The two largest groups are the European People's Party (EPP) and the Socialists Democrats (S D).

Nor is it clear that Spanish socialists have more in common with German social democrats than with their fellow nationals.

Then, a historic convergence of national interests and ideological positions (from François Mitterrand s Socialists to Margaret Thatcher s Conservatives to Helmut Kohl s Christian Democrats) occurred.

This was naturally a disaster for communists and socialists, but also for social democrats, for they had lost an ideological basis for their idealism.

Naturally, with socialists and social democrats in power in some EU countries, and conservatives in power in others, it is difficult for Europeans to find a single voice.

Whether it is conservatives like Sarkozy, Christian Democrats like Merkel, right wing populists like Berlusconi, or socialists like Zapatero, political affiliation appears to make no difference.

At the same time, political tensions between socialists and non socialists escalated.

To start, we can rule out Chile from the supposed leftist surge, for it is a country ruled by a centrist coalition of Ricardo Lagos s European style socialists and the country s historic Christian democrats.

I think the Socialists are right.

Guilty Democrats

In the 1960 s, both Socialists and Centrists denounced de Gaulle s anti Americanism.

Financial markets in fact owe French Socialists a great debt.

French Socialists will not renounce their traditional commitments nor should they.

On the other hand, a center right coalition between the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats could spark the ECB into action.

Ludwig Erhard s liberal economic approach worked and the socialist ideas found in the party programs of the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats were forgotten.

In the run up to Germany s general election later this month, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats have indistinguishable pro euro positions.

It is amazing to watch how quickly Christian Democrats and Social Democrats have forgotten their electoral promises and agreed on a program of higher taxation.

The Socialists, for their part, had not yet shed their intellectual skin.

In fact, only the Socialists refused to vote for the parliamentary resolution.

Christian Democrats, and even conservative parties, adopted its tenets.

The Socialists blame greedy financiers, but who does not? In terms of remedies, the Socialists do not offer anything more than the Keynesian solutions that are now being proposed by the right.

The Democrats Line in the Sand

But tycoons are not natural democrats.

Silence of the so called Democrats ?

In France, more than 7 of voters cast their ballots for Trotskyite and Communist candidates in the first round of the presidential election, while the Socialists, who received 27 of the votes, are much more left leaning than Germany s Social Democrats. Dirigiste attitudes are more popular in France than in most other European countries.

European Socialists are also finding it hard to distinguish themselves in foreign affairs.

But whether in opposition or in power, the Socialists have no distinct agenda.

Social democrats were always despised by communists, and vice versa.

But the democrats are not giving up.

European socialists have failed to address the crisis cogently because of their internal divisions.

The French left, represented by the Socialists, has suffered its third consecutive defeat in a presidential election. Given the erosion of the right s power and Sarkozy s not very attractive personality, the road was wide open for the Socialists to win.

And we should remember who employed the sharecroppers the Democrats, right?

Democrats and Republicans alike have both been responsible for this development.

The Communist Party and the Socialists have left the coalition that Prodi forged to gain his parliamentary majority.

Today, the top priority for socialists is to re establish a balance between economic productivity and social justice.

The good old days when Trotskyites and Socialists found common ground in bashing the United States are over.

The Socialists can govern without limits, so it is up to them to govern well.

The Socialists can govern without limits, so it is up to them to govern well.

A Muslim northerner, Ribadu enjoys the support of youth and democrats nationwide.

The center of gravity of the remaining Democrats has moved to the left, because the vast majority of defeated Democrats were moderates from swing districts.

From 1919 to 1932, Prussia was governed by a coalition of the Social Democrats, Catholic Centre and German Democrats from 1921 to 1925, coalition governments included the German People's Party.

Italy, under the Christian Democrats, had the same problem.

There are calls for the Democrats to fight back.

Second, it is McCain whom the Democrats should attack.

Christian Democrats pose no danger to democracies in Europe.