Sunak's 'dismal end' and 'bland' Starmer: World media reacts to UK election
ad3cd940-3ac1-11ef-a044-9d4367d5b599.jpg.webp
The Conservatives have emerged with "broken bones" from the UK election after Rishi Sunak's "dismal end" - but the big question for some in the international media is whether the "bland, even boring" Keir Starmer can clean up the UK's "mess".
Labour's landslide victory is being digested by commentators all over the world, many dissecting what the results mean for relations with the UK - as well as for the future of the Conservative Party of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.
The rise of Reform UK also generates many international column inches of coverage, especially in Europe where it didn't go unnoticed that its leader, the arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage, became an MP for the first time.
Europe: Centre-left success bucks a trend
For Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the results mean "the British [have] had a burden lifted from their shoulders", but any renewed stability in the UK is seen as fragile.
Voters "were primarily concerned with getting rid of the Conservatives," the paper says, adding that "Labour has a stable majority, but also problems within the party".
German business daily Handelsblatt says the British election result "opens up the opportunity to correct Brexit".
"Now is the time to correct one of the biggest mistakes in British politics. A security pact with the EU can only be the beginning," the paper said.
Mr Farage's success attracted a lot of attention. German Tabloid Bild dubbed it an "election earthquake", albeit one for which the paper says Labour can be thankful, seeing that Reform took many votes from the Conservatives.
French media largely hails Labour's victory, also noting the election of Nigel Farage. Le Figaro says that despite the Reform party leader's success in Clacton, "the British people have overwhelmingly chosen a moderate centre-left leader".
According to Le Monde, the UK's return to the centre-left is "striking, especially seen from France, where the far right has the wind in its sails on the eve of the second round of the legislative elections".
Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera says of the Conservative defeat: "The party of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher emerges from this election with broken bones: it will take years to recover. Has the right-wing wind that blows across the continent stopped at the English Channel? Obviously not... If the person in charge disappoints, he is replaced."
Conservative Italian daily Il Giornale hopes for a return to stability in the UK, calling Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer "a reassuring institutional alternative".
But for Poland's national broadcaster TVP, Mr Starmer is seen as "a bit bland, even boring". But fortunately for him, the broadcaster says, "previous leaders of the Conservative Party achieved much worse results".
In Hungary, the press there noted two issues: "Unchanged support for Ukraine", according to pro-government paper Magyar Nemzet; and Hungarians in the UK hoping for "a more relaxed stance on visa rules and work permits," said the left-wing paper Telex.
Source;
https://bbc.in/4cGSQcY
[attachment deleted by admin]