Latest news with #Wilders
Gulf Insider
5 days ago
- Politics
- Gulf Insider
Europe's Populist Parties Keep Gaining Ground
Across the European continent, despite gaining considerable proportions of the vote, populist parties are increasingly being frozen out of governing in coalitions by political opponents who regard them as extremist. Proponents of the tactic known as a 'cordon sanitaire' or 'firewall' say it's not an attack on democracy but a defense of it. But one war expert said the tactic will only arouse anger in voters and that 'there is no potential for peaceful political change.' Coalitions are part and parcel of political life in many European countries. But the cordon sanitaire, a measure normally directed at keeping out fringe outliers, is now being used to keep out parties that are gaining majority-level support. Such parties include the Alternative for Germany, France's National Rally, Austria's Freedom Party, Spain's Vox, and the Netherlands' Party for Freedom. They all deny being 'far-right' as they are often dubbed by media, opponents, or academics, but their political opponents regard them as beyond the pale and have formed coalitions on the promise of shutting them out of governance. The AfD, an anti-mass immigration party, which came second in Germany's national parliamentary elections, earning nearly 21 percent of the vote, was recently denied allotted committee chairmanships and vice-chairmanships. The party is locked in a legal battle with the state to avoid being branded an 'extremist' right-wing movement by Germany's domestic intelligence agency. AfD's policies include strong support for traditional marriage between a man and woman and the nuclear family, the preservation of national independence in the face of the European Union's increasing power, the preservation of German culture amid 'European integration' and Islamization, and border security, including the expulsion of illegal immigrants. But this doesn't seem to have dented the party's popularity in the polls. According to a recent INSA survey, the AfD is at 24.5 percent, hot on the heels of the CDU at 26 percent. A similar pattern is being seen in other countries. Early in June, the Dutch government collapsed after Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders said his party would pull out of the governing coalition. Wilders asked coalition partners to sign up to a plan to cut illegal immigration, which included using the army to protect Dutch borders, rejecting all illegal immigrants, sending Syrian refugees back to their country, and closing asylum shelters. At the time, he said that if the country's immigration policy was not strengthened, the PVV would be 'out of the Cabinet.' He followed through on the threat. In Austria, conservatives, Social Democrats, and liberals formed a coalition in March to block the anti-immigration and euro-skeptic Freedom Party from taking power, even after it won an electoral victory with 29 percent of the vote last September. The party was founded in 1956 by Anton Reinthaller, a former SS officer and member of the Reichstag. Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron called a surprise snap election on June 9, following his centrist Renaissance party's poor performance in European Parliament elections when the populist and nationalist party National Rally (RN) performed very strongly. But RN has increased its voter share ahead of the French presidential elections, which are scheduled to be held in or around April 2027, and is currently polling at 35 percent. In 2023, Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap national election after his party was beaten in local government polls by the conservative People's Party (PP) and the nationalist Vox. Sanchez managed to retain power but only after months of wrangling with regional parties and a controversial power deal with Catalan separatists. Vox, founded in 2013, is now the third-largest force in the Spanish Parliament. Explaining the AfD situation in Germany, Richard Schenk, research fellow at MCC Brussels, told The Epoch Times that freezing out the AfD will have 'certain consequences.' 'AfD can now just exactly claim: 'We were excluded from the decisions that led to this chaos. You excluded us. We wanted to participate, to put forward proposals, to take responsibility, but you excluded us. So we really do not have to do anything with the mess that's currently going on,'' said Schenk. Click here to read more Also read: Hungary Sues European Commission Over €1 Million-A-Day Migrant Fine
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Far-right parties surge across Europe
AI- Generated Image Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has classified the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as "confirmed right-wing extremist. " Germany's other political parties want mostly nothing to do with it. Some politicians have even called for it to be banned. What does the situation look like in the rest of Europe? The Netherlands: Partij voor de Vrijheid Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) recently caused the four-party coalition that it led to collapse because it had not cracked down hard enough on migration in its view. "I proposed a plan to close the borders for asylum seekers, to send them away, to shut asylum shelters. I demanded coalition partners sign up to that, which they didn't," Wilders told reporters. "I signed up for the strictest asylum policies, not for the demise of the Netherlands. " New elections are now planned for autumn. Although his party became the strongest force in the parliamentary elections, Wilders did not become head of government because he was deemed too radical by his coalition partners. Instead, independent politician Dick Schoof was nominated prime minister of the Netherlands. