Tag: Europe

Developing cooperation in BRICS

Political expert Marco Carnelos wrote in January that year 2022 will probably be seen as “a watershed, when the world began its tectonic shift from a post-Cold War unipolar order to a still undefined and uncertain multipolar one.” The conflict in Ukraine has led to a situation where “Global West and Global Rest” are “on two different tracks regarding the conflict and other global issues” and the “Western-centric perceptions of world events have been utterly dismissed for the first time.” Carnelos referred to a foreign minister from one of the BRICS countries who said that “the problems of Europe and the US are no longer the problems of the whole world.” Carnelos also pointed out that BRICS – economic bloc consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – has become increasingly popular. Many traditional allies or partners of the USA, for example Saudi Arabia and Turkey, are keen to join BRICS. (1) BRICS will decide this year whether it will admit new members to the bloc (2).

The current BRICS countries have also been talking about their developing cooperation. A little while ago, a delegation from the South Africa’s ruling party ANC visited United Russia Party in order to discuss “recalibration of the global order” (3). Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in January that BRICS countries will discuss creating a common currency at the group’s summit in South Africa in August (4). During his recent visit to China, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized the dominance of US dollar in world trade and suggested that developing nations should use alternative currency (5). Brazil and China agreed to boost their economic and other cooperation. The relations between Brazil and China were strained when Brazilian far-right president Bolsonaro was in power (6). Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is also visiting Brazil – this and President Lula da Silva’s visit to China are part of diplomatic reset and Lula’s determination to recover Brazil’s international reputation after Bolsonaro’s disastrous presidential term. Lula also wants to take actively part in international politics and he would like Brazil to be involved in peace brokering in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. (7)

References:

1) “US-China: How 2022 saw the old world order start to crumble” Middle East Eye 19.1.2023

https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/us-china-old-world-order-crumble-how

2) “BRICS discussing decision on Saudi Arabia, Iran memberships this year” Middle East Monitor 16.2.2023

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230216-brics-discussing-decision-on-saudi-arabia-iran-memberships-this-year/

3) “S.Africa party officials in Russia for talks on new ‘global order'” A News 2.4.2023

https://www.anews.com.tr/world/2023/04/02/safrica-party-officials-in-russia-for-talks-on-new-global-order

4) “Russian FM says BRICS group to consider common currency” Anadolu Agency 25.1.2023

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/russian-fm-says-brics-group-to-consider-common-currency/2797085#

5) “Lula Advocates From China For De-dollarization In World Trade” TeleSUR 13.4.2023

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Lula-Advocates-From-China-For-De-dollarization-In-World-Trade-20230413-0020.html

6) “Lula and Xi pledge to boost ties in Beijing meeting” Al Jazeera 14.4.2023

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/14/lula-and-xi-pledge-to-boost-ties-in-beijing-meeting

7) “Lavrov’s Brazil visit highlights Lula’s neutral foreign policy despite US dismay” The Guardian 17.4.2023

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/17/brazil-lula-neutral-foreign-policy-lavrov-visit

Notes on far-right parties and politics in Europe

Last week, Finland became the latest country to join NATO. However, Finland also became the latest country in Europe where far-right party surged in elections. Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) nearly won the elections and received 20% of the votes. Support of far-right and right-wing populist parties has remained strong in Europe and far-right parties have become part of mainstream politics, so it is possible that Finns Party will be part of the new Finnish government – the former version of the Finns Party was part of Finnish coalition government during years 2015-2017. (1, 2, 3).

Here is a list of support of some far-right parties in European countries. Most of the parties in the list are considered to be far-right parties, for example Belgian party Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) or Spanish party Vox. Some parties are considered to be hardline right-wing populist and/or nationalist parties bordering on far-right, for example Polish party Law and Justice and Hungarian party Fidesz – these two ruling parties have caused conflict with the European Union because of their breaches of the rule of law in their countries and they have also been trying to unite the hardline nationalist and far-right parties in Europe (7).

