The far right is strengthening its positions in Europe and there are fears that it could dominate the next European elections
The victory of the Dutch Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, a far-right populist openly hostile to Islam, immigrants and the European Union, caused a political earthquake within the Union and raised serious fears for the continued collapse of the political domino game system, which in recent years has seen the rise to power of the far right, in all its variants, both alone and in alliance with traditional parties.
The unprecedented breakthrough achieved by the aforementioned party, which infiltrated the Dutch parliamentary symposium 25 years ago, although it happened suddenly and shockingly, reflects a continuous slide of European voters towards far-right ideology. With seven months to go until the 27-country European elections, many politicians and officials fear that a parliamentary “coup” could occur due to the loss of the traditional right, center and green parties in parliament. majority, which will be reflected in the internal and foreign policy of the European Club.
After “Brexit”, which saw Great Britain’s official exit from the Union at the beginning of 2021, fears emerged that the Netherlands would follow the same path, so much so that there was talk of “Herexit” . The difference between Great Britain and the Netherlands is that the latter was one of the founders of the European Union and one of the countries that has most supported its various transformations over the decades since its existence, which have led to its current image .
Waiting to know if he will be able to form a government coalition is Geert Wilders, whose party came first in Parliament with 37 seats out of 150, but in any case upset the Dutch political balance and made the left-wing coalition led by Mark pale Rutte, the leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, who spent 13 years as his country’s prime minister. Geert Wilders summed up the new political situation in the Netherlands with one phrase, as he said after his victory: “It is no longer possible to ignore the Freedom Party… We will govern the country”.
The Wilders shock comes after another no less important shock, namely the arrival of Giorgia Meloni, one year ago (precisely on 22 October 2022) as president of the Italian government. Meloni has been the head of the “Brothers of Italy” party since 2014. She has been elected deputy since 2006 and held a ministerial position for 3 years during Silvio Berlusconi’s government. The “Brothers of Italy”, born in 2012, is a popular far-right party, heir to a certain extent of the Italian fascist movement, whose political titles are anti-immigrants, Italian nationalist extremism, Atlanticism and skepticism about the European structure, without this leading to the desire to leave the Union.
The party calls for the preservation of “Italian identity” in the face of what it sees as the dangers of its decline due to the influx of non-European, especially Islamic, immigration. Since she came to power, Meloni has tried to “beautify” her party’s image for two reasons: The first is that she is leading a coalition government, the second is Italy’s need for European funds, who suffers from a difficult economic situation.
It is not correct to talk about the rise of the far right in Europe without stopping at the case of Hungary, which Viktor Orbán governed with an iron fist between 1998 and 2010 and then from 2013 to today without interruption.
Orban relies on his anti-European party, the Hungarian Civil Union, which has caused him headaches since he came to power. Orban, accused of undermining democracy, stifling freedoms and moving away from the rule of law, has always opposed the Union’s policies, especially on immigration, supported Ukraine and moved to quickly accept its membership. It was not too late, a few days ago, to announce that he was “still light years away” from joining the European club, and that he also stood out for his positions close to Russia in the war on Ukraine, which constitutes, to a large extent , , a break with the Union’s policy, which he punished with the freezing of 28 billion euros of European funds destined for Budapest.
The picture of the far-right’s accelerating progress is not complete without noting that last month Slovakia united under the far-right banner, with Robert Vitso coming to power, leading his ally National Socialist Party with two parties; The far right “SNS” and the far left “Hellas-SD”. Robert Vizzo is very close to Orban and follows the same policies at home and abroad.
At home he pursues a populist policy. Abroad he opposes military support for Ukraine and favors Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, it should be noted that the far right is part of government alliances in Finland, Lithuania and Sweden, or supports their governments, which means it has the ability to influence the policies followed. The far right is then preparing to take power in Germany, where the Alternative for Germany party is in second place according to opinion polls with 21% of the votes.
The regional elections held last month in the states of Bavaria and Hesse showed that the Alternative for Germany made clear progress in the percentage of votes obtained. However, the greatest danger may come from France, as far-right candidate Marine Le Pen faces President Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the 2017 and 2022 elections. Opinion polls show that her party, the National Rally , is making progress: it ranked first in the previous European elections and is preparing to achieve a similar result in the next elections. In any case, next June’s elections at European level will constitute the true test of the far right’s ability to continue progressing.
Political researcher Gil Iovaldi, specialized in the history of European far-right populist and nationalist parties, states: “The present reflects the presence of a strong dynamic in the far right, starting from the serious migration crisis witnessed in 2015, especially in the East European countries.”
Iovaldi confirms that the far right has been advancing and strengthening its positions for 40 years, but the news is that in recent years it has begun to change and normalize its image, which reflects its desire to achieve power, and not to remain in ‘shadow. marginality in the opposition.
The French researcher links the exceptional dynamism of the far right in recent years to the economic and social crisis that accompanied the outbreak of the “Covid-19” epidemic, as right-wing parties exploited the difficulties related to the epidemic against existing governments. However, the common thread and ideological basis of all far-right parties is the defense of European identity, hostility to Islam, the rejection of immigration and the link between this and the terrorist attacks they witnessed many European countries.
This ideological base continues to grow today and it is not believed that the parties concerned will abandon it, as mainstream parties largely copy the claims of the far right, which reflects profound changes in public opinion. What is striking is that these most dramatic transformations occur in Northern European countries, which were the most open to immigration and accepting of cultural and religious diversity, while today they take a hard line and open the door to the rise of the far right . .