Strange story this one. But not without interesting implications for the future.

Of course the accidental is important in history. The latest example would be how electoralist needs are going to impinge on Italy’s attempts to turn its economic crisis round. A year, at least, may well be lost on false promises and inaction. And as if that weren’t enough, the trifecta may be delivered by ‘terrorist-attack [...]

Spain’s governing Socialist party celebrated yesterday the conquest of the northwest region of Galicia (the Gallegos are the third of Spain’s ‘historic nationalities’, together with the Basques and the Catalans). The result follows a cliff-hanger election that ousted the centre-right Popular party and its octogenarian president, Manuel Fraga, from power. This result will undoubtedy [...]

Gerhard Schröders electoral troubles only seem to increase. With Merkel’s lead seemingly consolidating rather than reducing, a recent poll now shows the alliance between the former communists in the east and Election Alternative in the west set to win 8% of the vote:
Experts say the new group could attract votes from Social Democrats [...]

Is Basque President (Lehendakari) and Christian Democratic Basque Nationalist Party leader Juan Jose Ibarretxe taking a leaf out of Donald Rumsfeld’s manual? Regular readers will remember that earlier this week, when questioned about possible negotiations with representatives of armed insurgents in Iraq, Rummy said “I would not make a big deal out of it. [...]

According to preliminary figures released today the number of people looking for work in Germany dropped in June for the third month in a row, but the slight change revealed little evidence of a real labour market turnaround.
Bild quoted preliminary figures from the Federal Labor Agency — the body responsible for compiling monthly unemployment [...]

Just days after new French finance minister Thierry Breton suggested that French growth would be around 2% for 2005, France’s principal statistical agency, INSEE, point out that this is virtually unachieveable given what we already know about growth this year. 1.5% is the INSEE forecast, and even this figure they say has downside risks.
Meanwhile apparently, [...]

The low turnout - a 25.9 which fell far short of the necessary 50% minumum to secure a binding impact on parliament - means that the proposal to reform Italian law on assisted reproduction and embryo research effectively did not prosper.
In fact a majority of those who did vote voted to change the [...]

And cannons to the left of me:
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Monday he would propose strengthening international controls on hedge funds at next month’s Group of Eight summit ? a suggestion that came as his government struggles to fend off challenges from both right and left ahead of national elections.

This article provides a reasonable background brief on the vote.
The number of infertile couples seeking help abroad has tripled since lawmakers in Roman Catholic Italy crossed party lines last year to approve one of Europe’s most restrictive laws on assisted reproduction. They wanted to crack down on what many saw as a medical Wild West [...]