Portugal has become the latest member of the European Union to ask for a rescue package and all the enforced austerity measures that accompany it.
The country's government is the latest of the left to be struck down during the financial crisis – a centre right government is expected in Lisbon after elections in June.
This trend of diminishing influence of social democrats across Europe was highlighted in a recent speech by David Miliband. He argued that while the right is unifying, the left is "fragmenting".
More worrying for all supporters of mainstream parties may be the rise in popularity of those on the far right. Far right support is growing in parts of the continent , including Finland which goes to the polls later this month.
On the panel this week to discuss all this, we have the Guardian's senior political columnist Michael White, foreign affairs expert David Hearst and, from the Centre For European Reform, Stephen Tindale.
Also this week: as Andrew Lansley announces a "pause" in his mission to reform the NHS and Nick Clegg gets a duffing up in the press over his supposed hypocrisy on social mobility. The panel looks at where cracks may appear in the coalition.
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