As we approach the end of 2022, Europe is moving markedly towards the far right as reflected in their electoral successes this year in Italy, France, Sweden and other European countries. They are now in the likely process of becoming the integral part of the mainstream political force in Europe in the very near future. This far right turn in European politics is also further facilitated by the adoption of far right frames and position by other political parties from the left to the right. There is also a widespread acceptance of far right parties as an integral part of the political landscape of Europe.
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the fascist Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) is a clear cut example of an emerging far right political leader in Europe. Meloni is the new Prime Minister of Italy, the third largest economy in the EU. In the election held in Italy in late September, one in four Italians who went the polls cast their vote for Meloni's party, a party that draws its origin from groups founded by former fascists. Yet, she has been quite successful in displaying her cosmopolitan veneer in a video message released in early August where she seamlessly moved from English to French then to Spanish.
It marks the first time since 1948, when Italy's anti-fascist constitution came into force, that a party with fascist roots has led the government in a major European country. Her party can be said to be the spiritual heir to Movimento Sociale Italiano (Italian Social Movement) created by supporters of Benito Mussolini after the World War II. Meloni's assumption of power surprisingly coincides with the centennial of Bento Mussolini's seizure of power on October, 30, 1922. She, meanwhile, is portraying herself as a pragmatic but conservative politician and declares fascism, from which she has never distanced herself, to be a historical issue. Now Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) in power, Mussolini's legacy has got deeply entrenched in the political establishment.
Meloni speaks about being a "woman, mother [and] Christian" with messianic purpose to defend "God, country and family". She endlessly proclaims she is a women, playing the identity politics card. She stresses on the virtue of motherhood, rather than female rights. She and her party maintain close ties to neo-Nazi organisation across Europe. She denounces the left and immigrants and trade union for causing Italy's problems.
She blames immigrants for freeloading off the welfare state. They are also blamed for violence and diluting the precious Italian blood. She even advocates the use of a naval blockade to stop illegal immigrants. In the spirit of upholding her family values she also appointed her brother in law Francesco Lollobrigida, a great grand nephew of the famous actress as the minister for agriculture and his wife Meloni's sister Arianna to a top position in the party. Her government also includes members from Matteo Salvini's far-right Lega (League) party and former premier Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing Forza Italia.
So far, a comparably far right government exists only in Hungary under Victor Orban whose Fidesz (Hungarian Civic Alliance), a far right populist (read fascist) party. Orban was the first to congratulate Meloni on her election victory. In France's Presidential election run-off held in April this year, the far right party National Rally's (formerly the National Front) candidate Marine Le Pen gained a record 13.3 million votes - over 42 per cent of the total. The result also marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has revealed a deeply divided nation. Le Pen was also very quick to congratulate Meloni on her election victory describing it as "historic". Le Pen then further added, "The Italian people have decided to take back its destiny, electing a patriotic and sovereigntist government".
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki congratulated Meloni and hailed the Italian far right's "great victory". Other Polish governing politicians highlighted the overlap between the two parties, including their emphasis on Catholic family values. Poland's governing Law and Justice (PiS) party and the Brothers of Italy (FdI) are both parts of a far right European coalition group.
On her assumption of power, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Twitted assuring Meloni to continue to work closely with Italy in the EU, NATO and G7. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had a "good first call" with Meloni, saying she looked forward to "constructive cooperation" despite delivering a veiled threat to far right parties ahead of the election. European Commission leaders also sent her messages of congratulations. The overall message from EU leaders is very clear as long as the new Italian government under the leadership of Giorgia Meloni sticks to the EU and the US consensus on Ukraine and do not espouse Euroscepticism.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States looked forward to working with Italy's new government but would encourage respect for human rights. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "Italy deserves and needs strong conservative leadership". Another former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cheered the prospect of a Meloni victory and said, " The election of the first woman prime minister in a country always represents a break with the past, that is certainly is a good thing". Clinton appears to be more interested in smashing the glass ceiling than the consequences of such a political victory which definitely are antithetical to her own professed political conviction.
French President Emmanuel Macron was the first European leader or more precisely the first foreign politician to meet Prime Minister Meloni in Rome. The meeting took place just hours after she assumed office. The two leaders met, away from the media, for more than an hour in central Rome, after which Mr. Macron vowed in a post on Twitter to work together "with dialogue and ambition". Macron was baptised as a Catholic at the age of 12, travelled to Rome on Sunday (October 23) for a Catholic meeting which was cited as the main reason for his visit to Rome and the Vatican. He also met Pope Francis on the following day. According to Italy's prime minister's office Macron and Meloni discussed current European issues including the need to provide quick and common answers to increased energy prices, support for Ukraine and the management of migrant flows.
The far right's electoral victory in Italy has ushered in new fears about a far right turn in Europe as well concerns that Italy will bring turmoil to Europe. In fact, such fears and concerns are increasing becoming quite common among left and liberal politicians as well as liberal media. The success of the Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots and a fierce anti-immigrant law and order agenda won second place in the recent election. This success of the Sweden Democrats clearly shows that no country is immune to far right populist parties. In fact, it is estimated that far right political parties are now polling between 10 to 25 per cent of votes in Western European countries.
