Bernadette Mill reports: Many extremist parties across Europe made substantial electoral gains in the recent polls for the European Parliament. They have improved upon 2004’s result by gaining an extra eight seats. The British National Party gained two seats in the North West and Yorskhire and the Humber regions respectively. The Party first made electoral progress when it gained three local council seats in Burnley. Its policies include paying non-white citizens to return to their countries of ethnic origin and full British withdrawal from the EU. In Holland, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom won four seats and came second in the polls. The Party is in favour of mass deportation of immigrants from the Netherlands, their leader has likened the Koran to Mein Kampf and his film, ‘Fitna’, which depicts Islam as a movement of terrorism and violence, has attracted widespread condemnation. In Austria, the Freedom Party, who formed coalition governments with the centre-right People’s Party in both 2000 and 2003, won 13.1 per cent of the vote with the Alliance for the Future of Austria gaining just under 5 per cent. Italy’s Northern League, who are part of the ruling coalition government, gained 9.5 per cent of the vote. The Hungarian Jobbik Party, led by Dr Krisztina Morvai and who also have a paramilitary wing, gained three seats. The party bears more than a passing resemblance to Hungary’s World War Two militia, the Arrow Cross, which caused the deaths of thousands of Hungarian Jews. They ran their campaign on a pledge to fight ‘Gypsy Crime’ and are overtly opposed to the Roma. The Nationalist Greater Romania Party gained two seats and the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, who came third in the 2001 general elections, won 14.4 per cent of the votes which gave them two seats. The anti-gypsy Slovak National Party gained one seat whilst the Latvian electorate voted for the pro-Soviet Union candidate, Albert Rubiks. In Finland, the True Finns gained one seat whilst the Greek Popular Orthodox Rally won two seats. However, there were losses for extremist parties in France, Poland, Belgium, Bulgaria and Latvia.
It is arguable that the massive gains made by the Dutch far right were to be expected. In 2002, the party of the late Pim Fortuyn, Lijst Fortuyn came second in the general elections winning 26 seats. He formed the Party after being sacked from the Dutch far-right Liveable Netherlands Party for his unwavering stance on immigration.
There is a proven link between low-income and individuals with basic education and extreme voting practices. Workingclass voters have historically viewed immigrants as competition for jobs and social services, which explains why extremist parties have successfully played upon these insecurities. Societies with high unemployment and high levels of immigration are thought to be the most susceptible to rises in extremist voting patterns. The lower strata of society are most likely to perceive immigrants to be a threat and are most likely to scapegoat them for society’s ills by voting for an extremist party. Individuals who are not integrated into society are often in need of a substitute intermediary group – which far-right parties claim to fulfil through their nationalist agendas. The success of the far-right in Europe can be attributed to the current economic malaise. The Spanish Premier, Jose Zapatero’s party paid the price for the recession and the astronomical rate of unemployment in Spain. The farright electoral success amongst middle-class and affluent voters in Austria, Italy and the Netherlands, however, could be due to the fear inherent in this group of losing the prosperity they gained during more favourable economic times. Another reason for far-right success is that these parties have been led by charismatic leaders – Jorg Haider and Pim Fortuyn were able to attract voters who would not usually subscribe to their extremist policies. Their legacies have ensured the success of far-right parties in their respective countries.
There was surprise in Germany as Merkel’s Christian Democrats/Christian Socialists won 38 per cent of the vote despite an unfavourable economic forecast which could result in the nation emerging as the sick man of Europe. This result shows a display of confidence by the German electorate that Merkel is the best person to get them through the recession.
Politically dissatisfied individuals are more likely to reflect their disapproval by casting a vote against the mainstream parties. Far-right groups position themselves as protest parties thus attracting disgruntled members of the electorate. This was arguably the case in Britain where the British National Party was able to capitalise on the public condemnation of the recent MP’s expenses fiasco. It can also be inferred that people are less likely to vote for a party that seems to be poorly organised and overtly inflammatory – the BNP worked on changing its image to that of a more presentable party by ditching their army attire and opting for suits.
The success of parties who ran their campaigns on largely anti-immigration agendas must not be written off simply as a consequence of the perilous economic climate. It can be argued that their success is attributable to the European Union’s policy of free movement of people. The Schengen Convention which creates a bloc without borders, came into force when the Amsterdam Treaty was ratified in 1999. The United Kingdom and Ireland opted out of Schengen however, that only restricts citizens from Iceland and Norway from entering these nations without a visa – all other full EU members have no limitations. This could explain the Party for Freedom’s success in the Netherlands – not only are they part of Schengen; they also have one of the highest levels of immigration from EU and non-EU states per capita. Geert Wilders’ rhetoric exposes a rabid dislike of immigration – he advocated the removal of Romania and Bulgaria from the Union and is vociferously opposed to Turkish membership of the EU. His anti-Romanian sentiment could rest with the fact that the Romanian President has pledged to give approximately one million Romanian passports to Moldovan citizens who have Romanian heritage. The success of extremist parties across the Union must be addressed. The governments of the European Union countries now have the task of finding pragmatic solutions to the rise of nationalist support which threatens to destroy the bridges built since 1957.