Austria Freedom Party of Austria FPÖ 28%
Belgium Flemish Interest / Vlaams Belang 24%
Bulgaria Revival 14%
Croatia Homeland Movement DPMŠ 9%
Cyprus National Popular Front ELAM 7%
Czech Republic Freedom and Direct Democracy SPD 9%
Denmark Denmark Democrats DD 9% Danish People’s Party DF 4%
Estonia Conservative People’s Party of Estonia EKRE 17%
Finland Finns Party PS 20%
France* National Rally RN 20% Reconquest REC 5%
Germany Alternative for Germany AfD 15%
Greece* National Party – Greeks EKE 3.9%
Hungary Fidesz 50% Our Home Movement MH 10%
Italy Brothers of Italy Fdl 29% Lega 9%
Netherlands Party for Freedom PVV 9 % Forum for Democracy FvD 5%
Poland Law and Justice/United Right ZP 36% Confederation Freedom and Independence 9% Kukiz’15 2%
Portugal Enough / Chega 13%
Romania Alliance for the Unity of Romanians AUR 18%
Slovakia Republic REP 9% People’s Party – Our Slovakia L´SNS 2%
Slovenia Slovenian National Party SNS 2%
Spain Vox 15%
Sweden Sweden Democrats SD 18%

(Polling information was taken from Politico’s Poll of Polls or PolitPro* website, some information about the political parties is also from Europe Elects website, 4, 5, 6)

The situation in Europe, and in the West in general, is similar to the 1930’s. The far right has been getting stronger. Last December, after the arrests of the members of the Reichsbürger movement in Germany, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the “biggest threat of terrorism” is posed by far-right and white supremacist groups in the West (8). However, there seem to be two far-right trends that are sometimes intertwined. First of all, support for the older ethno-nationalist, racist and antisemitic far right seems to have increased. Some far-right parties, for example German party Alternative for Germany (AfD), have veered further to the right (9). There are also new openly fascist parties with connections to neo-Nazis, for example Blue-and-Black Movement (Sinimusta Liike) in Finland and National Party – Greeks (EKE) in Greece (10, 11).

The second trend is the Jewish and pro-Israel far right. This trend seems to be particularly strong within the American-Israeli alliance. I will write more about the developments in the American-Israeli alliance separately, but USA and Israel have also been operating actively with the far right in Europe. Professor Cas Mudde wrote in 2021 that there are “at least four major strands of far-right international networks” in which the American conservative movement, including the Republican Party, participates. The first far-right strand is the global Christian right. The second strand is the “national conservativism” movement that was developed by Israeli think-tanker Yoram Hazony. The third strand is the long-standing connection between some Republicans and European far-right parties – this connection is built on “a shared ideological core of nativism, authoritarianism and populism.” The fourth strand is the conservative far-right network in the Spanish-speaking world that has been built by Spanish far-right party Vox. (12) Some American far-right projects in Europe haven’t gone according to plan. Steve Bannon, ex-adviser of former president Trump, tried to bring the European far-right parties to his anti-EU organization The Movement, but he failed. Bannon also failed to establish “academy for the Judeo-Christian West” that was supposed to train right-wing “gladiators” in Italy. (13, 14)

Jewish far right found common ground with the wider Western far right when the Islamophobic counterjihad movement became stronger over 20 years ago. Many key persons in the counterjihad movement have been Jewish, for example American far-right writers Pamela Geller and David Horowitz as well as neoconservative Daniel Pipes and Austrian-Israeli Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld. Egyptian-born Jewish writer Gisèle Littman alias Bat Ye’or started to use the term “Eurabia” and created Islamophobic conspiracy theory that inspired numerous members of the counterjihad movement and other far right, including Anders Breivik who killed over 70 people in Norway in 2011. Some prominent members of the counterjihad movement have also been ardent friends of Israel, for example American far-right blogger Kenneth Sikorski who wrote his blog Tundra Tabloids in Finland and Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders whose Party for Freedom PVV has had quite strong support in the Netherlands. (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)

