News of the show has concerned the ruling centre-right Christian Democrat Party, whose spokesman said it was "dangerous" and set a "bad example".

BBC: The possession of heroin in the Netherlands is illegal

This latter, more like a typical Christian Democrat party, had shared in power, but in opposition its now 24 members may break away and be readier to ease the new government's path.

ECONOMIST: Hungary's election

Unlike the United States where grand bargains are talked about and then forgotten, the Hartz reforms were actually implemented first by Schroeder and then by his successor Angela Merkel of the rival Christian Democrat Party.

FORBES: Why Obama Cannot Match Germany's Jobs Miracle

The new four-party Slovak coalition (it also includes a small Christian-Democrat party) will have two big tasks.

ECONOMIST: Slovak and Czech politics

Similarly, when Chancellor Merkel told a meeting of MPs from her Christian Democrat (CDU) party that Cyprus's business model was broken, that would have played well in the private meeting - but badly beyond Germany's borders (including in neighbouring Luxembourg, where the foreign minister accused Germany of "striving for hegemony").

BBC: Cyprus bailout: Feeling unloved in Germany

The head of the Future and Freedom (FLI) party, Gianfranco Fini tweeted that the Monti coalition opened up a "prospect of renewal" while Christian Democrat leader Pierferdinando Casini said it was not so much "a personal party but a hope for Italians".

BBC: Mario Monti to lead Italy centrist coalition

This strategy of accommodation without unity of purpose is what Italians call trasformismo, an ethos that was still alive and well in 1983, when the Socialist leader Bettino Craxi was invited to become Prime Minister, despite the fact that his party was only a minor partner in the mainly Christian Democrat coalition.

NEWYORKER: Booted

In the early nineteen-nineties, Clean Hands effectively destroyed the Christian Democrat and Socialist Parties, and in 1994 there was a huge electoral shift, this time to the newly formed party of the magnate Silvio Berlusconi.

NEWYORKER: Booted