The right-left divide

The results of the first round of the presidential elections in France have stirred up a debate that one would have thought was surpassed; a debate that brings with it an economic dimension as much as a political one.

While everyone thought that the second round would be a fight between the incumbent Jacques Chirac, who probably stands somewhere on the centre-right on the traditional political spectrum, and the present prime minister, the socialist Lionel Jospin, it has ended up being a fight between Chirac and Jean Marie Le Pen, who has been described to belong to the extreme right.

How the French vote is really their business, as much as the way we vote is our business and no one else`s. However, the success of a candidate of the extreme right in getting to the second round of these elections and the exclusion of the socialist candidate brought with it some reactions that need to be looked into. In political terms the traditional right-left divide represented the fight between socialist and communist parties and the parties that somehow seemed to echo the political dictators of the 20th century of the likes of Hitler, Mussolini and Franco.

This political right was easily defeated in most countries as they were seen as undemocratic, and the centre parties (notably the Christian Democratic parties) became the main adversaries of the left. The vote for Le Pen has been interpreted as a sign of the resurgence of the extreme right.

On the economic issues, the fight translated itself between the socialist and communist parties on the left, representing the interests of the workers, and those that supported a form of market economy. If one was of the opinion that there should be as less state intervention as possible in the economy, one was considered to belong to the extreme right.

It obviously paid the left wing parties to do this as it meant that undemocratic leaders were put in the same camp as those who supported market liberalism, even though those who supported market liberalism fought for the triumph of political democracy. The way the left wing parties hijacked the celebration of the First of May (the feast of the worker) is just one case of how the political right-left divide got mixed up with the economic right-left divide. Events in the last 20 years appeared to have got rid of this confusion, so much so that the left wing parties attempted, and with some success as witnessed in this country, in the United Kingdom and in Germany, to gain the middle ground.

It was as if there was no more right-left divide as it became generally accepted that the best way to manage the economy was not through direct government intervention in its operation but through the government taking on an active regulatory role and let the private sector operate the economy.

This led to the concept of privatisation and left wing parties were just as keen as the centre or the centre-right parties to privatise state entities. Suffice to say that in Italy a socialist party of sorts forms part of the centre-right coalition that is governing the country.

This was so until the results of the first round of the French presidential elections were announced. All of a sudden there was the fear that the political extreme right was not dead after all and this led some to capitalise on this by claiming that it was the ditching of socialist economic policies that led to the success of the extreme right.

The threat of the political extreme right may be real or exaggerated depending on one`s point of view, but to use this threat to expound the supposed benefits of socialist economic policies is taking things a bit too far and creates a divide that is really not there.

Today no one doubts the rights that workers should have. The European Union social chapter is a proof of this. In effect, Malta`s membership of the European Union guarantees that Maltese workers benefit from this social chapter.

Likewise, today, in this country there is no issue as to whether there should be clear and strong legislation that protects the consumer from abusive practices of suppliers. Again the consumer protection legislation that is in force in the European Union guarantees that such consumer rights are safeguarded.

There is also broad agreement that the state should not get involved in the operation of certain economic activities, like importation, or in the management of productive activities, like manufacturing and hotel operation. Similarly there is agreement that the state`s welfare systems should be strengthened; if anything the disagreement is about how these are to be strengthened.

The importance of having vocational education and training systems that are relevant to the world of work is not questioned, as is the issue of whether the state should provide some fiscal incentives to attract foreign direct investment.

Therefore the attempt that we have had in the past days to recreate a right-left divide in this country is unnecessary and is conducive to divisiveness that we cannot afford to have. It does not help one little bit in addressing the real economic issues we are facing.

Let the French sort out their own problems if they have any, and let us get on with the task of sorting out ours, without resorting to superficiality.

Malta`s membership of the European Union shall contribute greatly in providing the necessary safeguards such that we strengthen the economic, political and social stability we have achieved in the last years.