Populist “anti-European” parties are heading for big gains in June’s European elections that could shift the parliament’s balance sharply to the right and jeopardise key pillars of the EU’s agenda including climate action, polling suggests.
Polling in all 27 EU member states, combined with modelling of how national parties performed in past European parliament elections, shows radical right parties are on course to finish first in nine countries including Austria, France and Poland.
Projected second- or third-place finishes in another nine countries, including Germany, Spain, Portugal and Sweden, could for the first time produce a majority rightwing coalition in the parliament of Christian Democrats, conservatives and radical right MEPs.
With every economic downturn, the populists will always point the finger at migrants and “external beurocrats denying us our freedoms to self govern”. Like any snakeoil salesmen, it a tonic to cure every ailment.
But is it really? All of a sudden every place with unfettered immigration begins to have major economic downturns. Or is it mass immigration has put such a strain on our unprepared systems and infrastructure that our economy suffers in turn.
