Europe's shift to the right

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson celebrates victory

LONDON, England -- Sweden has returned to power a left-leaning government -- on pledges to uphold the country's welfare system at the expense of tax cuts -- and at the same time dented a general swing to the right in European politics.

NETHERLANDS: The right-leaning Christian Democrats, led by Jan Peter Balkenende, took power in May with the far-right Pim Fortuyn List party playing a key role in the new coalition.

Fortuyn, a populist whose outspoken views on immigrants attracted support and condemnation, was assassinated during the campaign.

FRANCE: Conservative incumbent Jacques Chirac wins the presidential race against the far-right's Jean-Marie Le Pen after socialist challenger, and at the time prime minister, Lionel Jospin was defeated in the first round of voting. Jospin resigned from frontline politics immediately after his defeat.

One month later, in June 2002, Chirac's right-wing coalition, the Union for the Presidential Majority, also took control of the National Assembly with a landslide win over the Socialists.

ANALYSIS Robin Oakley: Sweden bucks right-wing trend    MORE STORIES • Swedish poll win protects welfare

AUSTRIA: The Freedom Party wins a place in the conservative coalition after elections in 2000, marking the first time a far-right party had enjoyed power since the end of World War II.

Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider, who had previously praised Adolf Hitler's employment policies, agreed to step down after the European Union, angry at the far-right securing a place in government, imposed sanctions on the country. Earlier this month a power struggle between Haider and his replacement led to Freedom Party ministers resigning their government posts and forcing early elections.

ITALY: Media magnate Silvio Berlusconi leads a centre-right victory over the ruling centre-left coalition in May 2001.

The alliance was headed by Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, which attracted 30 percent of the vote -- the highest percentage of any of the parties.

IRELAND: Bertie Ahern's centre-right Fianna Fail wins a second successive term in government in May 2002 -- the first time since 1969 that an Irish government had been returned to power.

PORTUGAL: Socialists lose power in March 2002 to a centre-right coalition led by Jose Manuel Durao Barroso's centre-right Social Democrats.

He is in a coalition with the conservative Popular Party but the two parties together only have a majority of one in the 230-seat legislature.

SPAIN: Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar won a second four-year term in March 2000 elections. Aznar's centre-right Popular Party claimed 183 seats, seven more than needed to govern alone in the 350-seat legislature.

DENMARK: In November 2001 the centre-right opposition under Anders Fogh Rasmussen ejected the Social Democrat-led government in its biggest victory in 80 years.

The coalition of liberals and conservatives won a parliamentary majority with support from the right-wing Danish People's Party, the third biggest party in parliament.

NORWAY: A fragile centre-right coalition took power in Norway in October 2001, replacing a Labour government.

LUXEMBOURG: The present government is a centre-right coalition of Christian Democrats and Liberals led by Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, which came to power at the elections in June 1999.