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The rise of the far right in Europe

Let's start with France, where the National Front did very well in local elections, especially since its leader, Marine Le Pen, made a point of criticising the EU and avoided the xenophobic rhetoric of her father and party founder Jean Marie Le Pen. President Francois Hollande's Socialist party suffered notable defeats across the country.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) again fared very well in local elections, albeit presenting candidates in only two municipalities. Wilders made some odious anti-Moroccan comments, which caused support for his party to drop. Just like France's Le Pen, he is also focusing on criticising the EU.

In Hungary, Viktor Orban's economically centre-right but socially revanchist Fidesz party won two-thirds of the seats in parliament, whereas the xenophobic, anti-Roma and anti-Jew Jobbik party consolidated gains of 20 percent and now is seen as exporting its model to the surrounding region.
In Denmark, where the Council of Europe warns that Islamophobia isgrowing, the anti-EU and anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP) is polling first.

The Freedom Party of Austria (FPOe) is polling between 21 and 27 percent. One of its better known representatives was forced to quit as a top candidate for the European parliament after comparing the EU to Hitler's Third Reich and saying the EU was becoming a "conglomerate of negroes".

It will also be interesting to see which small German parties will make it into the EU parliament, now that the constitutional court has scrapped the three percent entry threshold. Who will gain? The Eurosceptic AfD, the irreverent Pirate Party or the extreme right-wing NPD?

Britain's UKIP, though deeply conservative and pugnaciously Eurosceptic, does not fall in the far right category. And beyond the EU, Norway and Switzerland have shown tendencies for what is being called a lurch to the right. Even further east, in Ukraine, extreme right hardliners have joined the new government, as civil war with the Russia-supporting population looms.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/04/golden-dawn-rise-far-right-euro-201441483840429923.html
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I am open to all opinions and am interested to hear why you think people are turning to the far right within Europe. Some will argue it's because of the European Union, others might suggest the Eurozone or the Financial Crisis, or something completely separate.


firstly, well done for not describing UKIP as far right.

I think with this recent economic crisis we've seen the centre ground squashed a little.

As a result we've seen a move to the right. We've also seen a move to the left.

The economy's coming back up so things will normalise over the next year or two.
Original post by MatureStudent36
firstly, well done for not describing UKIP as far right.

I think with this recent economic crisis we've seen the centre ground squashed a little.

As a result we've seen a move to the right. We've also seen a move to the left.

The economy's coming back up so things will normalise over the next year or two.


Do you mean in the UK or in Europe in general. I only ask because its very hard to seen anything becoming more stable within countries such as Greece, when they have members of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn within office.
Original post by Hachik0
Do you mean in the UK or in Europe in general. I only ask because its very hard to seen anything becoming more stable within countries such as Greece, when they have members of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn within office.


both.

You have gold dawn in office in Greece. but you also have communists.
Original post by MatureStudent36
both.

You have gold dawn in office in Greece. but you also have communists.


I find it difficult to see how the Europe Union is doing anything to help the Greek people. Its a member and yet i don't see any benefits to their membership.

By all means correct me if i'm wrong, but i personally believe Greece should of never joined the EU in the first place. However, i am open to those who can state otherwise.
Original post by MatureStudent36
firstly, well done for not describing UKIP as far right.

I think with this recent economic crisis we've seen the centre ground squashed a little.

As a result we've seen a move to the right. We've also seen a move to the left.

The economy's coming back up so things will normalise over the next year or two.


The economies not a server and if it were it would be running Windows. The economy is not 'coming back up' austerity policies will not work and will take a very, very long time to cause any significant growth, no matter how much Osborne lies to you by saying: 'Oh look how much growth we've had by excluding all these factors and by starting from a very low base rate', 'oh look at how low inflation is even though the reality is pretty much all services have increased in price'.

Original post by Hachik0
I find it difficult to see how the Europe Union is doing anything to help the Greek people. Its a member and yet i don't see any benefits to their membership.

By all means correct me if i'm wrong, but i personally believe Greece should of never joined the EU in the first place. However, i am open to those who can state otherwise.



The EU bailed out Greece so that's a start.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by brap man 420
The economies not a server and if it were it would be running Windows. The economy is not 'coming back up' austerity policies will not work and will take a very, very long time to cause any significant growth, no matter how much Osborne lies to you by saying: 'Oh look how much growth we've had by excluding all these factors and by starting from a very low base rate', 'oh look at how low inflation is even though the reality is pretty much all services have increased in price'.




