Far Right Victory In Netherlands Elections Signals Bad Omen For European Liberals And Left

The results of the general elections in Netherlands held on November 22 indicating the emergence of the far right Party for Freedom (PVV) headed by Geert Wilders sent a shock wave across Europe. PVV became the biggest party in the Netherlands winning 37 of the 150 seats in parliament. Never in Dutch post-war history has a far-right party achieved such a massive victory. The election campaign was conducted on the issues of economy and immigration. The highly hyper nationalist stand of PVV clicked with the disgruntled citizens facilitating the PVV victory.

The political analysts are more or less agreed that the far right is on ascendency in Europe marginalizing centre-right and centre-left taking advantage of the arrival of the refugees in big numbers from the countries affected by Ukraine war and the latest Israel-Hamas conflict. Added to this is the jolt to the living standards of these countries due to energy shortage following the continuation of sanctions on Russia by European Union.

According to a leading analyst of European politics, this result is symptomatic of the further radicalization of the Right. Although the themes of the “cost of living” crisis and the democratic accountability of government figured prominently in this election, the politicization of migration was decisive. It has risen in fits and starts over the last decade but became central again when the last government collapsed over the issue. Wilders, the politician who made his peroxide blonde haircut a questionable fashion statement before Donald Trump, drew on the latter to inspire his election slogan: “Dutch people first.”

Interestingly, the newly emerging far right leaders are copying Donald Trump. Geert Wilders had given call in the manner of Donald Trump to ‘Make Netherlands Great Again”. The same slogan was given by the newly elected far right President of Argentina Javier Milei. He said that for him Argentina was the first and he would make Argentina great again. The newly elected rightwing president of Ecuador Daniel Novoa is known as the Trump of Ecuador. He is the scion of the largest banana company of the country. In all Donald Trump is inspiring a number of far right leaders in both Latin America and Europe.

As of now,, there are a large number of far right parties in Europe which are in power in coalition with others. Meloni of the far right Brothers of Italy Party is the prime minister of the coalition government in Italy.. Swiss People’s Party is the biggest party belonging to far right in Switzerland which for long was free from the influence of the conservatives. Then the right wing Finns Party is the partner of the coalition government in Finland. In both Finland and Sweden, the domination of the Social Democrats has been curbed by the rising right forces in the recent years.

Amidst this right wing resurgence in European politics, only Spain has thwarted the attempts of the resurging right to displace the Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez who is running his own government as a part of the coalition with Let led by the Spanish Communist leader Yalonda Diaz, the Deputy Prime Minister . The far right VOX along with the right wing party tried to defeat the Left coalition but earlier this month Sanchez got majority with the support of Basque nationalists and the new Spanish ministry under him has worked out a programme for rejuvenation of Spanish economy.

In Germany, the Social Democratic Olaf Scholz was elected as the Chancellor in December 2021 general elections. He is running his government in cooperation with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party. The Left wing Die Linke is sitting in the opposition. The far right AFD showed resurgence in 2021 and 2022 but in 2023, the AFD could not expand as expected. At the other end, the Left in Germany is faced with a crisis with the vertical split of the Die Linke on ideological lines. The new party with ten members out of 37 members of Bundestag will start functioning from January next year. It is to be seen whether the new party can achieve success in giving a new direction to the struggles of the working people and in mobilizing the other left wing groups under a common programme.

In Britain, Prime Minister Sunak of the Conservative Party is making efforts to pep up his party which is facing a big credibility crisis following big defeats in the local polls and the by elections at the hands of the Labour Party. The general elections are due by the end of 2024. The Conservatives, according to the latest opinion polls, are lagging by 15 to 18 points behind Labour. The Labour Party’s shadow PM Sir Kier Starmer is confident of coming to power in 2024 elections. Much will depend on the developments in Britain in the next one year. The Labour Party leadership has shifted to the centre right under Starmer, The left wing Jeremy Corbyn Who headed the Labour Party in parliament earlier, has been sidelined.. The Labour has also lot of organizational problems to take care of… One thing about Britain is that though there are grievances against the immigrants, the far right has not made much headway.

In France, despite all the problems, the centrist President Macron is in control. The far right Li Pen is a bit down these days as her earlier plans for expansion have not fructified. Li Pen supporters are trying to arouse passions against the immigrants but those are equally combated by the joint rally of the liberals and the left. In the recent weeks, there have been big rallies by both the Right and the Left. That way, in Europe, the far right has been expanding its areas more in smaller countries compared to the bigger countries like Britain, Germany and France. The Right bid is expected to continue in 2024 as well. (IPA Service)