Europe’s center-left parties enacted the first austerity programs and allied with the center-right

Evidence

In Greece and Spain, the once-dominant Pasok and Zapatero’s socialist party (PSOE) were in charge at the onset of the crisis and implemented the first round of austerity. In Italy, the Democratic Party unanimously backed Monti’s technocratic government together with Berlusconi’s center-right, thus entering a sort of de facto alliance with the latter. All had a single prescription: austerity. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 116

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Center-left parties’ embrace of austerity fueled the European populist upsurge — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 111; Europe’s Social Democrats and Christian Democrats embraced austerity as crisis policy — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 168; Austerity spans party lines and is often wielded by nominally left governments (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Europe’s Social Democrats and Christian Democrats embraced austerity as crisis policy #corroborates (0.92) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 168
• Austerity spans party lines and is often wielded by nominally left governments #expands (0.88)
• The German left endorsed hard-core austerity, seeing crisis as necessary correction #exemplifies (0.82) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 531
• Even avowedly socialist parties have embraced austerity at critical junctures #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 364