June 21, 2024 | France is due to vote in snap elections at the end of the month, and polls show the opposition far-right National Rally could come out on top. Surveys also show that their message is resonating among young voters. In recent European elections, the far-right took in nearly 30 percent of the youth vote nationally. DW correspondent Sonia Phalnikar joined some of the party’s youth wing southwest of Paris to see what’s driving their rise.
This time, the far-right threat is real
Politico, February 6, 2024
BRUSSELS — Every five years, like clockwork, mainstream politicians freak out about the rise of radicals and populists ahead of the European election.
But then, the danger suddenly seems to dissipate as the traditional center-left and center-right forces that built the European Union forge coalitions that hold more radical parties at bay.
Don’t bank on it this time.
In 2024, the right-wing surge in the polls seems bigger and bolder, with one predicting the nationalist right and far right could pick up nearly a quarter of seats in the European Parliament in June.
Even if the center right — currently tipped to come first in the election — refuses to form a governing coalition with ever more powerful firebrand fringe parties, there’s still a significant chance the far right will, for the first time, be able to influence Europe’s policy agenda. That will enable it to threaten the EU’s sacred values on rule of law and human rights, and block or even overturn major green and climate laws.
“We’re going to see a really significant shift to the right,” said Simon Hix, a professor of comparative politics at the European University Institute, referring to the June elections when 400 million people across the European Union are eligible to vote to send 720 representatives to Brussels… [+]
RELATED CONTENT:
Portal E.M. Cioran Brasil 🇧🇷 