The 25th anniversary meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in the Kyrgyz capital may offer a glimmer of hope that international relations do not need to be defined by endless confrontation, writes KENNY COYLE
LEGA, Italy’s right-wing immigrant-bashing populist party, is the clear winner not only of the recent election but of the traditional orgy of bargaining between the parties that now command a majority in the House of Deputies.
The biggest vote-winner was M5S (Five Star Movement) which took a third of the votes in the March 2018 elections and 36 per cent of seats.
Since the election, its ratings have remained stable but Lega, which rebranded itself as a national rather than regional party, has moved up six points, mainly, it seems, by cannibalising Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
While Italy’s communist tradition remains fragmented and politically marginal, France’s party is attempting to re-establish itself as an independent force rooted in working-class organisation, says NICK WRIGHT
NICK WRIGHT continues his series analysing the trends in European politics
Italians reject controversial judiciary reforms in a referendum that boosts the left, reports NICK WRIGHT
From Reform UK to Trump, Orban and beyond, the far right is organised across borders and growing. Waiting for it to collapse is a fatal error – building an international, locally rooted left alternative is now an urgent necessity., argues ROGER McKENZIE



