Studying the European Elections Scoreboard and observing the rise of nationalist and right-wing extremists-neo-Nazi groups, as signalled by Le Pen’s percentages in France (for the first time …), Salvini in Italy, Faratz in Britain, Kadinsky in Poland and Orban in Hungary, lead to pessimistic conclusions for an upcoming “neo-conservative winter”. The new situation underway in Europe is reminiscent of the climate that had been created in the US and Brazil just after the election of Tramp and Bolsonaro.
As is well known, until recently, there was only one political group in Europe representing only the right-wing extremists and the neo-Nazis.
However, three groups at European level have now been formed against the core of the principles of Europe against its own constitution: the Eurosceptics, the right-wing and the neo-Nazis. In any case, the traditional extremists are trying hard to avoid identifying themselves with anti-Semites and neo- Nazis.
However, this time, there are also considerable and optimistic data:
a) Le Pen came first but recorded a serious loss of 1.5% in her percentages compared to the 2014 elections despite the lifting that she made in her party.
b) In Austria, FPO came third with a significant loss of 2.2%, always compared to 2014.
c) In Spain, Vox received 6.5% of the European elections, while just one month before it had gained more than 10% in the national elections.
d) In Finland, the right-wing remained stable with 13.3%.
e) In the Netherlands, T. Bonde’s party came fourth with 11%, while the Vilnter party shrunk to 4.1%, recording a significant drop in its percentages.
f) In Italy, Salvinini came first with over 30%, but reached 37% of the opinion polls.
g) In Germany, right-wing extremists AFD took 11% against 12.6% in the national elections in 2017 recording a decline of 1.6%.
h) In Greece, the Nazi Golden Dawn lost 280,000 votes, and got 4.5% dropping to 5th place from the 3rd they held.
(i) In Hungary, the formerly Jewish Nazi party Giompik, fell to 6.5% when it was 14.67% in the 2014 European elections.
Extremely optimistic is the message that, although there is a rise in the Neo-Nazi parties in various Western European countries, their fall in Greece was noticeable. This is due to the bravery and acceptance of the Greek society, which is a key feature of Greek history.
Over time, Greeks as hospitable people have often demonstrated their solidarity with refugees and immigrants, regardless of the difficulties they have experienced at various historical moments.
Although the Golden Dawn tried to appear as something “new” in the perception of the average Greek, there is firmly the voter’s certainty that if they take power, they will also become “systemic” parties, perhaps worse. A similar example is the FPO of Austria, following the revelation of the video showing its executive to negotiate particularly privileged financial support for oligarchs by exchanging government contracts.
This awareness by voters greatly diminishes their dynamics.
However, this does not mean that the right-wing extremists has not risen and is not yet a danger. But there seems to be a more balanced picture of developments that gives rise to moderate optimism.