"Frankfurt's Way or Labour's Way" (sometimes repeated as "Labour's Way or Frankfurt's Way") was a campaign slogan used by the then Irish Labour Party leader

Eamon Gilmore Eamon Gilmore (born 24 April 1955) is an Irish diplomat and former Labour Party politician. He has served as European Union Special Representative for Human Rights since February 2019. He has also been the European Union Special Envoy for th ...

in advance of the country's 2011 general election. The phrase has become an archetypal example of a broken

election promise An election promise or campaign promise is a promise or guarantee made to the public by a candidate or political party that is trying to win an election. Across the Western world, political parties aren't highly likely to fulfill their electi ...

in Irish politics. Described as "a desperate attempt to get votes", Gilmore claimed on 3 February 2011 that the Labour Party (if put into power) would renegotiate the recent EU-IMF deal brought in under the

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

coalition. The promise was made as Gilmore launched Labour's economic plan. Frankfurt (in Germany) is the location of the headquarters of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

(ECB). The party made a very strong showing, almost doubling its share of the vote to become the second-largest party in the Dáil, its best showing ever. It then formed its own coalition with

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

, but did not renegotiate the deal. In 2012, after a decline of 25 per cent in their vote previous year's election evaporated, the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' said the Labour Party was "haunted" by the promise. The following month, the European Fiscal Compact was enshrined in the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, thereby ensuring the very fiscal compliance Labour had vowed to oppose. Gilmore's promise was also mentioned following the rush through the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...

of legislation to liquidate IBRC in 2013. Even Labour stalwart Fergus Finlay admitted in 2015 that it was "a phrase he ilmorehad difficulty living down". However, Alan Kelly claimed "A lot of Labour's way was achieved" when quizzed on Gilmore's promise in 2015. In Labour's centenary year, state television (RTÉ) produced a two-part documentary on the history of the party, titled ''Labour's Way''.

References

External links

Frankfurt's Way video
''YouTube'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankfurt's Way or Labour's Way 2011 Irish general election European Central Bank Labour Party (Ireland) Irish political phrases Slogans 2011 quotations Snowclones