Some Jewish politicians have joined European far-right parties. When The Times of Israel interviewed some of them in 2017, two of their unifying traits were their anti-Muslim attitude and support for Israel. French far-right party National Rally has attracted some politicians who have Jewish roots, for example Louis Aliot and David Rachline, who are currently vice presidents of the party, and Michel Tooris who was interviewed by The Times of Israel. (20, 21) In December 2021, French Jewish far-right media personality and presidential candidate Eric Zemmour decided to establish his own far-right party Reconquest. Reuters reported that the name of the party “evokes the historic period known as the Reconquista, when Christian forces drove Muslim rulers from the Iberian peninsula.” (22) Incidentally, Santiago Abascal, leader of the Spanish far-right party Vox, has used the term “Reconquista” in his political campaigns (23). During the French presidential elections last year, 53% of the voters based in Israel, who were eligible to vote in those elections and voted, voted for Zemmour (24, 25). André Ventura, who is dubbed the “Zemmour” of the Portuguese politics, is the leader of the new far-right party Chega that has gained popularity quite quickly. Ventura announced a little while ago that Chega will organize “far-right world summit” in Portugal next month. (26, 27, 28)

Israel and particularly Benjamin Netanyahu and his party Likud have been developing cooperation with European far-right parties a long time. Likud has invited several European far-right leaders to Israel. One reason for this has been their common opposition of Islamism. Israel has also looked for allies against any criticism against Israel in the European Union. Last month, Israeli foreign minister Cohen asked his Italian counterpart “to work to prevent European involvement in Israel’s domestic matters and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” after the foreign policy chief of the European Union had criticized Israel’s actions. (29, 30) New Israeli far-right coalition government has also sought advice from the Polish government regarding their judicial overhaul (31). Italian far-right government and Israel agreed to deepen their strategic and other cooperation, last month (32). There have also been strong supporters of Israel in the Spanish far-right party Vox. The strategist of Vox, Rafael Bardají, who has also been called “Darth Vader” of the party, has been one of the leading neoconservatives in Spain and long-time supporter of Israel. Last November, Bardají criticized President Biden and American “wokeism” and he believed that Netanyahu would be better and stronger Western leader. (33, 34, 35, 36)

References:

1) “Finland’s centre-right party claims win amid tight election” Euronews 3.4.2023

https://www.euronews.com/2023/04/02/finlands-national-coalition-party-set-to-win-election-public-broadcaster-says

2) “What the recent wins for far-right parties in Europe could mean for the region” NPR 1.10.2022

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/01/1126419403/what-the-recent-wins-for-far-right-parties-in-europe-could-mean-for-the-region

3) The first Finns Party in the Finnish coalition government 2015-2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sipilä_Cabinet

4) Politico’s Poll of Polls: https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/

5) PolitPro: https://politpro.eu/en

6) Europe Elects: https://europeelects.eu/european-union/

7) “The game is not over: Fidesz, Law and Justice, and far-right cooperation in the EU” European Council on Foreign Relations 27.5.2022

https://ecfr.eu/article/the-game-is-not-over-fidesz-law-and-justice-and-far-right-cooperation-in-the-eu/

8) “UN chief says ‘biggest terror threat’ is white supremacy in West” Middle East Eye 20.12.2022

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-chief-says-white-supremacy-west-biggest-terror-threat


9) “Far-right AfD chief Jörg Meuthen quits party” EURACTIV 28.1.2022

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/far-right-afd-chief-jorg-meuthen-quits-party-amid-ideological-differences/

10) “Openly fascist and racist party has set its sights on parliamentary elections” Helsinki Times 15.12.2022

https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/22679-openly-fascist-and-racist-party-has-set-its-sights-on-parliamentary-elections.html

11) “Greek neo-Nazis seek ‘loopholes’ to run in elections” EURACTIV 6.4.2023

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/greek-neo-nazis-seek-loopholes-to-run-in-elections/

