Euronews: The far right is taking over Europe
For the first time in the history of federal Germany, the far-right has succeeded in assuming the reins of managing a local authority, represented by the candidate of the populist party, Alternative for Germany, AFD, Robert Sisselman, who won Sunday before last for the Sonnenberg constituency with 53% of the vote.
This victory was formed in a circle consisting of supporters of the extreme right, numbering more than 55 thousand residents, and this gave them hope to win the upcoming European elections.
In Spain, the left, despite its presence in government, retreated to the second row in front of the rise of the far-right VOX party.
As VOX became the leader of political sites in several cities of the country, as a result of the alliances concluded with the conservatives of the Popular Party.
In order to seize power in Spain, the far right could renew this circumstantial alliance during the next legislative elections, which expected in July.
In addition to this modest prominence, the far-right in Italy achieved a resounding victory with the election of the leader of the “Fratelli d’Italia” Georgia Meloni, who has headed the government since last October, and she is trying to make her party a normal government party, as if nothing had changed, since at first she expressed her desire In compliance with European rules and procedures, so that it can benefit from a €200 billion recovery plan.
In Sweden, the “Sweden Democrats” group, with roots belonging to neo-Nazism, is trying to seize a space from the political arena, and since it lacks sufficient influence to lead a government, it has signed a government agreement with liberals, Christian Democrats, and conservatives, including Prime Minister Ulf Christensen, who was asserting Not so long ago he would never cooperate with the far-right party, and today his government is proposing to force employees to report undocumented immigrants they know.
As the Swedish example shows, the far right doesn’t need to achieve absolute victory in the elections, whatever they may be, in order to impose a schedule for its political actions.
In Denmark, the Social Democratic Party was the biggest winner in the legislative elections of November 2022, but the political recipe was deceptive, since the party, with its left-wing history, had adopted the ideas of the extreme right in order to achieve electoral success.
With the approach of the European elections, the isolation of the European identity increases, to include Austria, the Netherlands, and even Greece.
Importing far-right ideas into European politics could lead to alliance agreements, and other parties’ adoption of different demands, but this could also lead to disagreements within the political family.
The far-right proceeds within the European Parliament as a disjointed front, with part of it lining up behind the Identity and Democracy group, led by the French National Rally and the Italy’s Northern League led by Matteo Salvini, as well as the AfD and the “Basic Finns” party.
The Identity and Democracy group has become the fifth force in the European Parliament, led by European conservatives and reformers.
This group includes the Polish Law and Justice Party, the Sweden Democrats, the Fratelli d’Italia party, and the VOX party.
The far-right parties in the European Parliament have about 130 seats, and divided into several groups.
Observers expect the far right to win about 180 seats, if we take into account the current trend of growth of this trend.
In France, it’s expected that the National Rally Party will lead the results by about 25%, becoming the first party in the country, if the parties of the New Environmental and Social People’s Union don’t advance within one list in the elections, and thus it will advance over the presidential majority of parliamentary groups currently supporting President Emmanuel Macron which It’s expected to have a share of about 19%.
As for Portugal, which has emancipated itself from the grip of dictatorship for decades, it hasn’t been spared from being swept into the stream of hardliners, and perhaps this country will send for the first time deputies from the extreme right to the European Parliament.
In the spring of 2022, the Chega party and its young leader Andre Ventura arbitrarily left Parliament.
Portuguese, to the tune of the revolution’s anthem that liberated the country from dictatorial rule, before it ended.
It seems that the far right will continue to search with its European allies to create a media sensation, if they win seats in the European Parliament during the upcoming elections.