How far has the extreme right spread in Europe in recent years?

Posted On: September 27, 2022

German Padinger

(CNN Spanish) – The victory of the right-wing coalition in the recent general elections in Italy marked the arrival of extremism in the government of one of Europe’s most important countries.

With this result, Giorgia Meloni, the Eurosceptic leader of the Brothers of Italy party – who defended dictator Benito Mussolini -, will become prime minister.

Giorgia Meloni won elections in Italy and will become the country’s most right-wing prime minister since Mussolini

With the slogan “God, country and family”, Meloni, 45, leads a campaign based on euroscepticism – that is, rejection of the European Union – and anti-immigration policies, and has also proposed reducing the rights of the LGBTQ community and access to abortion.

His rise marks the latest advance of the far-right in Europe – whose Eurosceptic, anti-immigration and socially conservative agenda appears to be overreaching – which has spread across the continent in recent years and especially since the 2015 refugee crisis.

Militants attend a joint rally of Italy’s far-right parties (FdI), La Liga (Lega) and Forza Italia in Rome on September 22, 2022, (Credit: ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)

This is seeing that growth.

Italy

The Brothers of Italy, led by Meloni, currently have 26% of the vote in Sunday’s general election, according to preliminary tallies. Its main allies, La Liga’s Matteo Salvini and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, hit 9% and 8%, respectively.

With these figures, the far-right coalition is on track to secure 44% of the vote and thus succeed in appointing a future prime minister, a major success especially for Meloni, whose party garnered only 4.5% of the vote in the previous election. 2018.

This is an impressive development for this young politician.

Meloni was a co-founder of the Brothers of Italy in 2012, an offshoot of the Italian Social Movement, a fascist party founded in 1946 by followers of Mussolini.

Day X: when the extreme right aspires to control society 0:45

Meanwhile, his coalition partners Salvini and Berlusconi have dominated right-wing politics in the country in recent years, with Meloni even serving in Berlusconi’s government.

Sweden

In early September, the Swedish Democrats were surprised to become the second minority in the country after their good results in the general election.

With neo-Nazi roots, the Swedish Democrats will play an important role in Swedish politics from now on.

Its popularity, like that of many other far-right powers in Europe, skyrocketed after the 2015 migrant crisis, when several European countries — including Sweden — decided to open their doors to refugees fleeing wars in Syria and Yemen. tension.

The Swedish Democrats gained only 5.7% of the vote in the 2010 election, but grew to 12.9% in 2014 and 17.2% in 2018, after the crisis. And in September it rose to 20.5%, reaching second place behind the Social Democrats.

Hungary

In power since 2010, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, has built a power base precisely thanks to his anti-immigration policies, which have given him the support of far-right voters, and crippled the opposition.

This is Hungarian anti-immigration rhetoric in the EU 1:38

And, as the migrant crisis has normalized, Orban and his Fidesz party have turned their attention to members of the LGBT community: in April’s general election, his government also held a controversial referendum to ban sexual orientation education in schools, a move some sectors are considering. as discriminatory.

Fidesz won again in the election: reaching 53% in favor of Orban, although the referendum did not reach the level of participation required to be valid.

Relations between Budapest and Brussels, in this context, are very tense. In February, the European Union’s Court of Justice paved the way for limiting remittances to Hungary for failing to meet European standards, notably by imposing political control on the judicial system and media and restricting basic rights.

And Orban’s good relations with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president now locked in his invasion of Ukraine, cemented that relationship even further.

Poland

Poland is also reached by EU Court decisions, and may experience restrictions on the transfer of funds from the EU for public health, digitization and environmental care programmes.

“Hungary and Poland have suffered setbacks in terms of press freedom, independence of judges and the right to protest,” Amnesty International said.

Former communist republics that suffered after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, both countries have benefited from economic aid since joining the European Union in 2004.

In Poland’s case, the far-right Law and Justice party has ruled since 2015 and its current prime minister is Mateusz Morawiecki.

France

Behind Emmanuel Macron’s victories in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections in France lies the shadow of far-right Marine Le Pen, of the National Front, who reached the second round twice.

Le Pen won 34% of the vote in 2017 (compared to Macron’s 66%), and rose to 41% in 2022 (compared to Macron’s 59%), consolidating his position as an alternative and narrowing the gap.

Currently Le Pen, 53, is a member of the French National Assembly for Calais, the coastal city overlooking Great Britain where immigrants bound for Britain are concentrated.

Macron’s leadership in France to be tested in legislative elections 4:57

Le Pen is against migration – and in particular the influence of Islam in France –, is Eurosceptic and defends economic nationalism, claiming that he represents the French working class suffering from globalization and technological progress.

He has also been an outspoken admirer of Putin, and strongly opposed NATO, of which France is a pillar.

The situation in other parts of Europe

Right-wing parties have been consolidated on almost all continents, although in all countries they are so close to positions of power.

In Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party grew rapidly with its agenda against migrants and the European Union until it became the third power in 2017. Although its influence has waned since then: it is currently the fifth power in the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, with 79 seats.

Meanwhile in Spain, the Vox party, also with an agenda linked to the extreme right, is currently the third force in the Congress of Deputies, with 52 seats.

And in Austria, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) is the fourth-largest force, with 30 seats. His popularity, however, is on the decline: in the last election he gained 17.3% of the vote, while in 2017 he had achieved 26% and space in the governing coalition, which was later dissolved in 2019.

With reporting by Kara Fox, Antonia Mortensen, Barbie Latza Nadeau, Nicola Ruotolo, Sharon Braithwaite and Valentina DiDonato.