Is Europe Headed in the Right Direction?

What is shaking European politics. In September, Italy elected populist Giorgia Meloni, who on Friday became the country’s first right-wing leader since wartime Mussolini.

The day before the right-wing Swedish Nationalist Democrats held an election, winning 20.5% of the vote in a poll of concerns about violence and immigration. Although there are a few exceptions – a European liberal recently ousted a populist candidate for the presidency of Austria – these two examples show that it is possible to revive a populist in Europe, in popular populist elections in Bulgaria, Switzerland. , Czech Republic and Finland. 5 Reasons To Play at Online Casinos

So what is happening in European politics? Sam Van der Staak of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) says: “What we are seeing is the rise of anti-establishment groups that promise something very different.”

“Right, left is a misrepresentation, it’s really about citizens expressing their disinterest in politics and what the whole system of government has to offer.”

A difficult concept to define, populism is a political system that pits the “common people” against the “elite”. The term got its name in 2016 from the British Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump.

Populism is now “improving to some extent,” says van der Staak. “At that time, we were all afraid of the populists taking power, but this time, I did not read so much anger about the elections in Italy or Sweden.”

“A New Political Party”

One reason is that some of the political positions of populist parties across Europe and the political center have converged, van der Staak argues.

“Strong views on immigration have been welcomed,” he told Euronews, noting that many populist parties have also abandoned their opposition to the European Union. “A few years ago, it was populists on the right and the left who were calling for the overthrow of the fundamentals. Now we see a kind that falls somewhere in the middle. 카지노사이트

Future Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a former critic of the EU, repeatedly stated before the election that the Brothers of Italy party was not against Europe. Another “important” reason for populism in Europe for van der Staak is that “the current political system is not working”.

“For a long time, the social security system could not provide […] and the traditional authorities could not provide solutions to social problems,” he says, citing the problems of the meeting Parliament and polarization across Europe. The UK, traditionally seen as a stable country, will see its fourth prime minister in three years this week as parliament has been in turmoil for years over the Brexit vote.

“We need to keep an eye on them”
Behind the concern about populism in Europe is the question of what populist parties will do once in power. “What we have to watch,” says van der Staak, “are these anti-establishment things that happen once in power.”

“Will they rule fairly or will they go too far?” He refused.

According to a forthcoming report by IDEA, shared with Euronews, almost 70% of what it calls European democracies are at risk of democratic collapse in 2021, where 60% of democracies are destroyed. Three of them – Poland, Hungary and Slovenia – are described by IDEA as ‘backsliding’, meaning that politicians and governments have been ‘restricted and deliberate’ in their democratic processes.

Right-wing political parties have taken power in three eastern European states, despite losing Slovenia’s Janez Janša, who has been compared to Trump in this year’s election. Budapest and Warsaw are still arguing with Brussels about the return of their democratic freedoms at home.

‘I Do Not Think So’

But others don’t think Europe is moving towards right-wing populism. Brett Meyer, a researcher at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said, “It’s true that right-wing populists have been successful in a few countries. “But not in many others.” “Look at Germany, they elected the most boring person in the world,” he added, referring to other election victories in France and Austria. “There are big questions about the revival of populism.” Meyer is also skeptical about drawing comparisons with Europe, pointing out how recent elections in Italy and Sweden are “completely different from each other”.

In Sweden, the vote is about crime and immigration, while Meyer says that in Italy “the story is about the weakness and fragmentation of the left”.