The past few months have seen an alarming rise in support for far right political parties across Europe.
Indeed, the recent Austrian election – in which Norbert Hofer of the so called Freedom Party of Austria was beaten by a margin of less than 1% by the former Green Party member and independent candidate, Alexander Van der Bellen – has now been overturned. It’s quite possible the new election could see Hofer win, and such a result would be indicative of a rise in the kind of old-fashioned nationalism which fuelled the two world wars of the 20th Century. Add to this mix a toxic combination of Euroscepticism, anti-immigration sentiment and populist rabble-rousing, and its not altogether surprising the Leave campaign won the recent Brexit poll.
The disease has spread across much of Europe and beyond, from the rise of the National Front in France, through the stranglehold exercised by Viktor Orban’s ‘illiberal’ Fidesz party in Hungary to the increasing belligerence of Putin’s reactionary rule in Russia. To a considerable extent, and probably largely because of the influence of Sinn Féin, Ireland has so far steered well clear of any significant right-wing populism. But we need to keep a weather eye on what is going on out there all the same. Because, there is no knowing right now, just how stultifying and dangerous the rise of the European far right might become. And then, of course, there’s Donald Trump.
Ireland:
Party name: Identity Ireland
Founded: July 2015
Leader: Peter O’ Loughlin
Seats in national parliament: 0
Policies:
• Wants to reintroduce the Irish pound
• Supports Irish neutrality
• Favours a strict immigration policy
• Wants tougher screening of refugees
Identity Ireland is the only far right group here which has attempted to achieve their aims through democratic political means. While they are not an officially registered political party, the group’s co-founder, Peter O’ Loughlin, has sought election to the Dáil in the past. He obtained 1.3% of the vote in the 2015 by-election in Carlow-Kilkenny, and in this year’s general election, he won 183 votes in Cork North Central. Identity Ireland is known to have strong links to the PEGIDA Ireland movement; indeed O’ Loughlin gave a speech at a PEGIDA rally in Dresden, Germany last year. PEGIDA stands for Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes which translates as, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West. Lovely.
United Kingdom:
Party name: United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP)
Founded: September 1991, renamed UKIP in 1993
Leader: Nigel Farage MEP
Seats in national parliament: 1
Policies, as of 2015 UK general election:
• Leave the EU
• End immigration for unskilled jobs for five years
• Enforce minimum wage and protect workers right
• Opposes same sex marriage and other LGBT issues
UKIP was formed in 1991 as the Anti–Federalist League, who were opposed to the Maastricht Treaty and the UK’s inclusion in the European Union. The name was changed in 1993 in order to avoid confusion with the British National Party. UKIP has steadily grown in prominence since 2000, and in 2013 they fielded 1,732 candidates in local elections, their highest ever total, eventually winning 147 seats. During the 2015 UK General Election party leader Nigel Farage sought election as an MP for the South Thanet constituency. He was unsuccessful in this but he remains an MEP for the South East of England and the leader of UKIP. Douglas Carswell is the party’s only MP in the House of Commons in Westminster. Farage was one of the most prominent voices for the Leave vote in the recent Brexit referendum, and despite his recent resignation, the party looks set to grow in strength.
France:
Party name: Front National (translated: National Front)
Founded: October 1972
Leader: Marine Le Pen
Seats in national parliament: 2
Policies:
• Zero tolerance law and order
• Highly opposed to immigration of Muslims
• Favours a protectionist economic policy
• Wants France to leave the EU
Founded with the aim of protecting traditional ideologies, Front National is deeply nationalist and eurosceptic. Their current leader is Marine Le Pen, the daughter of the party’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen. She replaced her father in 2011 after he made controversial comments about the Nazi’s use of gas chambers during World War II. The party has grown steadily in influence over the past decade and won 24 of the 74 seats allocated to France in the 2014 European Parliamentary elections. In the 2015 regional elections, they won 6 of the 13 newly drawn up regions. Since taking control of the party, Marine Le Pen has attempted to “de-demonise” it by softening its stance on certain issues, and expelling controversial party members – including her father. Recently she announced that she will run as a candidate in the 2017 French Presidential election. The party currently has 2 representatives in the French National Assembly, Marine Le Pen’s lawyer, Gilbert Collard, and her niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen. While Gilbert is not actually a member of the party, he does represent them in France’s lower house of parliament.
