Europe's Populist Left

[Duque de Bragança]

Is there anywhere in Europe north of France that doesn't have inflated house prices?
The prices in Oslo are just eye-watering. If I'd held on to that small condo I owned there until last year, I'd easily have 2 million NOK. Of course, I wouldn't have anywhere to live now.

I can only imagine Brussels being in a housing bubble or boom as well, with gazillions of bland Eurocrats living in minimalistic design apartments.

It is still much cheaper than Paris, or at least it was when I lived there in 2007.

Not very difficult. 
Only London and the capital of the Norwegian petro-cod-monarchy are more expensive than Paris in Europe.

[Norgy]

FWIW, we are now 34 years without a coup or authoritarian government of some kind, also a record.

Was it in 1982 or 1981 that some bloke from the armed forces or guardia civil or whatever was waving a gun around in parliament, proclaiming a coup? That ended, well, not so well.

[Norgy]

Only London and the capital of the Norwegian petro-cod-monarchy are more expensive than Paris in Europe.

Stavanger, the petro-capital, became pretty expensive too. Think the prices are falling now, due to a recession in the oil business. The low prices mean that less offshore platforms are actually worth the cost.

[celedhring]

FWIW, we are now 34 years without a coup or authoritarian government of some kind, also a record.

Was it in 1982 or 1981 that some bloke from the armed forces or guardia civil or whatever was waving a gun around in parliament, proclaiming a coup? That ended, well, not so well.

1981, hence 34 years coup-free.

That coup didn't amount to much, fortunately. They surrendered a few hours later when it became obvious that most of the army wasn't supporting it. FWIW it cemented the king's popularity after he appeared on the telly condemning the coup, when the outcome was still uncertain.

[Norgy]

I like Juan Carlos. Well, as much as you can like a monarch.
He's been good for Spain, for the most part. If you disregard some strange behaviour and financial irregularities in the royal family.

Can you really count that session as a coup? It was more like a very melodramatic and amateurish attempt.

[celedhring]

It was more than that; there were tanks on the streets of Valencia and an attempt to take other strategic points of Madrid (like the state television). It was fortunately incompetent, but not a joke.

Lovingly, the Reagan administration was one of the few Western democracies that didn't condemn the coup.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Speaking of which, my mother wants me to buy a flat in Brussels. 

far too expensive in all likelyhood. About anywhere that is not Brussels is gonna be cheaper (and better to live).
deciding factor then becomes how you want to face traffic to get into the brussels caliphate.

http://www.standaard.be/berekenen/huizenprijzen  (the map is from august last year)

I checked out prices in Brussels recently and they were comparable to Warsaw.

flats are about the only thing that are normally priced in Brussels when compared to flanders (everything is cheaper in wallonia but that's because it's an empty economic wasteland ripe for colonisation :p). Don't know what you're getting for the price in Brussels though. Some might be good, a lot seems to be in a state that's less than that. And depending on where you are in Brussel-19 much of it is filled with muslims.

And Warsaw seems like a very expensive place then.

@Norgy: many of the EUcrats and other expats live outside of Brussel, often in "De Vlaamse Rand" (the flemish communities around Brussel)

[Norgy]

It was more than that; there were tanks on the streets of Valencia and an attempt to take other strategic points of Madrid (like the state television). It was fortunately incompetent, but not a joke.

Lovingly, the Reagan administration was one of the few Western democracies that didn't condemn the coup.

Didn't know that. I learnt something today as well.

Reagan probably thought the PSOE were actual socialists.

[The Larch]

FWIW, we are now 34 years without a coup or authoritarian government of some kind, also a record.

Was it in 1982 or 1981 that some bloke from the armed forces or guardia civil or whatever was waving a gun around in parliament, proclaiming a coup? That ended, well, not so well.

1981, hence 34 years coup-free.

That coup didn't amount to much, fortunately. They surrendered a few hours later when it became obvious that most of the army wasn't supporting it. FWIW it cemented the king's popularity after he appeared on the telly condemning the coup, when the outcome was still uncertain.

Only if you don't buy into the "he was actually behind it all and used it as a way to prop up the monarchy" conspiracy theory. 

[Gups]

Only if you don't buy into the "he was actually behind it all and used it as a way to prop up the monarchy" conspiracy theory. 

My wife doesn't quite go that far but becomes splenetic about the way that credit is given to him, which she thinks wholly undeserved.

[The Larch]

Only if you don't buy into the "he was actually behind it all and used it as a way to prop up the monarchy" conspiracy theory. 

My wife doesn't quite go that far but becomes splenetic about the way that credit is given to him, which she thinks wholly undeserved.

Well, Spanish media always used to bend over backwards to gush praise on him about that, so it's only normal that there's a certain amount of backlash.

[Razgovory]

Keeping the zloty undervalued is good for your exports, though. Isn't it?

Yes, as long as you don't plan vacation abroad or shop at amazon, it is pretty sweet. Not to mention, helps work migration too, as people who save even some euro/pound abroad can really send a lot of moolah home.

I wonder when our sweet ride ends, but Poland has been doing pretty great over the last decade.

It was my understanding that Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and the Baltic states were the big winners in the post Soviet world.  It's interesting that the countries that a strong German element in their history did best.

That's actually very hit and miss. Hungary, for example, is a total mess. Baltic states are a mixed story too - during the crisis, I think Lithuanian economy shrank by one third. Slovakia is also not doing that well.

If I were to name the winners, I would say Poland, Czech Republic and Estonia.

And I wouldn't exactly say Poland had a "strong German element" in its history either. Unless you mean organising an ethnic cleansing of Germans and then moving into their homes.

It's my understanding that modern Poland encompass a large amount of land that was part of Prussia.  Is this true or not?  Hungary still has a higher standard of living then a lot of it's neighbors Romanian, Ukraine, Serbia.  All the states I mentioned are on the upper tier of economies in the Post-Soviet World.

[Martinus]

Yes, but that's what I meant by ethnic cleansing - most of the areas that used to be Prussia were only recovered after WW2 - and they were settled with Poles from Ukraine, Lithuania etc. after local Germans were resettled to Germany.

[Tamas]

Yes, but that's what I meant by ethnic cleansing - most of the areas that used to be Prussia were only recovered after WW2 - and they were settled with Poles from Ukraine, Lithuania etc. after local Germans were resettled to Germany.

A big portion of Poland was ruled by Germans and Austrians for quite a while.

[Norgy]

There are few areas of Europe where the Germans didn't have some sort of "drang nach".
Nowadays they just bring bloody huge bath towels or RVs rather than swords and the Bible, though.