Emblematic of the Failure of the Euro Left

French President François Holland has announced that he will not seek a second term.

This isn't surprising, considering the fact that polls right now are showing him to be less popular than Eurodisney.

The problem, and why the right wing nationalist parties are eating their lunch is that the European left refuses to be left any more.

Basically, they have bought into the EU and its associated institutions, (Particularly the Euro) lock, stock, and barrel, and these regimes have been explicitly designed to reduce social services and worker protections while increasing the inequality.

The focus on balanced budgets and unfettered free markets make it impossible to for social democrats to function as social democrats, and absent the ability to improve their constituents lives, they end up serving capital instead.

Harry S Truman said it best when he said, "Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time."

While there are left wing Euroskeptic left wing parties in Europe, most notably Die Linke in Germany, they are conspicuously absent from the governing process.  (I would argue that the "mainstream" parties work harder to distance themselves from these parties than they do the racist right wing.)

Even with his standing down, I do not expect the French Socialists to make it to the runoff for the Presidential elections, so the race will almost certainly end up between Thatcherite François Fillon and right wing populist  Marine Le Pen.

My condolences to the voters of France.