The EU bailed out Greece so that's a start.


Another one who doesn't believe the official data.

The economy is coming back up. I doubt we'll see growth like we did for a bit, but that was unsustainable growth.
Original post by MatureStudent36
Another one who doesn't believe the official data.

The economy is coming back up. I doubt we'll see growth like we did for a bit, but that was unsustainable growth.


There's good reason not to believe the official data, if the government announce its rubbish they're not going to get voted in again.
Original post by MatureStudent36
both.

You have gold dawn in office in Greece. but you also have communists.


Indeed, while Golden Dawn's popularity is still disturbing, it's subsided a bit recently. The EU's more pressing concern in Greece is the prospect of a Syriza victory in elections.
Original post by brap man 420
There's good reason not to believe the official data, if the government announce its rubbish they're not going to get voted in again.


Thankfully this independent data is produced by an independent body called the Office for National Statistics and the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Reply 10
Avatar for bun
bun
19
Original post by brap man 420
There's good reason not to believe the official data, if the government announce its rubbish they're not going to get voted in again.


So because it doesn't suit your agenda, this time it's rubbish. But if it were another party in power, then you'd probably believe them - is basically what your statement is coming across as.
Reply 11
Avatar for bun
bun
19
Original post by MatureStudent36
firstly, well done for not describing UKIP as far right.

I think with this recent economic crisis we've seen the centre ground squashed a little.

As a result we've seen a move to the right. We've also seen a move to the left.

The economy's coming back up so things will normalise over the next year or two.


It's pretty much only in the UK where people would consider UKIP as far right. Everyone else in Europe just sees it as anti-European, and strongly conservative, but they certainly don't class it as far right.
Original post by Hachik0
I find it difficult to see how the Europe Union is doing anything to help the Greek people. Its a member and yet i don't see any benefits to their membership.

By all means correct me if i'm wrong, but i personally believe Greece should of never joined the EU in the first place. However, i am open to those who can state otherwise.


Greece shouldn't have. That's been widely acknowledged. But the euro zone is as much political as it is economic. There was a desire to integrate European states and for that you need to be economically as well as politically aligned. The call now is fir further political integration in the EU zone to minimise the risk of the euro crisis happening again.
"far right" is a meaningless word, or at least, a non-sense word
far "right" implies right wing, but it doesn't, it more implies "racism"
but hitler was left right and obviously an appropriate candidate for the label "far right"
so why do they call it far "right"? how do you define "right"? free market? how is laissez faire racism?
jesus christ, the people who use these terms like "far right" should stick to words less obviously left wing
Original post by brap man 420
There's good reason not to believe the official data, if the government announce its rubbish they're not going to get voted in again.


There's a good reason why the stats are decided by an independent body and not the government. Ever heard of the ONS?

In reply to the OP, I think nationalism and the right in general is on the rise throughout the world. Be it India, America ( I expect the GOP to make huge gains this year), Europe, Japan, Russia, China, or Israel, rightist and nationalist politics is on the rise.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 15
Avatar for ottom
ottom
8
It's a rise of populism rather than the far-right.
Original post by bun
So because it doesn't suit your agenda, this time it's rubbish. But if it were another party in power, then you'd probably believe them - is basically what your statement is coming across as.


nah its bs, there are three types of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.
It's hardly surprising when European governments are enforcing harsh regimes of austerity on their people - radicalisation is almost always the end result.
Original post by JamesGibson
It's hardly surprising when European governments are enforcing harsh regimes of austerity on their people - radicalisation is almost always the end result.


It happens every time there's a degree of economic pressure. Fortunately with the introduction of welfare states throughout Europe we won't be having a re run of the thirties.

Out of interest, there's very few European states that have net embraced totalitarian dictators in the 20th century.
Reply 19
Avatar for crayz
crayz
Original post by JamesGibson
It's hardly surprising when European governments are enforcing harsh regimes of austerity on their people - radicalisation is almost always the end result.


I think people are naturally radical just when their life is fine they become apathetic. If you look at the history of living species it is only in the most extreme conditions that spur on evolution, the same is true of politics. Only when conditions become extreme does politics evolve and change.

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