Europe's March to the Far-right

Jun 11, 2024 | In the EU elections, voters in France, Germany and Italy have shown an increasing appetite for populist anti-immigrant parties. The French president Emmanuelle Macron has reacted by calling a snap parliamentary election after his party was beaten into second place in the EU poll by Marine le Pen’s National Rally.

In Germany, the Social Democrats, the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz were pushed into third place by the nationalist AfD. The result still leaves the EU parliament dominated by traditional centre right and centre left parties but for how long will that remain the case? And what do these results tells us more broadly about the appeal of the far right in Europe.

Adrian Goldberg talks to Seema Syeda is a Marseille-based researcher working on European politics for UK-based campaign group Another Europe Is Possible; and Linda Kalcher, the Executive Director of a pan-European think tank Strategic Perspectives who is based in Belgium.

UKIP Launch EU Election Campaign amid Candidate Controversy

UKIP have launched their European election campaign with their leader insisting the party is the "true voice" of Brexit.

But just as Gerard Batten unveiled his top candidates, there were calls from some UKIP members to deselect one of them for offensive comments made online.

Carl Benjamin is one of the party's top listed candidates, but he's refused to apologise for a tweet he sent in 2016 to a Labour MP referring to rape. He said it was satirical. And Channel 4 News has learnt he made similar remarks at a comedy show, just last night.

Victoria Macdonald's report, does contain language you may find offensive.

European Voters Know What They Don't Want
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Was it a swing to the right -- or just a return to reality? The result of the EU elections is not some terrible portent of doom. Instead, it is evidence that voters reward populists like Geert Wilders, who are not afraid to address issues that other parties don't want to touch.

There is always a certain amount of risk associated with any election. It is a truth recognized by dictators around the world -- leading them to prefer predetermined results. In the last elections for the North Korean "parliament," for example, the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland got 100 percent of the vote and all 687 seats. It was a result that was difficult to misinterpret -- and met the expectations of those involved.

The outcome of the European parliamentary elections was different. It was a disaster that became apparent as early as Thursday, when the results from the Netherlands became public. The right-wing populist Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party ended up as the second strongest party in the country behind the Christian Democrats.

Many were horrified. The correspondent for German public radio station ARD even called Wilders a "peroxide blond blowhard," a "sleazy provocateur" and a "petty patriot." In his commentary, the ARD correspondent went on to say that "his political program is focused entirely on demonizing Islam" and finished by saying that the Dutch should be ashamed of themselves.

Disdain for the Voting Public

But what looked on Thursday like a one-time lapse on the part of a single journalist had, by Sunday evening, become the mainstream message. The evening news wasn't just talking about a rightward shift in European politics. Rather, one got the impression that right-wing extremists were about to take over power. The presenters seemed not only to have expected a different outcome but saw no reason to hide their disappointment -- and expressed their disdain for the voting public accordingly.

On the German public television station ZDF, anchorman Claus Kleber spoke of the "renewed strength of the extreme right in Holland" as if it represented the reincarnation of the Nationaal Socialistische Beweging, the country's pre-World War II fascist party. Another ARD reporter, speaking of the 15 percent achieved by the anti-Semitic Jobbik party in Hungary, slid effortlessly into a report on Wilders' party in the Netherlands, as if the two results were somehow linked. Indeed, as the coverage focused on those parties that made gains, it was difficult to ignore the subtext of sympathy for the losses suffered by the center-left across the continent. How, the media seemed to be asking, could the social democrats have fallen so far? >>> By Henryk M. Broder | Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Labour Facing Losses but BNP May Win Seat in European Parliament as Polls Show Other EU Voters Backing the Far Right
MAIL Online: Europe was leaning to the right tonight as exit polls showed voters were backing conservative parties amid a global economic crisis and anti-Islamic sentiments.

The British National Party could win its first seat in the EU parliament if the results elsewhere follow in the UK.

It comes after the party won its first seat on a county council at Thursday's local elections.

While official results for the elections to the European Parliament were not expected until late this evening or early tomorrow, the polls showed right-leaning governments edging the opposition in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and elsewhere.

With most votes counted in Austria, the main far-right party was gaining strongly while the Social Democrats, the main party in the governing coalition, lost substantial ground.

The big winner was the rightist Freedom Party which, according to polls, more than doubled its strength over the 2004 elections to 13 per cent of the vote.

It campaigned on an anti-Islam platform, with posters proclaiming 'The Occident in Christian hands' and describing today as 'the day of reckoning.'

