THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 4, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic


NextImg:Europe’s mayors are islands of liberalism in a sea of populists
Europe | Charlemagne

Europe’s mayors are islands of liberalism in a sea of populists

City bosses are the functioning bits of increasingly dysfunctional polities

Every election in Europe these days seems to pit a moderate politician advocating mostly sensible ideas against a rabble-rousing populist with a bombastic dislike of migrants, gays and the European Union. The centrist usually wins, but the margins are dwindling. Is Europe thus destined to drift into reactionary dysfunction, one electoral setback at a time? Not so fast. Powerful as they may seem, Europe’s firebrand nationalists—even when they seize high office—are merely the meat in a liberal sandwich. Above them are EU wallahs, always on hand to police budget deficits and adhesion to the rule of law. Below the populists is a layer of pragmatic politicos who keep the day-to-day machinery of government on the road (and the roads free of potholes). Europe’s mayors, particularly those of big cities, are the unsung moderating force of the continent’s politics. Free of patriotic bombast and focused on getting buses running on time, they are the bulwark of moderate governance in a continent that needs it badly.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The adults in the room”

Matejki Square, Krakow, Poland

Poland’s election will cement or ruin its standing in Europe

Can Donald Tusk and Rafal Trzaskowski hold back the hard right? 

US President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US

Donald Trump dashes any hope that he will get tough with Russia

He has nothing but kind words for Vladimir Putin


Traditional Greenlandic housing is seen from the Myggedalen viewpoint in Nuuk, Greenland.

American threats push Greenland closer to Denmark

The fear of invasion is undermining the anti-colonial movement


MAGA misses the mark in Romania

A liberal wins the presidential race

Leo XIV will pose some tricky problems for Giorgia Meloni

The newly enthroned pope has criticised the MAGA bigwigs whom the Italian leader supports