Dissatisfaction with the political establishment across the European Union has led to significant gains for right-wing parties in the recent European Parliament elections. Surprisingly, this surge was driven not only by older conservatives but also by younger voters aiming to revive nationalism.
Before the elections, 32 percent of French 18-to-25-year-olds indicated they would vote for the “far right” National Rally party, which closely matched the election outcome. Led by Marine Le Pen, the National Rally party won 31.5 percent of the vote, more than double the 14.7 percent projected for President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal Renaissance party.
In Germany, the AfD party performed better than expected, coming in second in the EU parliamentary election with nearly 16 percent of the vote. AfD’s support among 16-24-year-olds surged by 12 percentage points to 17 percent.
This political shift in France and Germany is part of a broader trend across Europe, where Euroscepticism and discontent over immigration are growing.
Despite a pro-EU centrist majority maintaining control of the European Parliament, the backlash against the globalist agenda is becoming harder for the establishment to contain.
The first significant sign of this reaction to globalism was Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union. However, UK leaders did not heed the message, and immigration surged.
One of Brexit’s major promises was to regain control of England’s borders, but legal arrivals have nearly doubled since Brexit. This increase has led to a rise in anti-immigration protests by those wanting to preserve their culture and heritage. As a result, the UK Conservative Party, in power since 2010, faces historic losses in the upcoming July 4 national elections due to its failure to control borders.
Leftist media often portray the rise of “far-right” populism as a threat to democracy, but this is misleading. The real threat is to the left’s dominance, as right-wing parties begin to act as a legitimate opposition to the status quo.
When liberals use the word “democracy,” they often mean leftist hegemony. Traditional conservatives and centrist leftists share similar immigration policies, which is why the left fears genuine right-wing opposition.
A New York Times analysis by Roger Cohen noted that the “far right” is becoming mainstream due to the lack of compelling messages from traditional conservative parties. Anti-immigrant right-wing parties are gaining ground and breaking through barriers meant to keep them out.
Attempts to stifle right-wing opposition through “hate speech” laws, social stigmatization, corporate media exclusion, and censorship are failing. The worsening social and economic conditions due to mass migration are becoming too obvious to ignore. Prioritizing immigrants over native citizens for decades has made the resurgence of nationalism through legitimate right-wing opposition both necessary and inevitable.
The rising popularity of the “far right” in Europe is challenging the current state of democracy, highlighting how unresponsive it has become to the needs of the people it was meant to serve.