12) “Surprised to see US Republicans cozying up to the European far right? Don’t be” The Guardian 15.10.2021

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/15/us-republicans-european-far-right

13) “Steve Bannon’s effort to export his fiery popularism to Europe is failing” Reuters 2.9.2020

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-bannon-europe-idUSKBN25T1NZ

14) “Steve Bannon’s right-wing ‘gladiator school’ booted from Italian monastery” Business Insider 8.9.2021

https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-right-wing-gladiator-school-booted-from-italian-monastery-2021-9?r=US&IR=T

15) Counterjihad in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-jihad

16) Counterjihad in Powerbase: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Counterjihad_movement

17) “The myth of Eurabia: how a far-right conspiracy theory went mainstream” The Guardian 16.8.2019

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/16/the-myth-of-eurabia-how-a-far-right-conspiracy-theory-went-mainstream

18) “Controversy at London seminar on antisemitism” Islamophobia Watch 6.12.2012

https://www.islamophobiawatch.co.uk/controversy-at-london-seminar-on-antisemitism/

19) “Europe’s Most Provocative Far-right Politician Is Looking to Israel for Answers” Haaretz 11.12.2020

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2020-12-11/ty-article/.premium/europes-most-provocative-far-right-politician-is-looking-to-israel-for-answers/0000017f-db13-df0f-a17f-df536e920000

20) “Why these 5 European Jews are promoting far-right parties” The Times of Israel 31.3.2017

https://www.timesofisrael.com/why-these-5-european-jews-are-promoting-far-right-parties/

21) National Rally in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rally

22) “Far-right French presidential hopeful promises ‘reconquest’ at rally” Reuters 6.12.2021

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/far-right-french-presidential-hopeful-promises-reconquest-rally-2021-12-05/

23) “El “patinazo” histórico de Vox: Abascal presume de liderar la Reconquista con un casco de otra época” El Español 7.3.2019

https://www.elespanol.com/cultura/20190307/patinazo-historico-vox-abascal-presume-liderar-reconquista/381462690_0.html

24) “L’abstention et Eric Zemmour, gagnants du premier tour parmi les Français d’Israël” The Times of Israel 13.4.2022

https://fr.timesofisrael.com/labstention-et-eric-zemmour-gagnants-du-premier-tour-parmi-les-francais-disrael/

25) “Over half of French voters in Israel pick far-right Zemmour for president” The New Arab 12.4.2022

https://www.newarab.com/news/over-half-french-voters-israel-pick-far-right-zemmour

26) “Portugal’s abrasive far-right leader tipped for surprise poll gain” Yahoo! News 28.1.2022

https://www.yahoo.com/now/portugals-abrasive-far-leader-tipped-070605617.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmZpLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADh7CZBWwvRE7hsvEEmfv_bLreCvId8ncuTI9vk1MxjcOsI9sFqAv5rf29LF1bvWc6QcX30R8kYmE6tR5syZ5qcRMPLdzDMnf-Mt12AB8b8mt8djdwW3S0ujNmw6tRkFWi33z49EtkBZV1cVp7Fn8kxim7v_x2hGPieHyCxPuQWN

27) “Portugal : les raisons de la percée d’André Ventura, le Zemmour portugais” L’Express 1.2.2022

https://www.lexpress.fr/monde/europe/portugal-les-raisons-de-la-percee-d-andre-ventura-le-zemmour-portugais_2167203.html

28) “Portugal party Chega sets far-right world summit with Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Italy’s Salvini” Yahoo! News 7.4.2023

https://sports.yahoo.com/portugal-party-chega-sets-far-194017141.html

29) “Netanyahu’s flirtation with the far right” Le Monde Diplomatique 12.10.2018

https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/netanyahu-s-flirtation-with-the-far-right

30) “FM Cohen accuses EU foreign policy chief of equating Israeli terror victims with terrorists” The Times of Israel 14.3.2023

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/fm-cohen-accuses-eu-foreign-policy-chief-of-equating-israeli-terror-victims-with-terrorists/