Far right parties have also entered into governments in Austria, Finland and Estonia and many other countries are likely to follow the trend in the near future. There are multiple economic, social, cultural and political reasons for the current surge of the radical right in Europe. However, the crisis of democracy or what is also described as democratic malaise fuels the far right's drive to exploit the situation to their advantage.
Conventional political rivalry has lost its meaning; the left, the centre and the right seem to agree on their fundamentals including economic models which serve interests of high finance and large industrial corporations. In such an arrangement main political parties divide the spoils of power among themselves within an agreed institutional framework described as the consensus democracy model. That has given rise to popular disgust against the "system".
The far right, therefore, writes off the old political class en masse regardless of whether they belong the right or the left or the centre for their partisan cronyism and inability to solve economic and social problems. There is a heavy reliance on anti-system rhetoric condemning the ruling elite for perpetuating an unjust, even a corrupt system. Here the far right and/or the populists have made space for themselves to rally discontent and opposition to the deeply entrenched status quo.
The far right offers an alternative by offering an exclusive identity and singles out the wrong-doers i.e., the establishment and advocates simple and expeditious solutions such as overthrow the ruling elite and expel the foreigners with a strong emphasis on law and order. In the process, the protest and identity protesters thus become the real opponent to the "system". The far right's economic programme is a blend of 1980s neo-liberalism with Trumpian protectionism. The economic agenda also incorporates a drive against globalisation and welfare benefits for the "people". Their social and cultural agenda puts a strong emphasis on traditional family and social values.
The far right has moved from fringes of politics into the mainstream over the last two decades, not only influencing the political centre, even the left. But they are now in the process of capturing political power. They have been accepted by the electorate and also by conventional political parties. In fact, far right parties have become an integral part of the European political landscape. In many ways, Europe is now in the grip of a new era in which politics is largely defined by identity, not by economic or social issues.
On a broader scale, since the mid 1980s the West in general and Europe in particular have been undergoing societal changes marked by a rapid decline in the working class along with decay of the industrial society and increased emphasis on an open society which is used as a symbol of modernity resulted in the secularisation of population. Add to those factors rising immigrant population who have become very visible during this period.
Then there was the critical moment with 9/11, and the US led global anti-Islam campaign resulted in the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the destruction of Libya, Syria and Yemen causing continuous refugee influx largely into other Middle Eastern countries and also into Europe. All that further added to turning politics based purely on economic and social issues into politics based on identity in Europe.
Therefore, far right political parties agree on the diagnosis that an open society has harmful effects and ought to be reversed into the past to a more closed society. Overall, all far right parties in Europe share common characteristics - hostility to the establishment, authoritarian tendencies, disdain for multiculturalism and gender rights and obsession with national identity underpinned by racism.
Take for example, Joseph Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy while speaking at the inauguration at the European Diplomatic Academy in Bruges, Belgium last month said that Europeans live in a "garden" while most of the outside world is a "jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden. His racist rant would not have drawn much attention if it were not coming from the current topmost diplomat of the EU because such racist rants are quite common now among far right politicians in Europe.
Apart from brazen racism, Borrell seems to have forgotten about centuries of religious, civil and colonial wars in Europe including two world wars which also originated in Europe notwithstanding colonial wars in other parts of the world as well. His own country, Spain, was under a ruthless dictatorship for 36 years and fought a bloody civil war.
In early September Borrell described the Russian government as a fascist regime. He threatened Russia that its (Russian) army will be "annihilated" if Russia were to use nuclear weapons without thinking about what that "annihilation" would mean for his "garden". Borrel is considered to be a "socialist", implicitly suggesting he being on the left side of politics in Europe. His explicit racist rant clearly reveals increasing merging of the left and the right in Europe towards a common ground. It really does not matter much now whether Europe is led by the left, the centre or the right or even the far right.
Europe is a geopolitical space that since the 16th century has lived off the resources of countries in the Global South directly or indirectly through unequal exchange. But with the emergence of the US as the dominant economic power in the early 20th century, Europe has been relegated to the secondary position as a backup force for the US, especially since the end of the WW II as reflected in their power relationships in the global arena. Therefore, Europe's ability to extract wealth from the Global South on unequal terms has diminished if not totally disappeared and that has added a very important new dimension not only to the feeling of crisis but actually experiencing it.
Europe in general and the EU in particular is in deep crisis. The EU has been experiencing near economic stagnation. Some EU countries are experiencing this far more than the others. Countries in decline can become very dangerous and unpredictable and try to reverse the process by resorting to some adventurous means. The rising far right trend in Europe's politics is one such adventurous anti-declinist drive. This drive for rejuvenation based on the far right prescription may turn out to be far more riskier than the far right has ever imagined.
