European Parties Should Not Emulate the Extreme Right: ECFR
March 21, 2024 Hour: 12:08 pm
On Thursday, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) released a study warning that pro-European parties should not fall into the temptation of copying the strategies of the far-right or adopting their themes in the European Parliament elections in June.
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In the study entitled “Wars and elections: How European leaders can maintain public support for Ukraine,” ECFR study arrives at three main conclusions: the migration issue will not define the elections; the far-right is highly divided and will not succeed in setting the European Union agenda; and pro-European parties should not base their campaign on the European policies on on COVID-19, the Green Deal, or the Urainian conflict.
These conclusions are based on 17,023 interviews carried out in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden.
The information obtained reveals divisions within the European far-right regarding support for Ukraine. While the Polish PiS and the Swedish Democrats advocate for continuing this support, the German AfD, the Hungarian Fidesz, or the Austrian FPÖ prefer to pressure Kiev to negotiate with Russia.
Marine Le Pen is leading Macron in the polls for June’s European elections. Will the far-right leader translate that support into finally winning the presidency in 2027? https://t.co/cKfjbe43l9
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The ECFR study also showed that far-right organizations are divided regarding migration or their countries’ membership in the European Union.
Moreover, given that many European voters do not view the policies of the European Commission as successful, the ECFR study recommends demobilizing voters of far-right organizations in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden.
It is unlikely that Eurosceptics will switch political sides, but perhaps it is possible to dissuade them from voting on election day, especially if they do not subscribe to certain elements of a party’s program or are informed about the uncertainties that anti-system parties can create in their own country and in the European Union, the study suggest.
Instead, leaders should advocate for a stronger Europe concerned with its own defense, capable of compensating for possible shifts in U.S. policy under Donald Trump and other Russian aggressions on European borders. “This strategy could ‘open the eyes’ of voters who fear Trump’s return about the importance of maintaining a European direction,” it added.
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Autor: teleSUR/ JF
Fuente: EFE