31) “Polish deputy FM: Israel consulted with us on overhauling judiciary” The Times of Israel 27.3.2023

https://www.timesofisrael.com/polish-deputy-fm-israel-consulted-with-us-on-overhauling-judiciary/

32) “Foreign policy and defence: Italy and Israel deepen strategic ties” Decode 39 13.3.2023

https://decode39.com/6126/foreign-policy-defence-italy-israel-strategic-ties/

33) “Bannon sets his eyes on Spain” European Council on Foreign Relations 24.10.2018

https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_bannon_sets_his_eyes_on_spain/

34) Information about Rafael Bardají: https://octavianreport.com/contributor/rafael-bardaji/

35) “El ‘Darth Vader’ de Vox se queda sin sitio en el nuevo equipo de Abascal” El Plural 23.2.2020

https://www.elplural.com/politica/espana/darth-vader-vox-queda-sitio-equipo-abascal_233825102

36) “Israel: The Last Option for the West” Middle East Forum 3.11.2022

https://www.meforum.org/63771/israel-the-last-option-for-the-west

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warns of rising intolerance during visit to Auschwitz

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of the rising intolerance during her visit to former Auschwitz concentration camp.

Read the full story on Politico:

https://www.politico.eu/article/merkel-warns-of-rising-intolerance-historical-revisionism-on-auschwitz-visit/

Spanish far-right party Vox and the changing right-wing politics in Spain

Spanish Social Democratic Party PSOE was the clear winner of Sunday’s general election in Spain. PSOE won 28.7 % of the votes and 123 parliamentary seats, an increase of 38 seats. However, the left-wing coalition Unidas Podemos won 14.3 % of the votes and 42 seats, a loss of 29 seats. (1, 2)

A more significant upheaval seems to be taking place amid Spanish right-wing parties. The conservative party Partido Popular PP suffered historic defeat by losing over half of its seats (loss of 71 seats) and by winning 16.7 % of the votes. Ciudadanos won 15.9 % of the votes and 57 seats, an increase of 25 seats. (1) There have been indications that Ciudadanos is becoming more right-wing and the success of the party in this election will make it challenger of the PP. (2, 3, 4, 5)

The biggest shock was the success of far-right party Vox. The party won 24 seats and 10.3 % of the votes and it became the first far-right party to enter the Spanish parliament after decades (6). Vox has become known for its strong, aggressive rhetoric and its stance against multiculturalism, mass immigration, Muslims and women’s rights. Vox has drawn inspiration from French, British and American hard-line right-win populists. Members of the party have shown their admiration for President Trump and his policies and they like to use slogans that are similar to the ones used by Trump. (7)

Vox has quite interesting connections to neoconservatives and other right-wing politicians in the U.S. camp. Leading Spanish neoconservative and former Prime Minister of Spain, José María Aznar, is seen as influencer or “tsar” of the three Spanish right-wing parties Vox, PP and Ciudadanos (8). Aznar has spoken favorably about Santiago Abascal, current leader of Vox and former member of PP. Aznar said in October that Abascal is a “boy full of good qualities.” (9) Rafael Bardají, another leading Spanish neoconservative and former advisor of Aznar, is now strategist of Vox. Bardají is well-known for his strong support for Israel and for his anti-Muslim stance. Bardají is founder and former director of Madrid-based right-wing think-tank Strategic Studies Group GEES and he is also Executive Director of the Friends of Israel Initiative. (10, 11) Steve Bannon, former advisor of President Trump, endorsed Vox after meeting Bardají, last year. Bannon has wanted Vox to be part of his European far-right alliance The Movement. (7, 10)

Even though Vox is now known for its Islamophobia, the party has actually received funding from Iranian dissident groups. When Vox was founded as a splinter group of PP in 2013, one of the founders of Vox, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, arranged funding for the new party from exiled Iranian group National Council of Resistance of Iran NCRI. According to a spokesperson for the NCRI, the organization gave funding without knowing that Vox would become a far-right party. The NCRI is now considered to be a “front organization” of Iranian terrorist cult Mojahedin-e-Khalq MEK. Several American politicians have shown their support for MEK. President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and National Security Advisor John Bolton consider MEK to be a legitimate opposition to the current Iranian government. (12)