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm If it were up to Wilders alone, he would ban all new mosques and the Quran. He is also a vocal critic of green strategies to tackle climate change, and he views the European Union as being too overbearing. Wilders is in complete control of his party, of which he is the sole registered member; even deputies and ministers are officially only supporters of the PVV. This allows Wilders to decide on the party program alone and appoint all election candidates himself. Poland: Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc The Law and Justice party (PiS) was defeated in the parliamentary elections at the end of 2023; Donald Tusk, the liberal former European Council president, has governed Poland as prime minister since then. But the PiS holds the presidency, and can use a veto to put the brakes on government policy. This has not changed since the presidential election at the end of May 2025, which was narrowly won by PiS-backed Karol Nawrocki, who ran an anti-European, and anti-German, campaign. Generally, however, as a party the PiS is rather cautious in Brussels, since it knows that the funds from the EU are important for Poland. It has also positioned itself on Ukraine's side in the war with Russia and advocates a strong Nato presence against its powerful neighbour. In terms of migration policy, however, the party shares the same hardline views of its European allies. On social issues, it is close to the Catholic Church in Poland and opposes the legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and adoption. Hungary: Fidesz Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance is probably the most successful far-right party in Europe. Thanks to its leader Viktor Orban, the party was in power in Hungary between 1998 and 2002 and continuously again since 2010. Founded in 1988, shortly before the collapse of communism, as a radical liberal force, the party remained on this course for a long time. But Orban and his party has swung to the right since at least 2015, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel proclaimed a "welcome culture" for refugees. Fidesz is now explicitly in favour of illiberal democracy, seeing the "Christian West" as threatened by foreign infiltration and wanting to strongly limit the influence of the EU. In stark contrast to the Polish PiS, the party has sought contact with Russia, despite the war in Ukraine, particularly on energy issues. Orban is also close to Russian President Vladimir Putin on an ideological level. However, unlike similar parties, the party does recognize human-made climate change as a threat. Slovakia : Smer — slovenska socialna demokracia Smer was founded by current Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. Called Direction-Slovak Social Democracy, the party direction is clearly to the right and the social democracy it advocates has little to do with Germany's style of social democracy. Smer has warned that Slovakia is becoming too "foreign." Fico has said that Muslims are not able to integrate and in 2016 he said that Islam had no place in Slovakia. He has described the Ukrainians that Russia has attacked as "Nazis and fascists" and before the 2023 parliamentary elections, in which Smer emerged victorious, he announced that he would put an immediate stop to arms deliveries to Ukraine. He went on to do this, claiming that Nato and the United States were responsible for Russia's attack on Ukraine. This triggered protests across Slovakia. Fico's government has repeatedly criticized the EU's sanctions against Russia as being "meaningless and counterproductive." Spain: Vox Vox (Latin for voice), whose leader is Santiago Abascal, has risen fast since the party was founded in 2013. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, it won only 0.2% of the votes. This went up to 15% in 2019. Since then, its success has slumped somewhat. The party is nonetheless the third strongest political force in Spain at the moment. However, it has never participated in a federal government. The conservative Partido Popular (Popular Party) might have been willing to form a coalition with it, but instead it was the socialist Pedro Sanchez who formed a government. Vox's main concern is specific to Spain: The party believes that the self-government rights of autonomous communities such as Catalonia or the Basque Country should be revoked and that Spain should once again become a centralized state. There is also a particular Spanish flavour to the party's anti-immigration and anti-Islamic tones: Abascal has called for a new Reconquista. The first, which ended in 1492, was a series of campaigns waged by Christian rulers against Muslim kingdoms that had ruled the Iberian Peninsula for centuries. At the beginning of February, Vox hosted a major event called "Make Europe Great Again" in the Spanish capital Madrid. Participants included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and French far-right politician Marine Le Pen. Denmark: Dansk Folkeparti The Danish People's Party was founded in 1995 and had its most successful period in the 2000s and 2010s. With its anti-immigration, anti-globalization and anti-EU positions, combined with demands for a strong welfare state, it provided support for several centre-right governments in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Notably, it was able to push through a tightening of the asylum system. But support for the party dwindled after 2019 as Denmark's Social Democrats, led by Mette Frederiksen, not only adopted its anti-asylum demands but also pushed them through. The People's Party only received 2.6% of the vote in the last parliamentary election in 2022. The immigration and asylum policy of Denmark's current Social Democratic government is one of the toughest in Europe.