Germany:
Party name: Alternative for Germany (Alternative Für Deutschland)
Founded: February 2013
Leaders: Frauke Petry, Jörg Meuthen
Seats in national parliament: 0
Policies:
• Opposes immigration
• Seeks to reintroduce male conscription into the German army
• Supports Germany’s membership of the EU but resistant to further integration
• Advocates for direct democracy model
Alternative for Germany is one of the newest far right political parties on the continent, but it has gathered considerable support in a very short time. Initially founded to oppose the bank bailouts in Greece, which were mostly funded with German money, they narrowly missed out on election to the Bundestag in 2013. The party has contined to put pressure on Angela Merkel for her immigration policies, and as her support has dropped, AfD’s has risen, with the party winning representation in eight State parliaments in this year’s State elections. Currently enjoying a 13% approval rating, they are now considered one of the biggest political parties in Germany. At their party congress in Stuttgart last month, AfD officially adopted an anti-Islam policy. The slogan “Islam Does Not Belong in Germany” was revealed as the party’s manifesto, and they reiterated their opposition to Merkel’s relatively benign policy on immigration. AfD are also seeking to ban all Muslim imagery – including preventing women from wearing burkas and banning the call to prayer. While the party hold no seats in the Bundestag at present, their power lies at more regional and local levels where it is easier to appeal directly to the public. They look set to gain further support in the future.
Poland:
Party name: Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwoc/PiS)
Founded: June 2001
Leader: Jarosaw Aleksander Kaczyski
Seats in national government: 234 in the Sjem, the lower house of Polish parliament and 64 in the Senate
Policies:
• Supports a verification system to combat the influence of Communist-era security measures in Polish society
• Opposes homosexuality, same sex marriage and abortion; advocates a ‘pro-family’ set of social policies
• Supports integration in the EU but only in areas such as military and economy.
• Seeks tougher immigration laws
Poland is the only country in the EU with a far right dominated government, a result of the 2015 elections, where PiS succeeded in gaining 235 out of 460 seats in the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament. They also gained a majority in the Polish Senate, the parliament’s upper house, where they secured 62 out of 100 seats. These results gave PiS a parliamentary majority, making them the biggest party in the country. This was the first time a far-right party had gained a majority since Poland became democractic in 1989. The party has 17 MEPs, and, since gaining power, it has tried to make it increasingly difficult for opposition parties. In December last year President Andrez Duja passed a new law requiring that all future rulings by the Constitutional Tribunal required a two thirds majority to be passed. This scrapped the previous, simpler major majority policy and as such, makes it more difficult for the Tribunal to review any new legislation brought forth by the government. Duja is now a far right independent and in 2015 rejected the EU’s proposal of compulsory migrant quotas. He said, “I won’t back a Europe where the economic advantage of the size of the population will be a reason to force solutions on other countries regardless of their national interests.”
Austria:
Party name: Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Ossterichs/ FPO)
Founded: April 1956
Leader: Heinz-Christian Strache
Seats in national parliament: 38
Policies:
• Focuses on ‘protecting traditional Austrian identity’
• Supports reductions in taxes on personal income.
• Views immigration as ‘threat’ to the welfare state
• Opposes elitism within Austrian society Eurosceptic
With the announcement that the recent Presidential election (between leftist former Green Party member Alexander Van der Bellen and FPO leader Norbert Hofer) is to be re-run, Austria could become the first EU country to have an extreme right wing head of state. One of the longest established far right parties in Europe, the Freedom Party of Austria has come to prominence in the past few decades. Founded in 1956, to represent groups opposed to socialism and Catholic clericalism, the first leader of the party was Anton Reinthaller, a former SS officer and Nazi Minister for Agriculture. In 1967, the most extreme wing of the party left, as the party attempted to distance itself from its Nazi past. From the mid to late ‘80s, the party softened its image, which allowed them to join the government as a minority party, under Jorg Haider’s chairmanship. The party moved rightwards from the ‘90s onwards and set its stall out as the anti-immigration party. The FPO’s candidate for the 2016 Presidential election, Norbert Hofer, took an aggressive anti-immigration and anti-Islamic stance on the campaign trail, proclaiming that “Islam has no place in Austria.” He says, if elected, he will dissolve any future government that doesn’t act against immigration. The tightness of the presidential race (Hofer lost by less than one percentage point) ensures the second go round will be equally divisive.
