-wing parties, and the political strategy of the electorally strengthened anti-immigration, Euro-sceptic Danish People's Party (DF), mean DF will remain outside. Policy-making will be difficult. The government will be more economically liberal and pro-EU than it would have been with DF, but to make policy it will rely on partners across the political spectrum, especially the ousted Social Democrats -- who remain the largest party -- and DF. Impacts If DF is seen as a welfarist protector of ordinary citizens, it is more likely to repeat, at least, its 22% vote in the next election. The much-tighter immigration regime which is in prospect could taint Denmark's image and make it less attractive to foreign investment. The new government is likely to be an ally for much of UK Prime Minister David Cameron's EU reform agenda.


Subject Mexico's trade unions. Significance On September 11, the head of Mexico’s main business lobby Coparmex called on Congress to advance several pending issues relating to labour reform before the 2018 elections, including legislation on labour relations, union regulation and collective bargaining contracts. The call comes as the government attempts to resist pressure from Washington and Ottawa to address labour disparities as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations. Impacts Government and business will oppose any NAFTA alterations that might harm Mexico’s comparative advantages. Union leaders will resist strengthening the right to free association, which would allow workers to opt for alternative unions. The Confederation of Workers of Mexico will put pressure on its more than 11,000 affiliated unions to vote for the PRI in 2018. The independent National Union of Workers will call on affiliates to support leftist options. Discontent has increased among unionised workers, who will not necessarily vote along the same lines as the leaders.


Significance The reforms are scheduled to be debated in parliament in 2021. The planned changes are a political gamble by the governing Liberal-National coalition. Impacts The governing coalition will push further to weaken trade unions. As the 2022 election approaches, the government will not seek any deeper labour reforms in this term. COVID-19’s economic effects will increase pressure for a dynamic labour market as the economy recovers.


Subject The PiS government's first four months. Significance Politics is deeply polarised; the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government's opponents accuse it of undermining democracy and the rule of law, concerns echoed by the European Commission. Its costly social spending pledges appeal to Poles frustrated that they have not shared in economic growth. Impacts PiS welfare policy will support low-income families, particularly those outside the large urban centres. With no elections due until 2018, the government's position is stable, and it should have no problems passing its legislative programme. The rule-of-law dispute with the Commission will cost the government time and political capital responding to international criticisms.


Significance Moody's may cut Poland's credit rating because of the government's controversial changes to the constitutional court, the agency has warned. The European Commission continues to put pressure on the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party to repeal legislation that changes the court's composition and working practices, triggering protests and prompting accusations of anti-democratic behaviour. However, Poland's financial markets have been rallying, even as the stand-off has intensified. Signs that the government favours a less aggressive restructuring of Swiss franc mortgage loans are also buoying sentiment. Impacts Sentiment towards EMs will still be fragile, thanks to significant uncertainties. Uncertainties centre on the oil price outlook, US monetary policy and, crucially, central banks' ability to stabilise markets. Concerns about a UK exit from the EU could begin to weigh on CE currencies if markets anticipate higher risk of an 'out' vote on June 23.


Significance On October 16, Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist, was killed in a car bombing outside her home. Her murder has renewed concerns about law and order, democracy and press freedom in Malta. As international condemnation grows, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is coming under pressure to demonstrate that state institutions are capable of protecting and enforcing these values in a manner consistent with European norms. Impacts The right-wing Nationalist Party has used the murder to attack the government for a breakdown in the rule of law and democratic process. However, divided and weak since the last elections, the Nationalists will probably fail to convert the tragedy into political gain. The murder has thrust Malta’s state institutions and legal frameworks into the international spotlight. There is pressure on the police to apprehend the culprits and public demands for the police commissioner to resign.


Subject Outlook for Portugal. Significance Following four years of stable economic growth and budget deficit reduction, the Socialists will likely be re-elected as the largest party but again face the prospect of ruling without a majority. Impacts Spanish political and economic uncertainty will increase the attractiveness of Portuguese debt. The right-wing Social Democratic Party's inability to recover support could lead to radicalisation within the party. The government will push ahead with plans to build a second airport in Lisbon despite environmental groups' opposition.


2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover


Author(s):  
V. I. Denysenko

The failure to sign the Association Agreement with the EU in autumn 2013 has been investigated. The role of the Russian factor, which became decisive in the foreign policy reversal of the Yanukovych regime, has been revealed. The importance of Viktor Yanukovych’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 27, 2013, in the dramatic change of Ukraine’s international vector has been emphasized. On the basis of diplomats’ memoirs, the assumption about intimidation of the Ukrainian President by the Russian side has been substantiated. The timeline of the preparation of the 2013 Vilnius Summit, the position of EU structures and the attempts of the fourth President of Ukraine to win time to trade with the Russians have been reproduced. The thesis about the Donetsk clan’s attempts to prepare public opinion for a 180 degree turn in late October - early November 2013 has been presented. For this purpose, demonstration meetings were organized with representatives of Ukrainian business and trade unions, who called for revision of plans for European integration on their own initiative. The main role in manipulating public opinion rested on the government of Mykola Azarov and the Verkhovna Rada, which had a majority coalition led by the Party of Regions. Instead, Viktor Yanukovych continued his European integration rhetoric and reiterated to Western partners his own willingness to sign the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. On November 21, the real position of the ruling elite was made available to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. According to it, the process of preparation for the signing of the Association Agreement was suspended, the proposal was made for the trilateral Ukraine-EU-Russia negotiations, and the ministries were tasked with developing measures to maintain economic ties with the CIS countries. The decision was rejected by European partners and led to Yanukovych’s attempts to find other ways to thwart the signing of the Agreement. It has been proved that this role was played by Yanukovych’s requirements for financial assistance from the EU amounting to about 160 billion euros, which aimed to prevent the signing of the Association Agreement. Key words: Viktor Yanukovych, association of Ukraine with the EU, эYulia Tymoshenko, European integration, Pat Cox, Alexander Kwasniewski, Vladimir Putin.


2020 ◽  
pp. 183-212
Author(s):  
Tanya Harmer

Chapter eight charts the build-up to the right-wing military coup in Chile on 11 September 1973. It examines the progressive division of the Left amid conspiracies against the government, focusing in, as Beatriz did, on the impending prospect of a coup and the strategies Allende’s team employed in response. It also examines Beatriz’s gendered experience of the battle for Chile unfolding from 1971-73. By late 1972, even Allende accepted that a coup was a serious possibility and began putting measures in place that included stopping Beatriz fulfilling the role she expected to play. As someone with intelligence and communications training who knew how to use firearms, she was ready to fight to defend the Popular Unity government next to her father. However, Beatriz’s gender and her father’s efforts to protect her blocked her from being able to. That Beatriz became a mother in late 1971 and was pregnant with her second child by early 1973 strengthened Allende’s desire to save her. Ultimately, Beatriz was forced to leave the presidential palace on the day of the coup and sought asylum in the Cuban embassy. The chapter ends with her leaving the country with her Cuban husband, daughter and Cuban embassy personnel.


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