Those bemoaning the "right-wing" surge in Europe should look in the mirror
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This is an expanded version of my column in today’s Times (£) of London.
The results of the European parliamentary elections have caused widespread shock and alarm in liberal circles. That’s because a variety of anti-immigration and “populist” parties have made record gains.
In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally won about 32 per cent of French votes, more than double the 15 per cent obtained by French president Emanuel Macron’s coalition.
In Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 16 per cent of German votes, coming second in the popular vote despite a string of scandals. In Italy, Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy also soared, winning about 28 per cent of the vote ahead of centre-left parties. In Spain, Belgium and Austria, populists also gained.
And the Greens took a hammering. The German Greens lost nine of their 21 seats in the European Parliament. The French Greens lost seven of their 12 seats; in Belgium, where there were national elections at the same time as the European ones, the Greens suffered significant losses in both the federal and regional parliaments.
Other results in the EU elections offered a more mixed picture. There were gains by some centrists and far-left parties, while in Hungary President Viktor Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz party suffered its worst setback for years at the hands of rival centrist-conservatives.
However, if the “populists” were to form a single group (which they won’t) this would be the second largest force in the European parliament.
The shock is because these are all said to be parties of the “right”, “far-right” or “hard-right”; choose your epithet. And as all right-thinking (ie left-wing or liberal) folk know, the “right” are always wrong. ...
