The recent European Parliament elections have caused shock waves in the continent’s political landscape. Many commentators have argued that these elections represent a sharp swing to the right. Alan Woods explains that this argument is entirely false.

Eamon Gilmore, former leader of the Labour Party in Ireland, has resigned as party leader after Labour was hammered in the local council and the European polls. The Labour Party’s right wing programme and the record of its ministers in office have massively discredited its local representatives. Ireland’s elections illustrate that there are no short cuts. The working class must find a way out of the chains of capitalism.

Sixteen years after the Good Friday agreement and ever so conveniently, just after the European Elections, the Stormont Assembly will shortly face a show down on the question of Welfare Reform, which is likely to illustrate just how toothless and lame the Assembly really is. But most importantly it will demonstrate the relationship between the DUP, Sinn Féin and the Westminster Government.