References:

1) “Analysis: How did Sunday’s elections change Spain’s political landscape?” El País 29.4.2019

https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/04/29/inenglish/1556519911_184823.html

2) Elecciones generales 2019 – Resultados El País 29.4.2019

https://resultados.elpais.com/elecciones/generales.html

3) “Everyone against Ciudadanos” El País 30.11.2017

https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/11/30/inenglish/1512056948_465189.html

4) “Spain’s Albert Rivera shifts party rightward ahead of vote” Financial Times 24.3.2019

https://www.ft.com/content/1774e27e-4a29-11e9-8b7f-d49067e0f50d

5) “Ciudadanos disputa al PP el liderazgo de la derecha” El País 29.4.2019

https://elpais.com/politica/2019/04/28/actualidad/1556462369_564500.html

6) “Spanish election: socialists win amid far-right gains for Vox party” The Guardian 29.4.2019

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/28/spain-election-socialists-to-win-most-seats-far-right-vox-resurgent

7) “Vox: Who are the Trump-inspired far-right Spanish nationalist party and what do they stand for?” The Independent 11.1.2019

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vox-andalusia-santiago-abascal-spain-steve-bannon-donald-trump-a8723121.html

8) “A Darkening Horizon” Jacobin 17.12.2018


https://jacobinmag.com/2018/12/spain-municipal-elections-vox-far-right

9) “Abascal, busting Spain’s ‘traitors’ to resurrect far-right” Yahoo Finance 29.4.2019


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/abascal-busting-spains-traitors-resurrect-far-222819746.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmZpLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMYJjsTJ3i2PaUP1Jh6mZOPRvgFACNlkpkcZ7dxqzSUZRF06chuy9BAHJ4_xb3eDp1qKBpLjTaOopzV4wuuJ0Vt8_CnFTYgweE4PSF3_H3VDr5bXtugKcJQRzoYr4iUT946T3rjKgPXVifIPB_eW73VoWyPAfOc9RigUY6L_BD40

10) “Bannon sets his eyes on Spain” European Council on Foreign Relations ECFR 24.10.2018

https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_bannon_sets_his_eyes_on_spain

11) Contributors – Rafael Bardají Octavian Report

https://octavianreport.com/contributor/rafael-bardaji/

12) “Spain’s Vox Party Hates Muslims – Except the Ones Who Fund It” Foreign Policy 27.4.2019

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/27/spains-vox-party-hates-muslims-except-the-ones-who-fund-it-mek-ncri-maryam-rajavi-pmoi-vidal-quadras-abascal/

From friend to foe – new American approach to Europe

Perhaps one of the most surprising changes during the Trump presidency has been the change in the attitude towards Europe and particularly the European Union. When asked to identify his biggest competitor or foe during an interview in July 2018, President Trump said:

“Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe.” (1)

USA and particularly Republicans have increased their cooperation with European far-right and right-wing populist leaders. The former leader of British far-right party UKIP, “Mr. Brexit” Nigel Farage has had close ties particularly to President Trump and Steve Bannon (2). Farage is still campaigning for Brexit and according to him President Trump is a “believer in Brexit” (3, 4). In last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC, organized by American Conservative Union ACU, one of the guest speakers was Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, who describes herself to be “the political heir” of her grandfather Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the French far-right party National Front (5).

President Trump has appointed ambassadors who have caused controversy. The US ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra has worked closely with some American anti-Muslim organizations and he has made several unsubstantiated anti-Muslim claims (6). The US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell caused controversy already before his appointment because of his insulting and derogatory remarks about women. After becoming the ambassador Grenell gave an interview to far-right news outlet Breitbart and said that he wanted to “empower” anti-establishment right-wing forces throughout Europe (7, 8). Steve Bannon has been trying to start a “Trump-style populist insurgency” with his Brussels-based group The Movement. However, many European far-right parties or politicians haven’t been very keen to join his operation (9).

Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has joined Bannon’s group (9, 10). Salvini has also wanted to create “Italian-Polish axis” that could help to spark right-wing populist “European Spring” and replace the center-right “French-German axis” in Europe (11). Poland has become increasingly important ally of USA. President Trump has praised Poland and Polish people “for standing up for their independence, their security and their sovereignty.” The ruling Polish nationalists have wanted to strengthen the American-Polish alliance even more by requesting that USA would establish a permanent armored base, “Fort Trump”, in Poland. European diplomats have been worried that “hard-liners in the White House are using a willing Warsaw as a wedge to divide and weaken the EU, with which Trump has clashed over trade, climate change, defense spending, Middle East diplomacy and global governance” (12).

Reference:

1) “Donald Trump calls the EU ‘a foe’ ahead of Putin summit” Independent 15.7.2018

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-calls-eu-foe-putin-summit-european-union-china-russia-a8448421.html

2) “Nigel Farage on the story behind his friendship with Trump” The New Yorker 30.11.2016

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/nigel-farage-on-the-story-behind-his-friendship-with-trump

3) “Nigel Farage: Trump supports Brexit because it will upend ‘global bureaucracy’” Breitbart 20.12.2018

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/12/20/nigel-farage-trump-supports-brexit-because-it-will-upend-global-bureaucracy/

4) “Nigel Farage joins Leave Means Leave campaign as Vice Chairman” Leave Means Leave

https://www.leavemeansleave.eu/nigel-farage-joins-leave-means-leave-campaign-vice-chairman/

5) “Trump’s GOP is morphing into France’s far right” The Washington Post 23.2.2018

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/23/trumps-gop-is-morphing-into-frances-far-right/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.12446e5a9a6c

6) “New US ambassador to Netherlands regularly made unsubstantiated ‘no-go zones’ claims, speculated 15% of Muslims could be jihadists” CNN 9.1.2018

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/09/politics/kfile-pete-hoekstra-no-go-zones/index.html

7) “Senator weighs holding up Trump nominee over ‘insulting and derogatory’ tweets” The Daily Beast 12.7.2017

https://www.thedailybeast.com/senate-democrat-holding-up-trump-nominee-richard-grenell-over-insulting-and-derogatory-tweets?ref=scroll

8) “New US ambassador to Germany under fire for rightwing support” The Guardian 4.6.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/04/new-us-ambassador-to-germany-under-fire-for-rightwing-support

9) “Steve Bannon’s far-right Europe operation undermined by election laws” The Guardian 21.11.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/21/steve-bannons-rightwing-europe-operation-undermined-by-election-laws

10) “Italy’s Matteo Salvini joins Bannon’s European populist group” The Guardian 8.9.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/08/italy-matteo-salvini-joins-steve-bannon-european-populist-group-movement

11) “Salvini calls for ‘Italian-Polish axis’ to replace Paris-Berlin” EurActiv 10.1.2019

https://www.euractiv.com/section/eu-elections-2019/news/salvini-calls-for-italian-polish-axis-to-replace-paris-berlin/

12) “Poland’s risky ‘America first’ policy” Politico 6.10.2018

https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-risky-america-first-policy-jaroslaw-kaczynski-donald-trump/

Democracy in Europe has declined more than in any other region

According to the annual report Democracy Index 2018 published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), democracy has declined in Europe more than anywhere else in the world. The EIU noted a “democratic malaise” that is felt particularly in Western Europe. However, the situation in Eastern Europe has deteriorated the most since the EIU started its Democracy Index in 2006. Political populism has increased political participation. However, there is a risk of political polarization and “a potential deterioration in governance or in civil liberties.”

Read the full story on Euronews:

https://www.euronews.com/2019/01/09/democracy-in-europe-has-declined-more-than-any-other-region