From Greece and France to Sweden and Denmark, Europe’s far-right parties have taken the spotlight in recent months. Trading on sometimes vitriolic anti-euro, anti-immigrant sentiment, as well as renewed security fears, parties of the far-right have taken the center stage in protests and elections.
These parties have not emerged overnight. In fact, many have lingered on the fringe of Europe’s political landscape for decades. The WorldPost presents a guide to some of the most prominent radical right parties active in Europe today.
Marine Le Pen delivers a speech during a press conference on Jan. 16, 2015. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
Country: France
Leader: Marine Le Pen
History: Founded in 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen, the current leader’s father, the National Front has had a longstanding role representing the far-right of French politics. Since the mid-1980s, FN has received anywhere between 10 to 16 percent of the vote in French presidential elections, with a notable success in the 2002 election, in which the elder Le Pen forced a second-round runoff with incumbent Jacques Chirac. Le Pen was ultimately defeated by a 65-point margin.
The party and its founder have been involved in numerous scandals and have faced strong criticism. In 1998, Jean-Marie Le Pen was found guilty of assaulting a member of the Socialist Party and barred from office for two years. Accusations of anti-Semitism and racism have also plagued the party, with Le Pen convicted of inciting racial hatred against Muslims in 2005. These incidents garnered Le Pen the nickname ‘The Devil’ in the French press.
A marked shift occurred in 2011, when Marine Le Pen took over leadership. Ostensibly presenting a kinder face of the party, the younger Le Pen has attempted to rebrand the FN as populist conservatives. Under her leadership, the party has become ascendant in French politics, winning its first senate seats in September of last year.
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After maintaining a fringe presence for much of its existence, gaining only 2 percent of the vote in the 2006 elections and around 5 percent in the 2010 vote, this past year has seen an unexpected boom for the party’s popularity. The Sweden Democrats took third place in the national elections this past September with just under 13 percent of the vote, and won enough seats to block legislation.
The conflict threatened to make Sweden ungovernable and set up another snap election, but in December of last year the country’s two leading parties struck a controversial deal to stay in power. While the move preserved Sweden’s current government, it also set up the Sweden Democrats as the main opposition party, which could strengthen their appeal in the future.
Platform: As may be expected from a party with roots in racist nationalism, the Sweden Democrats hold views that seek to preserve traditional conceptions of Swedish culture, while firmly opposing immigration. The SD says it aims to cut immigration to the country by 90 percent. The party also speaks openly about its staunch anti-Islamist views, with its 35-year-old leader, Jimmie Akesson, saying in a speech that “Islamism is the Nazism and communism of our time.” Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven went as far as to call the party “neo-fascist,” which set off a heated debate over the nature of the party.
Perhaps the most distilled representation of their beliefs came in the run-up to the 2010 elections, when Sweden Democrats aired an ad featuring a old woman walking towards pension money, only to be overtaken by a group of women in burqas who storm past her.
Popularity: Currently a prominent fixture in Sweden’s government after the 2014 election, the rise of anti-asylum sentiment and concern over immigration has given the Sweden Democrats fertile soil to grow.
An academic study by Sweden’s Linkoping University into SD voters found that xenophobia was the primary root of the party’s support, and that SD voters “hold drastically more negative views towards Muslims and persons with a foreign name than voters of other Swedish parties.”
Eline Gordts contributed to this report.
