Nationalist and Eurosceptic discourses are gaining momentum in Sweden, Bulgaria and Germany in the heat of the war crisis
The 52 seats of Vox in Spain, the rise of Marine LePen in France… After the pandemic, in the midst of an energy crisis and with price increases due to the war in Ukraine, populist formations and nationalist movements have gained strength and are threatening to spread across Europe. The far right already controls Hungary and Poland; and it is growing stronger in countries like Bulgaria, Sweden, Germany and Italy, against a European Union often seen as an elitist and denationalizing machine.
The European Commission never comments on member states’ electoral processes, but is watching with concern this Sunday’s Italian elections. Not in vain, the fifth power of the European Union (EU) could remain in the hands of the Brothers of Italy, a formation heir to fascism and who is committed to giving more sovereignty to European countries against “the bureaucracy” in Brussels.
This trend has already started in Sweden, where the extremist movement Sweden Democrats became the second most voted force in September’s elections, with 20.5% of support. Founded in 1988 by a former SS volunteer from Nazi Germany, its current leader, Jimmie Akesson, worked to give the party a facelift and disconnect from its origins.
The formation gained support with slogans very similar to Donald Trump’s – ‘Sweden first’ and ‘Let’s make Sweden good again’ – and an anti-immigration discourse, a message that also permeates other Scandinavian countries such as Denmark (Danish People’s Party), Norway (Progress Party) and Finland (Finn Party).
In France and Germany, the far-right cordon sanitaire has acted as a firewall to prevent these parties from coming to power. But little by little, these formations are progressing: Marine LePen’s party has 88 deputies in the French National Assembly and the Alternative Formation for Germany (AfD) – which defends the dissolution of the eurozone – is gaining strength in East German states such as Saxony. and Thuringia.
The AfD’s ideology clashes head on with the EU’s fundamental values. The party opposes the financial bailout of peripheral countries and the expansion of the bloc. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution went so far as to classify its hard faction as a movement “against the fundamental free democratic order” and placed the group under surveillance for its links to neo-Nazis.
For now, the ultra-conservative right rules only in Hungary and Poland. However, these two countries in their own right have proved to be two uneasy partners for the EU’s executive. Budapest and Warsaw blocked the approval of recovery funds during the pandemic and delayed the approval of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. The European Parliament went so far as to describe Viktor Orbán’s government as an “autocracy”.
The crises caused by the war in Ukraine and increasing inequality provide the perfect breeding ground for the far right. According to data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), in 2021 more than a fifth of the EU population – 95.4 million people – was at risk of poverty or social exclusion. And with rising inflation, those numbers threaten to skyrocket, especially in southern and eastern European countries.
In Bulgaria, which will hold elections on October 2, the latest polls give 22% of the vote to pro-Russian parties. High energy prices have had a terrible impact on the country and its people, who are heavily exposed to Russian propaganda.
It is not the only country to find itself in a strange gray area, between the West and Moscow. In Serbia, the populist Aleksandar Vucic won re-election with 59.8% of the support. While the leader assured that the country will follow the path to EU accession, he stressed that “it will not destroy relations with its traditional friends”, referring to Russia and China.
In a Union where sensitive decisions – those in the areas of security, energy and foreign policy – are taken unanimously by the member states, the rise of nationalism and the far right threatens to fragment the unity. For its part, the European bloc plans to convene a convention to reform the European treaties and reserve unanimity only for exceptional cases.
This was announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech on the State of the Union, entitled ‘A Union that stands strong together’. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the community leader has been characterized by her messages calling for unity and solidarity between member states. “If we work for the same goal, there is nothing that we Europeans cannot achieve,” he told the European Parliament.
Faced with the threat of Russian missiles, von der Leyen stressed that “we must deepen and strengthen the democracies of our continent”. A plan that could be frustrated by the outcome of the Italian elections.
Source: La Verdad
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