Europe’s Shift to the Right

Among British Europhiles, the view that the continent is a hotbed of left-wing and progressive parties is standard. Britain’s democratic decision to leave the European Union in 2016 bewilders the mainstream media to this day. Critics have often accused British voters of making a foolish decision—the plebs wanted an ethnostate! According to this narrative, the British people’s prejudices and latent racism have now been revealed to the world; and by leaving the EU, England is said to have shifted dramatically to the right. On a continent thought to be left-wing, Brexit, an extreme outlier, bucked that trend.

In reality, a quick look at the recent European election results provides ample evidence to the contrary. To the dismay of opinion-makers and the chattering classes, right-wing and populist parties are on the rise across the continent. Sweden, Finland, Italy, and Greece are experiencing an ideological shift towards conservatism, and the decline of the left appears to be accelerating. Across Western Europe, left-wing parties are falling like dominoes. Britain is at present the only country where a left-wing party could come to power—oh, the irony!

Until last week, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) seemed like an outlier. Led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the PSOE has ruled the country for the past five years in a coalition with the far-left Unidas Podemos party.

Last Sunday, Spaniards voting in local elections in 12 of the country's 17 municipalities shocked the nation and dealt a severe blow to the left. The Conservative People's Party (PP), led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, won 31.5 per cent of the vote, compared to 28.2 per cent for the Socialists (PSOE), a drop of 1.2 percentage points for the PSOE but an increase of 9 percentage points for the PP. The PP secured at least six regions and some of the largest cities, such as Valencia and Seville, from the Socialist Party; however, in some regions, they needed to form a coalition with the hard-right Vox party to maintain a majority.

The PP used the result as a de facto referendum on Sanchez's rule, citing the growing public opposition to the ruling left-wing coalition ahead of Spain's general elections due in December.

The same is true in Eastern Europe, where, to the dismay of journalists around the world, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has headed Hungary's Fidesz party since 2010. In Poland, the conservative Law and Justice Party, led by Andrzej Duda, has been in power since 2015. Founded in 2001 by Lech Kaczyński, it has evolved from a centrist Christian Democratic Party to one more focused on culturally and socially conservative values. Its traditional, pro-family, anti-immigrant, and pro-working-class policies, which have been imitated by Italy's Georgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party, stand in stark contrast to the EU's more left-wing liberal progressivism.

Even the Netherlands, often touted as a model of progressivism, has received a serious message from voters. In March, pro-EU Prime Minister Mark Rutte suffered a short, sharp shock at the polling station. The warning shots were fired by a disgruntled farmer's union enraged by Rutte's recent decision to close 30 per cent of all livestock farms by 2030 to meet EU nitrogen limits. Rutte's four-party alliance led by the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) was on the brink of the largest single land grab since Stalin's five-year plan to collectivise agriculture and liquidate the kulaks. The farmers were not having it. In the March 15th elections, the farmer-citizen movement known as the BBB won a landslide victory. It won 17 out of the 75 seats, making it the largest party in the Dutch Senate. Rutte's VVD won just 10 seats. It was a middle finger to the establishment.

This cursory metaphorical jaunt across the continent proves that the image of Europe as a bastion of left-wing politics, beloved by Europhiles and ideologically reinforced by activist journalists, is a fantasy—an illusion built on sand. Instead, the right is not only reviving but flourishing in some places. It's something you should expect to see every time you head east off the fashionable and progressive British coast.

This is not to say that the right has become some kind of unified collective force. There are many issues that divide these political parties across Europe. Attitudes towards state intervention in the economy, abortion, and the stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine are some. Nevertheless, many still have common goals: opposition to mass immigration, an emphasis on family values, and a shared hatred of divisive identity politics.

To adopt a fashionable expression favoured by the commentariat, let's have Grexit, Swexit, and Spexit. Who knows? Maybe even Frexit.