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| Marine Le Pen, France and Geert Wilders, The Netherlands |
Both are blonde. Both are charismatic. Both are anti-immigrant and anti-European. Both have successfully brought their political movement towards – although not yet into – the national mainstream.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front in France, and Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party (PVV) in the Netherlands, will attempt next month to launch the seemingly impossible – a pan-European Eurosceptic movement. With far-right or populist parties across Europe threatening to create upsets in next May’s European elections, Mr Wilders and Ms Le Pen believe that the time is right to form an anti-European alliance. Ms Le Pen will travel to the Netherlands next month to discuss a joint campaign in the European elections with Mr Wilders’ PVV.
Mr Wilders has already been on a European tour this summer to try to persuade like-minded parties in other countries to endorse a common Euro-sceptic and anti-immigrant platform next May, with limited success.
The Northern League in Italy, Vlaams Belang in Belgium and the Democratic Party in Sweden have reacted coolly to the idea. The United Kingdom Independence Party rejected the alliance outright. » | John Lichfield | Tuesday, October 15, 2013
