Newsfront Populism on Rise in Europe
Voters desert the traditional center amid anger over immigration, economic stagnation.
C BY JOHN GIZZI
entrist parties, which have dominated politics in Western Europe since World War II, appear moribund as
nationalists gather strength. Uncontrolled immigration, eco-
nomic stagnation, and the cost of helping Ukraine defend itself against the Russian invasion is fueling sup- port for leaders often described in the media as “far right.” Their rise began with Italy’s elec-
tion in 2022 of Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party — the direct descendant of Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party. The trend to the right continued
last month with elections in France and the United Kingdom. Although Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally party ran third in the
French parliamentary election, it dou- bled its ranks in the National Assem- bly, blocked from winning power by an uneasy alliance of leftist parties that came together at the last minute. The ensuing political gridlock will
leave Le Pen’s party in a strong posi- tion to win the presidency in 2027, when incumbent Emmanuel Macron is termed out. In the United Kingdom, the newly
cobbled-together Reform UK party led by Donald Trump-supporter Nigel Farage is also on the rise. While Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s left-leaning Labour Party won a big victory, crush- ing members of the Conservative Party who had been in power for 14 years, there are growing predictions of a seismic change ahead in British politics.
Farage’s anti-establishment, anti-
illegal immigration party, founded only six years ago, captured 14% of the vote and won five seats in the House of Commons. Now Farage would like to become the de facto leader of the opposition by
The trend to the right continued last month with elections in France and the United Kingdom.
Giorgia Meloni, 47 Prime Minister of Italy Populist Rejects supremacy of
European Union laws Opposed to: • Illegal immigration • Euthanasia • Same-sex marriage • LGBT parenting
Her party has proposed measures to promote Italy’s rich culture, art, and history by cutting taxes on cultural services, reducing ticket costs in museums, and expanding UNESCO heritage sites.
13 NEWSMAX | AUGUST 2024
Marine Le Pen, 56 Leader, National Rally party
Softened the party’s far-right image by expelling racist and antisemitic members, including her father Jean-Marie, its previous leader, and advocated for civil unions for same- sex couples, accepted abortion, and abandoned support for the death penalty. She wants to toughen immigration
policies, end birthright citizenship, slash welfare, cut funding to the EU, less support for Ukraine, and lower the retirement age to 60.
seizing control of the defeated conser- vatives and pushing them further to the right. But political experts caution these new
European leaders are far from united. British historian Graham Stuart,
an authority on the rise of authoritari- anism in Europe in the 1930s, says of today’s European right: “Some promote left-wing economic policies, others are free marketeers. “Some show support for Vladimir
Putin’s Russia, but most, particularly Italy’s Meloni and Poland’s right, despise him and what he is doing in Ukraine.” Gideon Rachman, author of The Age of the Strongman about the rise of author- itarian leaders worldwide, observed, “These rising forces may simply be the new face of right-wing politics.” “Policies once regarded as on the
extreme right have moved into the mainstream,” he said.
Nigel Farage, 60 Leader of Reform UK party, member of Parliament
Led “Brexit” movement in the 2016 referendum in which Britons voted narrowly to leave the European Union. Current policies: • Stop illegal immigration • Tax employers who hire foreign workers • Cut waiting lists for doctors and hospital visits
• Exempt 6 million low-income workers from having to pay income tax
• Scrap sales tax on energy bills • Cut government spending by 5% • Impose fines on colleges that allow cancel culture
• Clamp down on “woke” ideology • Make school curriculums more patriotic He urged voters to send him to Parliament “so I can be a bloody nuisance.”
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