bobd22

Yes so was Alexis Tsipras untill push came to the shove and he realised that say what he wanted Greece was far too intertwined with the EU and he just had to bite the bullet and do as Mrs Merkle and co wanted!

Longlegpete

Me too, I'm sure there are bad apples as there are in any service but i do sometimes wonder if its the way people are towards the police that gets there back up, i have found if you are fine with them then they are fine with you, bit like most things in life really

Red Eric

I don't think a couple of newcomers can do any harm at all. When Greece (which also had a strongly bi-party political scene) was the only news, I read a lot of general opinion - below the line comments on articles - which was hugely dominated (naturally perhaps, given the news bias) by anti-Greek sentiment. And I don't mean just anti the new Greek government. Any Greek commentators trying to put a counter view were shouted down immediately. Anybody saying "It wasn't us, it was our past governments" was told "You chose them".

So if you have a 2 party system and both are as bad as each other in terms of mismanagement and / or corruption, who do you choose? A couple of well-performing newcomers increases the choices worth voting for as well as broadening the political spectrum. If the end result is the need for coalitions or political alliances rather than single-party governance, that's not necessarily a bad thing - it certainly seems to be working out OK for the time being in Portugal.

Dick Dasterdly

Seven reasons why forming a new government is mission impossible - The Local

An excellent summary of why it appears almost impossible to form a new govt at the present time.

Rajoy seems to be the main stumbling block, but even if he stepped aside, which is highly unlikely, it would still be very difficult.

A new election in March looks quite likely.

Fredbargate

The opposition Socialists in Spain have effectively voted to allow the conservatives under Mariano Rajoy to rule as a minority government.

Party leaders decided by a majority at their meeting in Madrid to abstain when Mr Rajoy puts his Popular Party (PP) government to a vote in parliament.

Spain's Socialists vote to allow Rajoy minority government - BBC News

Corruption rules again