Source: blogs.reuters.com - Monday, October 12, 2015 By Hugo Dixon The author is a Reuters Breakingviews guest columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. Populism has infected European politics. But it can be beaten. The three things needed for mainstream politicians to win back control of the debate are competence, fairness and leadership. To some extent, the fightback is already succeeding. Demagogic movements of the left and right have gained traction in most European Union countries since the credit crunch. Parties such as France’s Front National, Britain’s UK Independence Party, Italy’s Five Star Movement, Spain’s Podemos and Greece’s Syriza have burst into prominence. Populists are damaging because they propose seemingly attractive policies that would have disastrous results if implemented. This was glaringly the case after Alexis Tsipras – so far the only one of the current crop of demagogues to have taken power – became Greek prime minister in January. The first step, if mainstream politicians hope to beat back populism, is competence. For Europe at the moment, that means competent management of the economy. This is the main explanation for David Cameron’s re-election as British prime minister in May and Pedros Passos Coelho’s victory in Portugal earlier this month. Mariano Rajoy, who is presiding over a fast-growing Spanish economy, should benefit from the same trend when he faces the voters in December. Passos Coelho and Rajoy have also benefited from Tsipras’ terribl All Related
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