Four Way Race? Late Surge by Far-left Candidate Mélenchon

German Far-Left Party Takes State Parliament

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH East German communists return to power 25 years after fall of Berlin Wall

Germany's far-Left party has returned to power in a state government for the first time since the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, stoking heated debate about its communist roots.

The Left Party, widely seen as the successor to the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that once ruled East Germany, will head the government of Thuringia after the state parliament narrowly voted to approve a new coalition.

The new state prime minister, Bodo Ramelow, used his first speech in parliament to apologise to victims of the former communist regime, and said he wanted to "reconcile rather than divide".

Thousands of people braved sub-zero temperatures on the streets of the state capital, Erfurt, on Thursday night to protest against the expected result of the vote.

Angela Merkel predicted the decision would be "bad news" for Thuringia, while the German President, Joachim Gauck, broke with the traditional neutrality of his role to speak out against it. » | Justin Huggler, Berlin | Friday, December 05, 2014

NORD-WEST ZEITUNG ONLINE: Ramelow ist Thüringens neuer Ministerpräsident: Der 58-jährige Bodo Ramelow erhielt im zweiten Wahlgang 46 von 90 gültigen Stimmen. Damit stellt die Linke 25 Jahre nach dem Mauerfall erstmals einen Ministerpräsidenten in Deutschland. Bei der Wahl lief aber nicht alles glatt. » | Freitag, 05. Dezember 2014

Greece Seized by New Sense of Foreboding as Violence Flares in Streets

THE GUARDIAN: Clashes between far-right Golden Dawn and anti-fascists raise fears that crisis has reached new stage

It was not the scene that Greece's international stewards envisaged when they last visited the country at the epicentre of Europe's financial mess. When representatives of the "troika" of creditors arrived in June, book-keeping in Athens had been problem-free and monitors described their inspection tour as "almost boring". The great Greek debt crisis, it seemed, had finally gone quiet.

But when mission heads representing the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank fly into Athens on Sunday – for the start of a review upon which the future of Greece will hang – what they will find is a country teetering on the edge: its people divided as never before, its mood brittle, its streets the setting for running battles between anti-fascists and neo-Nazis. And unions girding for battle.

After six years of recession, four years of austerity and the biggest financial rescue programme in global history, it is clear that Greeks have moved into another phase, beyond the fear, fatigue and fury engendered by record levels of poverty and unemployment.

Along with the teargas – fired on Monday for the first time in more than a year outside the administrative reform ministry – there is a new sense of foreboding: a belief that they might never be "saved" and, worse still, could turn against each other.

This week's murder of the hip-hop artist Pavlos Fyssas by a member of the far-right Golden Dawn party highlighted that fear. Read on and comment » | Helena Smith in Athens | Friday, September 20, 2013