In the Netherlands, exit polls predicted the anti-Islamic party of Geert Wilders - who was banned from Britain earlier this year - would win more than 15 per cent of the country's votes, muscling in on the ruling alliance of Conservatives and Socialists. >>> | Sunday, June 07, 2009

Europe Leans Right as Voters Choose EU Parliament
ASSOCIATED PRESS: BRUSSELS — Europe was leaning to the right Sunday as tens of millions of people voted in European Parliament elections, with conservative parties favored in many countries amid a global economic crisis.

Opinion polls showed right-leaning governments edging the opposition in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and elsewhere. Conservative opposition parties were tied or ahead in Britain, Spain and some smaller countries.

Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and five other EU nations cast ballots in the last three days, while the rest of the 27-nation bloc voted Sunday. Results for most countries were expected later in the day.

The EU parliament has evolved over five decades from a consultative legislature to one with the power to vote on or amend two-thirds of all EU laws. It has 736 seats and lawmakers serve for five-year terms.

With most votes counted in Austria, the main rightist party was gaining strongly while the Social Democrats, the main party in the governing coalition, lost substantial ground.

The big winner was the rightist Freedom Party, which more than doubled its strength over the 2004 elections to 13 percent of the vote. It campaigned on an anti-Islam platform, with posters proclaiming "The Occident in Christian hands" and describing Sunday as "the day of reckoning."

In the Netherlands, exit polls predicted Geert Wilders' anti-Islamic party would win more than 15 percent of the country's votes, bruising a ruling alliance of Conservatives and Socialists. >>> By Michael Weissenstein and Robert Wielaard | Sunday, June 07, 2009

Geert Wilders' Anti-EU Party Biggest Election Winner
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: The biggest winners in Thursday's European Parliament elections in the Netherlands are the two most outspoken parties: Geert Wilders' nationalist anti-EU party and the firmly pro-EU social-liberal party D66.

Fielding candidates for the first time, Mr Wilders' staunchly anti-European party will be returning four of the 25 Dutch MEPs. The other winners are social-liberal D66 and Green Left, both of whom are firm advocates of the European Union; each will send three MEPs to Brussels.
 


The Freedom Party MEPs will be headed by Barry Madlener; Mr Wilders will remain an MP in The Hague. The Freedom Party has ruled out joining any of the existing multi-party factions in the EP. In his victory speech, Mr Madlener repeated he will go for "less Europe, more Netherlands, Turkey never an EU member". >>> By Rob Kievit | Friday, June 06, 2009

NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: The Netherlands Is Now a Polarised Country

Stable government coalitions may be a thing of the past in the new, polarised Netherlands.

In politics, things can turn on a euro cent. Just six month ago Wouter Bos was celebrated for the way he dealt with the financial crisis. The Dutch Labour party leader and finance minister soared in the opinion polls. But all that was forgotten when people went to vote on Thursday, and dealt Bos' party a devastating blow: Labour lost four of its seven seats in the European parliament.

The Christian democrats, the other major coalition partner, also took a severe beating: it went from seven to five seats. That didn't keep prime minister and party leader Jan Peter Balkenende from claiming victory: "We said we wanted to remain the biggest party and that's what happened," Balkenende said, adding nevertheless that his coalition government will have to work hard to regain the public's confidence.

The big winner of Thursday's election was undoubtedly Geert Wilders, whose Party for Freedom (PVV) went from zero to four seats, making it the second biggest Dutch party in the Brussels parliament in its first European election.

Low turnout

The mainstream parties had silently hoped that the traditional low turnout for European elections would prevent a PVV breakthrough, going on the assumption that Wilders supporters are not that interested in Europe and wouldn't bother to vote. That turned out to be wrong. Despite a record low turnout - 36.5 percent, 2.5 points less than in 2004 - the PVV was able to attract 16.9 percent of all voters. According to research by public broadcaster NOS, many PVV voters were men and/or over fifty.

At a party meeting on Monday, Wilders had correctly predicted that the PVV would become bigger than his old party, the right-wing liberal VVD, which he broke away from in 2004. Still, VVD party leader Mark Rutte was not entirely unhappy with his party's three seats - down from four. Opinion polls had predicted a bigger loss. Just ahead of the election, Rutte had caused a controversy by proposing to broaden the definition of freedom of speech to include Holocaust denial. No matter how hard he tried to explain what exactly he meant, Rutte was ruthlessly attacked by political friends and foes alike. "This is a good result, " Rutte said on Thursday night.

But even Wilders had not expected his party to become bigger than Labour. "This the day the PVV finally made its breakthrough," he said. "People have had enough of the Balkenende and Bos cabinet." Wilders will not be going to Brussels himself; preferring to concentrate on national politics. Instead, an aide, Barry Madlener, will lead the PVV's four-man delegation to the European parliament, an institution it would like to see abolished. >>> By Herman Staal in The Hague | Friday, June 05, 2009

EU Vote Makes Officials Nervous
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: If Bulgarian Bilyana Raeva is re-elected to the European Parliament next weekend, she will get a more than eightfold raise. She could also find herself sitting beside a bumper crop of lawmakers from Europe's extreme right.