DW
13-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Far-right parties surge across Europe – DW – 06/12/2025
While the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party continues to be isolated in the German political scene, similar populist parties are gaining momentum in other EU countries. Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has classified the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as "confirmed right-wing extremist." Germany's other political parties want mostly nothing to do with it. Some politicians have even called for it to be banned. What does the situation look like in the rest of Europe? The Netherlands: Partij voor de Vrijheid Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) recently caused the four-party coalition that it led to collapse because it had not cracked down hard enough on migration in its view. "I proposed a plan to close the borders for asylum seekers, to send them away, to shut asylum shelters. I demanded coalition partners sign up to that, which they didn't," Wilders told reporters. "I signed up for the strictest asylum policies, not for the demise of the Netherlands." New elections are now planned for autumn. Although his party became the strongest force in the parliamentary elections, Wilders did not become head of government because he was deemed too radical by his coalition partners. Instead, independent politician Dick Schoof was nominated prime minister of the Netherlands. If it were up to Wilders alone, he would ban all new mosques and the Quran. He is also a vocal critic of green strategies to tackle climate change, and he views the European Union as being too overbearing. Geert Wilders is the only registered member of his PVV party Image: Piroschka Van De Wouw/REUTERS Wilders is in complete control of his party, of which he is the sole registered member; even deputies and ministers are officially only supporters of the PVV. This allows Wilders to decide on the party program alone and appoint all election candidates himself. Poland: Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc The Law and Justice party (PiS) was defeated in the parliamentary elections at the end of 2023; Donald Tusk, the liberal former European Council president, has governed Poland as prime minister since then. But the PiS holds the presidency, and can use a veto to put the brakes on government policy. This has not changed since the presidential election at the end of May 2025, which was narrowly won by PiS-backed Karol Nawrocki, who ran an anti-European, and anti-German, campaign. Generally, however, as a party the PiS is rather cautious in Brussels, since it knows that the funds from the EU are important for Poland. It has also positioned itself on Ukraine's side in the war with Russia and advocates a strong NATO presence against its powerful neighbor. In terms of migration policy, however, the party shares the same hardline views of its European allies. On social issues, it is close to the Catholic Church in Poland and opposes the legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and adoption. Karol Nawrocki narrowly won the second round of the presidential elections in Poland Image: Jakub Porzycki/Anadolu/picture alliance Hungary: Fidesz Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance is probably the most successful far-right party in Europe. Thanks to its leader Viktor Orban, the party was in power in Hungary between 1998 and 2002 and continuously again since 2010. Founded in 1988, shortly before the collapse of communism, as a radical liberal force, the party remained on this course for a long time. But Orban and his party has swung to the right since at least 2015, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel proclaimed a "welcome culture" for refugees. Fidesz is now explicitly in favor of illiberal democracy, seeing the "Christian West" as threatened by foreign infiltration and wanting to strongly limit the influence of the EU. In stark contrast to the Polish PiS, the party has sought contact with Russia, despite the war in Ukraine, particularly on energy issues. Orban is also close to Russian President Vladimir Putin on an ideological level. However, unlike similar parties, the party does recognize human-made climate change as a threat. Slovakia: Smer — slovenska socialna demokracia Smer was founded by current Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. Called Direction-Slovak Social Democracy, the party direction is clearly to the right and the social democracy it advocates has little to do with Germany's style of social democracy. Smer has warned that Slovakia is becoming too "foreign." Fico has said that Muslims are not able to integrate and in 2016 he said that Islam had no place in Slovakia. He has described the Ukrainians that Russia has attacked as "Nazis and fascists" and before the 2023 parliamentary elections, in which Smer emerged victorious, he announced that he would put an immediate stop to arms deliveries to Ukraine. He went on to do this, claiming that NATO and the United States were responsible for Russia's attack on Ukraine. This triggered protests across Slovakia. Fico's government has repeatedly criticized the EU's sanctions against Russia as being "meaningless and counterproductive." Spain: Vox Vox (Latin for voice), whose leader is Santiago Abascal, has risen fast since the party was founded in 2013. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, it won only 0.2% of the votes. This went up to 15% in 2019. Since then, its success has slumped somewhat. The party is nonetheless the third strongest political force in Spain at the moment. However, it has never participated in a federal government. The conservative Partido Popular (Popular Party) might have been willing to form a coalition with it, but instead it was the socialist Pedro Sanchez who formed a government. Vox's main concern is specific to Spain: The party believes that the self-government rights of autonomous communities such as Catalonia or the Basque Country should be revoked and that Spain should once again become a centralized state. There is also a particular Spanish flavor to the party's anti-immigration and anti-Islamic tones: Abascal has called for a new Reconquista. The first, which ended in 1492, was a series of campaigns waged by Christian rulers against Muslim kingdoms that had ruled the Iberian Peninsula for centuries. There have been EU-wide demonstrations against Orban's anti-LGBTQ+ stance Image: Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix/IMAGO At the beginning of February, Vox hosted a major event called "Make Europe Great Again" in the Spanish capital Madrid. Participants included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and French far-right politician Marine Le Pen. Denmark: Dansk Folkeparti The Danish People's Party was founded in 1995 and had its most successful period in the 2000s and 2010s. With its anti-immigration, anti-globalization and anti-EU positions, combined with demands for a strong welfare state, it provided support for several center-right governments in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Notably, it was able to push through a tightening of the asylum system. But support for the party dwindled after 2019 as Denmark's Social Democrats, led by Mette Frederiksen, not only adopted its anti-asylum demands but also pushed them through. The People's Party only received 2.6% of the vote in the last parliamentary election in 2022. The immigration and asylum policy of Denmark's current Social Democratic government is one of the toughest in Europe. This article was translated from German.
