Currently, Europe is experiencing a political wildfire, and it’s not as simple as it seems.
Opposition to immigration, Islam, LGBTQ+ rights, and the EU itself used to be the bedrock of Europe’s far-right parties. But because even these parties need to adapt to the times and evolve priorities, new concerns like minority rights, supporting Ukraine, and the climate crisis have appeared. Obviously, the game has changed.
The alarming hard-right ‘fever’ is like a puzzle with pieces that vary from country to country.
Support for the far-right AfD is growing in Germany. The right-wing Vox party in Spain is projected to be the deciding factor in the impending snap election. In Italy, Poland, Finland, and Sweden, far-right parties are either in government or support the government from within parliament.
Here is the plot twist – even Europe’s center-right is beginning to sound like the far-right side!
It’s unbelievable how both sides are speaking the same language these days. As they fear losing votes to more extreme groups, mainstream center-right parties are slowly adopting the other’s extremity policies. And the ‘smart’ far-wing parties? They are tempering some of their more extremist viewpoints and this is transforming the continent’s political landscape. For example, the recent collapse of the Dutch government over immigration policy. The whole crisis was sparked by Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party’s urging desire to reduce the influx of refugees to the Netherlands, which was opposed by two of his four-party parliamentary coalition partners. The alliance’s disagreements were “irreconcilable”, according to Rutte, therefore the governance decided that new elections were required.
While the far right is on the rise, the left is facing a downturn. It’s pretty common for people who probably would have traditionally voted for a protective left to consider far-right parties as a reasonable choice. Why? Well, social changes, the decline of the industrial working class, and the crisis of “European” ideologies have all played a significant part in this transformation.
Now the question is if the far-right somehow managed to achieve political power in all of Europe, what will happen once it does? This horrifying scenario could lead to the collapse of democratic principles, with authoritarian traits damaging the rule of law, the freedom of the press, and the judiciary’s autonomy. Furthermore, xenophobia would result in serious human rights violations that may affect vulnerable groups such as immigrants, refugees, or ethnic minorities. Also, institutions like NATO, the European Union, and the United Nations would definitely be undermined since Euroskepticism is present on the international stage. So yes, the growth of far-right groups could dramatically reshape the whole continent.
Unfortunately, this fever is not just a one-size-fits-all type of thing, it’s a wide and complex phenomenon. The political landscape is evolving rapidly, and as Europe struggles with these weird dynamics constantly, here is a quick reminder that staying informed and engaged in this fever is actually important.
Bibliography:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/7/19/are-we-heading-towards-a-far-right-european-
union
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/populism-really-problem-for-democracy
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2022/global-expansion-authoritarian-rule
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66139789
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/08/europe/netherlands-government-collapse-immigration-
policy-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/06/19/why-the-far-right-is-increasingly-getting-
into-power-across-europe
https://www.politico.eu/article/understanding-europes-shift-to-the-right/
https://www.politico.eu/article/far-right-giorgia-meloni-europe-swings-right-and-reshapes-the-
eu/
pics: pic 1, pic 2
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