Europe’s Shift To The Right

Europe is witnessing the beginning of being reshaped in stand and orientation that is going by the recent trends as seen in the European Union Parliament election in June. France, Germany, Italy and Austria are among the 27 member countries witnessing a rise of the right on the planks of “a threat to Western civilisation”. On the eve of the polls, the far-right was expected to make inroads into the traditionally dominant forces of opposing political persuasions. The premise did not go off the mark in what also became a humiliating setback for French President Emmanuel Macron, who reacted with a hasty decision to go for snap poll. His Renaissance party was trounced by Marion Le Pen’s National Rally. 

Germany’s governing parties led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz registered a weak performance. On the other hand, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) obtained 14 per cent of the votes, which was more than any of the governing three-party coalition collected. Indications are that 18-24 age group voted for the right in a harsh and dramatic response to the coalition government. A jubilant AfD leader Alice Weidel said: “After all the prophecies of doom, we are the second strongest force.” Scholz was in no mood to accept the challenge from the opposition to go for early elections. The ruling coalition is clearly reeling from the disastrous defeat. But Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo decided to quit office over his team’s dismal performance. 

Veering right

In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s National Rally won more than double the votes at 32 per cent when compared with its record in 2019. She said: “We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of Italian, ready to put an end to mass immigration.”  Now seen as Europe’s king maker, her party, Brothers of Italy, has not formally renounced its ideologically fascist roots. Hungary saw 44 per cent of votes for the right. In Scandinavia, the left won most seats but the region’s representation is smaller than other regions to make a heavy impact. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom maintained an impressive presence. The Dutch politician wants “Muslims out” of his country. His party is a coalition partner in the country’s government.

Soon after the poll results, Le Pen and Wilders discussed ways of coordinating the nationalists’ activities concerning common issues. In sum, the 27-member grouping clearly witnesses a shift to the right. Analysts say that two dozen democracies are likely to see rightists-led governments or, at least, rightist partners in their governance by the end of this year. As many as eight right-wing, populist political parties in as many countries in Europe are currently sharing power in the executive governance of their countries. French streets saw mass rejoicing of the European Parliament results. Anti-migrant groups in Poland declared they “do not want Muslims”. Denmark seems to be taking a hardline on immigrants. 

In the Netherlands, police bulldozed protest camps at campus premises, though the latter was not involved in any violence. About 100 students were arrested in June. About the same time, at least 90 were arrested during the same period in France. Although no longer aboard the EU, the United Kingdom is veering right. In response to pro-Palestinian protests held in London last month, “patriots” organised rallies to protest against “Islamic protests and extremism in UK”. One of the rallyists was quoted warning: “Britain is Christian country… So, behave as we want you to.”  The British government has scrapped citizenship of some protestors on grounds of “hate speech”, “extremism” and “anti-Semitism”.

Australians, too, think their country is making a marked tilt towards the right. The young are disillusioned by bleak prospects. They want change and not the faces that promised them so much since so long but without the expected delivery. Some 3,000 students in the US campuses were arrested for having protested against Israel’s bombings in Gaza where over 35,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in nearly nine months. The war in Gaza was triggered when the Hamas guerrillas attacked Israel in October and killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took hostages, most of whom are yet to be released. This is an emerging face of Europe and its Western cousins. The electoral shift towards the right can create obstacles for the world’s largest trading grouping to make decisions and introduce legislation.

Sorry story

A year ago, all this would have been dismissed as a fiction never to find space in reality. Ironically, the developments and protests the West previously empathised with elsewhere are now addressed rather harshly by the standards they had set for non-Western countries in Asia and Africa. Rightists are trying to get it right in the so-called liberal continent of advanced democracies. Europe is slowly but unmistakably making space for voices that it sneered at earlier and grudgingly tolerated them these past two decades. Now it is compelled to listen to and accommodate these forces. The European Parliament’s present composition promises to introduce rightist voices louder, clearer and more frequently and extensively. In what the rightists claim as righting the course correctly, the fact is that those styled as epitome of democratic definitions are veering towards a path they earlier condemned with relentless passion.

In one of the highest turnouts, more than 70 per cent voters engaged in the first-round polls for France’s national assembly on July 1, which gave the far-right party the single-largest support, with the leftist groups coming second the President Emannuel Macron’s Renaissance party taking the third spot. Analysts suggested that voters were for the “right rather than the wrong”.  In the name of national identity, fissiparous tendencies abound just below a red-hot lid. Lest the trend should cast a domino effect, the larger countries with ethnic issues engage in extra precautions to nip in the bud migrant aspirations to take the reins of power some time in future.

The rise of the right will affect the West’s policies and decisions to new directions. Which means NATO member Turkey’s decades-long quest for EU membership is reduced to further uncertainty, chiefly because of its Muslim majority population. The membership process will activate rigorous stages designed to wear an applicant out into meek resignation. The processing mechanism would be a trying test—punishing as well as humiliating. European Parliament is not as predictable as it used to be. For how long and to what extent the rightward march will be is an issue of speculation but surely of relevance.

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)