The European Union's Brussels-based legislature is little loved and less understood, but after polls on June 4-7, it is likely to look significantly different, with new members, new rules and potentially new powers.

The parliament is the Cinderella of EU institutions. With no right to initiate legislation, it is limited to negotiating amendments or blocking laws crafted by the more powerful EU council -- made up of the national governments -- and European Commission, the EU bureaucracy.

But the next legislature could get expanded powers -- and perhaps more public attention and gravitas -- if Ireland later this year ratifies an important treaty amending the way the EU works.

It could also get a laundered reputation. The parliament will have new rules governing legislators' salaries and expenses after an expense-abuse scandal that began three years ago, involving sums far greater than those in the current uproar over Britain's House of Commons.

But the coming election to the Brussels-based parliament is seizing attention in capitals across the 27-nation bloc for a different reason. In the midst of the worst recession since World War II, the vote could offer a guide to political fallout for national governments to come.

"People think that the local and European elections don't matter as much, so they can use those votes to punish politicians they are unhappy with," says Julia Clark, head of political research at pollster Ipsos MORI in the U.K. Germany holds national elections in the fall, while the U.K. must hold them by June 2010.

From a Romanian property tycoon on bail on kidnapping charges, to a Cambridge-educated ultranationalist in Britain, nationalist, anti-immigrant and xenophobic politicians are campaigning to tap into popular anger. Some are likely to make it to Brussels. >>> By Gaston Ceron in Brussels and Alistair MacDonald in London | Friday, May 29, 2009

Austrian Leader Slams Far-right's Anti-Israel Posters
EU BUSINESS: (VIENNA) - Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann condemned the far-right Freedom Party Sunday for using anti-Semitic rhetoric ahead of the European parliamentary elections in June.

In a new campaign ad published in the tabloid Kronen Zeitung on Sunday, the Freedom Party (FPOe) pasted in large red letters: "FPOe veto for Turkey and Israel in the EU."

While the party has long campaigned against Turkish accession to the 27-nation bloc, this was the first time it made mention of Israel. >>> | © EUBusiness | Monday, May 18, 2009

TAGES ANZEIGER: FPÖ-Chef ist «Hassprediger und Schande»

Nach Provokationen von Rechtsextremisten und antisemitischen Inseraten muss sich FPÖ-Chef Strache für seine Kampagne vor der EU-Wahl rechtfertigen.

Der Präsident der jüdischen Kultusgemeinde, Ariel Muzicant nennt ihn einen «Hassprediger»: FPÖ-Chef Heinz-Christian Strache bei den Wahlen 2008. Bild dank dem Tages Anzeiger
Nachrichten der vergangenen Woche aus Österreich: In der Gedenkstätte eines Konzentrationslagers in Ebensee provozieren Jugendliche Besucher und Überlebende des Lagers mit Steinwürfen, gestreckten rechten Armen und «Heil Hitler»-Rufen. In Auschwitz werden Schüler einer österreichischen Schulklasse nach antisemitischen Provokationen nach Hause geschickt.

In Wien demonstrieren eine Bürgerinitiative und die Freiheitliche Partei, FPÖ, gegen den Bau eines islamischen Zentrums, die Organisatorin bedankt sich bei «Christen, die den Mut hatten, mit uns Nazis mitzugehen. Langsam empfinde ich das schon als Ehrentitel.» Und in der «Kronen Zeitung», dem grösstem Boulevardblatt, erscheint am Sonntag ein Inserat der FPÖ mit der Ankündigung eines Vetos gegen den «EU-Beitritt von Türkei & Israel», offensichtlich, um antisemitische Vorurteile zu schüren. Denn die Frage, ob Israel in die EU soll, war in Österreich bis jetzt kein Thema.

FPÖ–Chef ein «Hassprediger»

Am deutlichsten und schnellsten nahm der Präsident der jüdischen Kultusgemeinde, Ariel Muzicant, Stellung. In einem Interview machte er die Freiheitlichen für die jüngsten Vorfälle verantwortlich: Unter ihrem Vorsitzenden Heinz-Christian Strache bereite die FPÖ-Führung den Boden «für den Vormarsch des Rechtsextremismus systematisch und absichtlich vor». Tags darauf verurteilte auch Bundeskanzler Werner Faymann (SPÖ) das Inserat der FPÖ, weil es religiöse Gefühle verletze: Strache sei ein «Hassprediger» und «eine Schande». >>> Von Bernhard Odehnal, Wien | Dienstag, 19. Mai 2009