Greece:
Party name: Popular Association – Golden Dawn
Founded: January 1980
Leader: Nikolaos Michaloliakos
Seats in national government: 18
Policies:
• Supports fascism, ultranationalism and Greek nationalism
• Opposes Greece’s involvement in the Eurozone and the EU
• Favours enosis, the union of Greece and Cyprus, and supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
• Opposes Muslim immigration
Regarded as one of Europe’s most violent far right parties, they have risen to prominence in Greece in recent years, following the country’s economic collapse. Founded by Nikolaos Michaloliakos as a fringe movement in 1980, they were only officially registered as a political party in 1993. Although the group rejects claims it is neo-Nazi or fascist, its members have praised Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxis and Hitler’s former deputy in the Naxi party, Rudolf Hess, in the past. Other members have been shown using the ‘Roman Salute’ used by the Nazis, and the party’s emblem bears an uncanny resemblance to a swastika. Golden Dawn became the third largest party in the country after the 2015 election, amassing 500,000 votes, or 7% of the total. It did particularly well in Athens and the Aegean islands of Lesbos and Kos, which have borne the brunt of the refugee crisis. In April 2015 party leader Michaloliakos and 68 other members were arrested and put on trial, accused of running a criminal organisation masquerading as a political organisation. They stand accused of crimes including armed attacks, money laundering and murder. The party has been connected to the murder of anti-fascism rapper, Pavlos Fyssas. They deny any involvement. However, a subsequent police investigation found the man arrested for the murder had been in touch with their Headquarters in Athens in the days leading up to and of the murder. The trial of the 69 members has been delayed numerous times, most recently due a lawyers’ strike in the country.
Spain:
Party name: Platform For Catalonia (Plataforma per Catalunya/ PxC)
Founded: April 2002
Leader: Xavier Simo
Seats in national government: 0
Policies:
• Opposes immigration
• Opposes Islam
• Eurosceptic
• Supports anti-LGBT policies
Platform for Catalonia (PxC) is a small far right political party based in the Catalan region of north-eastern Spain. While the party is small, it has capitalised on the recent uncertainty in the country. Spain has faced two national elections in six months, which illustrate the country’s deep divisions, which are exacerbated by a floundering economy. The main political parties were unable to form a coalition government following the 2015 elections, while the results of the recent second election saw the conservative Popular Party increase its number of seats and their leader, Mariano Rajoy, take over as Spain’s interim Prime Minister.
PxC made small gains in the second election, winning 8 of the 9,000 available locally elected seats, an improvement on 2010, when it failed to secure the minimum number of votes needed to obtain a position in Catalonian government. The party has long had questionable ties, and in 2013, a ceremony was held in the Catalonian town of Olot to commemorate the Spaniards who fought with the Nazi army during the Second World War. The leader of the party’s youth movement, Joan Garriga, and the city’s councillor, Nacho Mulleras were present and a diploma was awarded to the ‘Brotherhood of Combatants in the Blue Division’. The Blue Division were a volunteer group of 250 Spanish soldiers who fought against Russia on the Eastern Front.
Sweden:
Party name: Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna/SD)
Founded: February 1988
Leader: Jimme Akesson
Seats in national government: 49
Policies:
• Centred on social conservatism and Swedish nationalism
• Opposes current Swedish immigration and integration policies
• Wants a public register for convicted pedophiles and to introduce life without parole for worst criminals
• Supports ending funding for multicultural projects and wants to protect traditional Swedish values’
The 2015 election saw the Democrats – who describe themselves as a “conservative party with a nationalistic outlook” – double its share of support to 12.9% of the vote, cementing its position as the country’s third largest party. This rise has not gone unnoticed, and the government proposed a series of measures to decrease the number of refugees arriving, in order to stymie the far right’s increase in popularity. Breaking the country’s decades-long political duopoly, SD have been accused of being both fascist and racist, and some media outlets have banned the party from advertising with them. The party complained to the Swedish Broadcasting Commission after a radio journalist described it as xenophobic. The commission subsequently determined that this description was acceptable, based on the party’s immigration policies between 2005 and 2011. The controversy hasn’t stopped the SD’s rise, with an August 2015 YouGov poll showing it to be the most popular party in the country with 25.2% favourability. At present SD holds 49 of the 359 seats in the Swedish national legislature, the Riksdag.