Residents of the European Union ( EU) cast ballots to elect a new European Parliament between June 6 and 9.
In advance of a far-right breakthrough, there were concerns that this might happen, which was surprising given the recent political success of extreme nationalist, conservative, and elitist parties, many of whom had xenophobic tendencies and were fascist or inspiration.
Six of the 27 EU states – Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and the Czech Republic – have much- right parties in state. Sweden’s majority government relies on the assistance of the republican Sweden Democrats, the next- largest pressure in Parliament.
In the Netherlands, the Partij pro de Vrijheid ( PVV ) of Geert Wilders won 37 votes in the 150- chair Parliament after a battle filled with racism and extra- Islam attitude.
His political constituency is substantially larger than those of the liberals of former prime minister Mark Rutte and the red/green empire of European Commissioner Frans Timmermans, who won 24 and 25 chairs, both. At the time of the German elections, Wilders was occupied forming the most correct- wing authorities in his country’s current history.
Although the Netherlands is a relatively modest nation, the extreme-right’s rise in popularity also raised concerns in big European nations. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, a group that traces its origins back to the totalitarian movement of Benito Mussolini, has been in power since October 2022.
The Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen topped the pre-election polls in France, while the AfD, Alternative für Deutschland, the extreme right army in Germany, constantly placed third in elections ahead of any of the three controlling events.
The results of the German election confirmed this continent-wide accomplishment of far-right parties. More than 28 % of the vote was cast in favor of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance group, which received just half as many seats, humiliated Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, which was the party of choice for almost one in three citizens. In Germany, the AfD won almost 16 %.
Although it may be less impressive than the extreme-right in Italy and France, the Liberal Party, and the Social Democrats are the only three remaining members of the current customers light coalition.
However, has the extraordinary proper actually taken control of the European Parliament? No truly.
Their political achievement in a number of nations are obvious, as the illustrations of Italy, France and Germany have currently illustrated. Standard centrist parties have suffered the most from the rise of the far-right. The Greens and Liberals each lost roughly one-fourth of their chairs in the European Parliament. The Social Democrats seem to be firm, though, losing just four seats.
However, the center-right European People’s Party ( EPP ) Group is even expanding and continues to be by far the largest group in the European Parliament. Collectively, these four traditional social groups also have a lot in the European Parliament.
Besides, although the severe- right parties did make progress in the June 2024 elections, they are utterly divided among themselves on important issues such as monetary policy, international relations, and EU integration. For instance, while some advocates a complete withdrawal from the EU, another favor renegotiating the terms of membership.
As a result of these groups, there are two political parties that contain much- right events. On the one hand, there are the right- nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists, dominated by the Fratelli d’Italia and Poland’s Prawo i Sprawiedliwość ( PiS ) Party.
On the other hand, there’s the even- right Identity and Democracy Group, whose members include France’s National Rally but also the Hungarian Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs and Geert Wilders’s PVV. The AfD was a part of this organization up until it was expelled weeks before the European elections in response to a number of scandals.
There are also far-right organizations that do not belong to any of those parliamentary groups because they are detained or have already been expelled.
When they left the center-right European People’s Party in 2021, Hungary’s Fidesz party grew to be the largest among them. There’s also a whole range of smaller parties. Since it is unaffiliated with any parliamentary group, the AfD recently joined their ranks.
There are two reasons, therefore, why the extreme- right is not able to dominate the European Parliament. On the one hand, the centrist parties, and especially the EPP Group, remain relatively strong. Besides, the far- right groups are too divided among themselves to become dominant.
The concern that fringe, extreme-right parties may take control of European mainstream politics seems unfounded, at least for the moment. Nevertheless, the influence of the extreme- right is growing undeniably. The real danger might be caused by the tense distinctions between the far-right and mainstream parties.
We have recently seen how center-right extreme political parties have started to imitate center-right parties in exchange for a seat at the table, especially if they can join the government. In addition, Giorgia Meloni’s party is the only of the three major far-right parties in Italy to support NATO and support Ukraine without being contradictory.
Once in government, she became an outspoken supporter of military support. Geert Wilders, from his side, was ready to swallow much of his extreme party program in exchange for his ascension to government.
The French Rassemblement National is also changing its name, and rallies featuring slick firebrand Jordan Bardella do not resemble Jean-Marie Le Pen’s, the party’s founder ,’s nostalgic National Front meetings.
The distinctions between the extreme right and the mainstream have also gotten blurred. The center-right is also slowly but surely moving to the right. The new migration pact, which is defended by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and includes measures previously supported by the far right such as stricter deterrence through border control and stricter asylum procedures, shows the shift of center-right parties to the right.
Likewise, it also reinforces the extreme right’s framing of migration as a threat to European values. The real danger, therefore, might not be that of a takeover of European politics by extreme- right parties but of the alliance between the old center- right with the “new”, supposedly more moderate, extreme right.
Therefore, the only way to stop the rise of the extreme right is to be sought in the left of the political spectrum rather than in the center. Because of its commitment to inclusive and egalitarian policies, which directly oppose the far right’s exclusionary and nationalist rhetoric, the left is positioned to defeat the far right.
However, the left is also divided and is missing a clear strategy. Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht in Germany, a new phenomenon, combines restrictive immigration policies with a more progressive economic program, even though they received a 6.2 % vote in the European Parliamentary elections, which was lower than expected.
La France Insoumise ( France ), the Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas ( Greece ), and Partij van de Arbeid van België/Parti du Travail de Belgique ( Belgium ) scored well, winning the support of some 10 % of their countries ‘ electorate. The left is also displaying resilience in other nations.
In the end, these parties and the social movements they are rooted in will have to provide an answer to the rise of the far-right in Europe.
Wim De Ceukelaire, a member of the People’s Health Movement’s global steering council, is an activist for social and health issues. He is the co- author of the second edition of” The Struggle for Health: Medicine and the Politics of Underdevelopment” with David Sanders and Barbara Hutton.
This article was produced by Globetrotter and is kindly reprinted here with permission.