DW
12-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
European far-right parties on the rise – DW – 06/12/2025
While the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party continues to be isolated in the German political scene, in certain other European countries, similar parties are in government. Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has classified the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as "confirmed right-wing extremist." Germany's other political parties want mostly nothing to do with it. Some politicians have even called for it to be banned. What does the situation look like in the rest of Europe? The Netherlands: Partij voor de Vrijheid Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) recently caused the four-party coalition that it led to collapse because it had not cracked down hard enough on migration in its view. "I proposed a plan to close the borders for asylum seekers, to send them away, to shut asylum shelters. I demanded coalition partners sign up to that, which they didn't," Wilders told reporters. "I signed up for the strictest asylum policies, not for the demise of the Netherlands." New elections are now planned for autumn. Although his party became the strongest force in the parliamentary elections, Wilders did not become head of government because he was deemed too radical by his coalition partners. Instead, independent politician Dick Schoof was nominated prime minister of the Netherlands. If it were up to Wilders alone, he would ban all new mosques and the Quran. He is also a vocal critic of green strategies to tackle climate change, and he views the European Union as being too overbearing. Geert Wilders is the only registered member of his PVV party Image: Piroschka Van De Wouw/REUTERS Wilders is in complete control of his party, of which he is the sole registered member; even deputies and ministers are officially only supporters of the PVV. This allows Wilders to decide on the party program alone and appoint all election candidates himself. Poland: Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc The Law and Justice party (PiS) was defeated in the parliamentary elections at the end of 2023; Donald Tusk, the liberal former European Council president, has governed Poland as prime minister since then. But the PiS holds the presidency, and can use a veto to put the brakes on government policy. This has not changed since the presidential election at the end of May 2025, which was narrowly won by PiS-backed Karol Nawrocki, who ran an anti-European, and anti-German, campaign. Generally, however, as a party the PiS is rather cautious in Brussels, since it knows that the funds from the EU are important for Poland. It has also positioned itself on Ukraine's side in the war with Russia and advocates a strong NATO presence against its powerful neighbor. In terms of migration policy, however, the party shares the same hardline views of its European allies. On social issues, it is close to the Catholic Church in Poland and opposes the legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and adoption. Karol Nawrocki narrowly won the second round of the presidential elections in Poland Image: Jakub Porzycki/Anadolu/picture alliance Hungary: Fidesz Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance is probably the most successful far-right party in Europe. Thanks to its leader Viktor Orban, the party was in power in Hungary between 1998 and 2002 and continuously again since 2010. Founded in 1988, shortly before the collapse of communism, as a radical liberal force, the party remained on this course for a long time. But Orban and his party has swung to the right since at least 2015, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel proclaimed a "welcome culture" for refugees. Fidesz is now explicitly in favor of illiberal democracy, seeing the "Christian West" as threatened by foreign infiltration and wanting to strongly limit the influence of the EU. In stark contrast to the Polish PiS, the party has sought contact with Russia, despite the war in Ukraine, particularly on energy issues. Orban is also close to Russian President Vladimir Putin on an ideological level. However, unlike similar parties, the party does recognize human-made climate change as a threat. Slovakia: Smer — slovenska socialna demokracia Smer was founded by current Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. Called Direction-Slovak Social Democracy, the party direction is clearly to the right and the social democracy it advocates has little to do with Germany's style of social democracy. Smer has warned that Slovakia is becoming too "foreign." Fico has said that Muslims are not able to integrate and in 2016 he said that Islam had no place in Slovakia. He has described the Ukrainians that Russia has attacked as "Nazis and fascists" and before the 2023 parliamentary elections, in which Smer emerged victorious, he announced that he would put an immediate stop to arms deliveries to Ukraine. He went on to do this, claiming that NATO and the United States were responsible for Russia's attack on Ukraine. This triggered protests across Slovakia. Fico's government has repeatedly criticized the EU's sanctions against Russia as being "meaningless and counterproductive." Spain: Vox Vox (Latin for voice), whose leader is Santiago Abascal, has risen fast since the party was founded in 2013. