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
2) “What the recent wins for far-right parties in Europe could mean for the region” NPR 1.10.2022
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
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
10) “Openly fascist and racist party has set its sights on parliamentary elections” Helsinki Times 15.12.2022
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
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
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
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
23) “El “patinazo” histórico de Vox: Abascal presume de liderar la Reconquista con un casco de otra época” El Español 7.3.2019
24) “L’abstention et Eric Zemmour, gagnants du premier tour parmi les Français d’Israël” The Times of Israel 13.4.2022
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
27) “Portugal : les raisons de la percée d’André Ventura, le Zemmour portugais” L’Express 1.2.2022
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
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
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