By Antonis Anzoletou

The north and the south in Europe have many things to divide them. In the crisis period, in the previous decade, the “flaws” of the euro, the social face of the old continent and the policies of austerity were the subject of arguments for an equal coexistence that ultimately never came. The north’s insistence mainly on policies of strict fiscal discipline widened the gap. Is the different governance model to blame?

Typical cases of multi-party majority systems are the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland) and other powerful northern states such as Germany, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, etc.

The political culture in most of these countries is very different from the Greek one. The continuity of the state is a reality with the public administration not depending on the respective government. Even foreign policy remains unaffected by the changes in power.

The other main reason for the post-election rallies is the proportional electoral systems in place. An absolute majority in most cases seems almost impossible. In Europe the continuous increase of multi-party governments is mainly due to the weakening of the once powerful parties.

More typical examples of partnerships are Germany, which is governed by the Social Democrats, who came out first, the Greens and the Liberals. In the Netherlands there is a four-party coalition government of Liberals and the Center Right and in Belgium a seven-party coalition majority. In Denmark and Sweden there have been single-party governments without, however, having a majority in the last 30 years. It is worth noting that the countries of the former Eastern bloc are usually led by multi-party governments.

In the south, Italy stands out with a four-party coalition government of the Far Right and the Right with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. It has been proven, of course, that in the neighboring country the majorities that are formed do not last long. In Spain (although it is not a common phenomenon) there is a co-government by the Socialists and the (left) Podemos, with the leader of the first party Pedro Sanchez as Prime Minister. Hungary, Malta, Albania and Portugal have single-party governments.

Governments on the old continent have generally not succeeded. The lack of competent leaders is increasingly visible.

Epimythio: It is not only the governance model. Europe has many structural problems to solve in the coming years and former Prime Ministers Kostas Karamanlis and Antonis Samaras elaborated on them during their installation in Zappeion on Tuesday night.

In Greece, the simple proportional after the post-colonialism has given two governments of cooperation in 1989. Of Tzannis Tzannetakis and of Xenophon Zolotas. The financial crisis led to the government of Loukas Papadimos, supported by PASOK, the N.D. and LAOS (November 2011 – May 2012), the government of Antonis Samaras that took over the reins of the country in the summer of 2012 (ND, PASOK, DIMAR), but also the governments of Alexis Tsipras in 2015 with Panos Kammenos (SYRIZA, ANEL ).

The Greek political reality needs a special analysis regarding the issue of partnerships. The culture of consent is very recent and it is clear that it has not been assimilated. And at this point, New Democracy and SYRIZA are competing. From Koumoundourou, they refer to the “bad texts” of the one-party systems that led the country to the memorandums, while from the blue faction they put a lot of weight on the stability that the country needs. The functionality of the analog system was questioned by the current government and it brought back the enhanced analog in January 2020, albeit in a different form.