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, it won only 0.2% of the votes. This went up to 15% in 2019. Since then, its success has slumped somewhat. The party is nonetheless the third strongest political force in Spain at the moment. However, it has never participated in a federal government. The conservative Partido Popular (Popular Party) might have been willing to form a coalition with it, but instead it was the socialist Pedro Sanchez who formed a government. Vox's main concern is specific to Spain: The party believes that the self-government rights of autonomous communities such as Catalonia or the Basque Country should be revoked and that Spain should once again become a centralized state. There is also a particular Spanish flavor to the party's anti-immigration and anti-Islamic tones: Abascal has called for a new Reconquista. The first, which ended in 1492, was a series of campaigns waged by Christian rulers against Muslim kingdoms that had ruled the Iberian Peninsula for centuries. There have been EU-wide demonstrations against Orban's anti-LGBTQ+ stance Image: Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix/IMAGO At the beginning of February, Vox hosted a major event called "Make Europe Great Again" in the Spanish capital Madrid. Participants included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and French far-right politician Marine Le Pen. Denmark: Dansk Folkeparti The Danish People's Party was founded in 1995 and had its most successful period in the 2000s and 2010s. With its anti-immigration, anti-globalization and anti-EU positions, combined with demands for a strong welfare state, it provided support for several center-right governments in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Notably, it was able to push through a tightening of the asylum system. But support for the party dwindled after 2019 as Denmark's Social Democrats, led by Mette Frederiksen, not only adopted its anti-asylum demands but also pushed them through. The People's Party only received 2.6% of the vote in the last parliamentary election in 2022. The immigration and asylum policy of Denmark's current Social Democratic government is one of the toughest in Europe. This article was translated from German.
France 24
10-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Wilders isolated as Dutch election sniping starts
Wilders stunned the political establishment in the Netherlands last week by bringing down a fragile four-way governing coalition in a row over immigration. Fresh elections are now set for October 29. Wilders is hoping to repeat his shock success from November 2023, when his far-right Freedom Party (PVV) came out on top. But the fragmented nature of Dutch politics means parties need to find two or even three coalition partners to form a government. Wilders's largest coalition partner after the November vote was the liberal VVD but party leader Dilan Yesilgoz launched a fierce broadside against her former colleague. "This country needs mature leadership. We will no longer work with him," Yesilgoz said in an interview with De Telegraaf daily. "He puts his personal self-interest above the national interest. He will never take responsibility for the country," added Yesilgoz. Latest opinion polls suggest a close three-way race between the PVV, the VVD and a Green/Left grouping led by former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans. Wilders lashed out on X saying that Yesilgoz "wanted to destroy the Netherlands, along with the left". "That means even more asylum seekers and Islam," he claimed. De Telegraaf wrote: "Now that the VVD is also slamming shut the door, a government with Wilders's party is moving further out of sight." "Looking at the current polls, there are too few parties available to form a majority cabinet that have not previously declared the PVV taboo." 'Squandered his chance' Wilders abruptly pulled his PVV out of the coalition on Wednesday, saying the government was too slow to enact the "strictest-ever" asylum policy that was agreed after the elections. He came up with his own 10-point plan, which included closing borders to asylum seekers, and deporting dual nationals convicted of a crime. A crisis meeting between the leaders of the four parties broke up in acrimony after just minutes, as Wilders pulled the plug. Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he would stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet could be formed. The government collapse sparked political chaos in the European Union's fifth-largest economy. It came as the Netherlands prepares to host a summit of NATO leaders later this month. Yesilgoz noted that Wilders had done something similar before, when he pulled out of a deal with then prime minister Mark Rutte in 2012 over austerity measures. "In 2012, he walked out, while our country needed stability and leadership amid an economic crisis. "Thirteen years later, little has changed," she wrote to VVD members. "It is still his style to walk out like a coward." "As far as I am concerned, Geert Wilders has excluded himself from government. He has once again squandered his chance and once again let his voters down," Yesilgoz added. However, she hit back at suggestions that shunning Wilders meant joining forces with Timmermans and his left-wing grouping. "The commitment of the left is miles away from what the Netherlands needs now. The VVD envisions a completely different Netherlands," she said.
