The continent that created fascism does not seem to have recovered from that disease, given the level of votes that the parties heirs to that ideology and other similar formations are obtaining in Europe. Portugal, one of the countries that seemed vaccinated against this phenomenon, fell this Sunday when “Chega”, a far-right formation, reached 18% of the votes. Throughout the European continent there are almost no ultra-important parties left, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and above all in the French-speaking part of Belgium, where the far right is non-existent.
The vote of these parties (in this label we can include those that gather in two groups in the European Parliament: ECR and ID) in the latest elections held in a series of countries shows continuous growth. In Hungary it reached 60%, in Poland 51%, in Italy 35%, in the Netherlands and France 23%, in Sweden 21%, in Finland 20%, in Austria 16%, in Denmark 14%, in Greece and Belgium 13% and in Spain 12%. Polls say that in Germany the far-right AfD is already around 15%. Polls give him around 25% of the votes in the European elections in June.
His rise can also be measured by his participation in government coalitions. If just over 20 years ago the European Union was on the verge of approving sanctions against one state of the bloc, Austria, for having included the far-right FPO in the Vienna executive and forced it to leave it, now the situation is changed a lot.
The far right It is part of the governments of Finland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania. He supports the Swedish government from Parliament and could soon govern the Netherlands. Thus, with the Dutch Geert Wilders, these parties would have another country in the European Council, reinforcing the Italian Giorgia Meloni, the Slovak Robert Fico or the Hungarian Viktor Orban.
Frenchwoman Marine Le Pen expects an excellent result in June. Photo by AFPHis only departure from a government in recent years came in 2023 in Poland, when conservative Donald Tusk got rid of the ultranationalists PiS.
Their power and influence are greater than national data may show. In Spain they are not in the central government because they did not join the conservatives of the Popular Party, but they are in five of the 17 regional governments. In France, Marine Le Pen’s far-right is expected to win a landslide victory of more than 30% in the European elections on June 9.
In Belgium, they will be able to control the regional government of Flanders starting in June (it is the most decentralized country in Europe and more than six of the 11.5 million Belgians live in Flanders).
Beyond their direct access to power, their growth in recent years has pushed national conservative formations to attempt to plug the vote-generating pipeline by moving closer to them. For this reason, the speeches and policies that the far right proposed ten years ago in the face of scandal and widespread anger from other political groups, they are now promoted by traditional conservative formations.
VOX leader Santiago Abascal in an interview. Photo: Mariana NedelcuIn its electoral program for the European elections, the European People’s Party, the group that brings together conservatives and Christian Democrats, proposes sending asylum seekers to African countries, copy of the “Rwanda plan” which the British government is trying to implement despite the reluctance of justice and which goes against both the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Asylum Directive.
The Belgian paradox
Belgium is politically divided in two and represents the rarest case in Europe in terms of the development and influence of the far right. While among Flemish voters the two far-right parties (the ultranationalists of the NVA and the neo-Nazis of Vlaams Belang) in June (in addition to the European ones there are regional and legislative ones) they could exceed 50% and, if I agree, to control the powerful regional government, the far right does not exist among the francophones, it does not even have a miserable municipal councilor among more than five million people.
French-speaking Belgium is like this the last European stronghold who can say they have no elected office from a far-right party, the last Gallic village before the advance of the Roman Salute empire.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.