Far-right surge far from decisive in Europe

Between June 6 and 9, residents of the European Union (EU) went to the polls to elect a new European Parliament.

There were fears in advance of a breakthrough by the far-right, which was not surprising given the recent electoral successes of extreme nationalist, conservative and elitist parties, often with xenophobic tendencies and fascist roots or inspiration.

Six of the 27 EU countries – Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and the Czech Republic – have far-right parties in government. Sweden’s minority government relies on the support of the nationalist Sweden Democrats, the second-largest force in Parliament.

In the Netherlands, the Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) of Geert Wilders won 37 seats in the 150-seat Parliament after a campaign filled with xenophobia and anti-Islam sentiment.

His parliamentary group is much larger than those of the red/green alliance of European Commissioner Frans Timmermans and the liberals of former prime minister Mark Rutte, who won 24 and 25 seats respectively. At the time of the European elections, Wilders was busy forming the most right-wing government in his country’s recent history.

The Netherlands is a relatively small country but the surge of the extreme-right caused concern in the large countries of Europe as well. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, a party that traces its roots back to the fascist movement of Benito Mussolini, has been in power since October 2022.

In France, the Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen topped the pre-election polls, while the AfD, Alternative für Deutschland, the extreme-right force in Germany consistently scored better in opinion polls than any of the three governing parties.

This Europe-wide success of far-right parties was