The EU Parliament Elections – Far Right, is That Right?

The press is going into hysterics with its use of "far-right" to describe conservatives winning office. Why is that?

Recently, the entire media and public sphere exploded after some results surfaced regarding the ongoing EU Parliament elections, which saw the election of many nationalists and conservatives.

If we separate the wheat from the chaff, in the end the results are quite clear: there are much more seats taken by conservative or right-leaning groups and a lot of seats lost by left-leaning representatives.

Let’s look just at the preliminary numbers in regards to the EU as a whole: as of the writing of this article, the Renew Europe political group, which aligns itself, according to their website, with liberal democratic values and against “autocrats,” has lost 22 seats in the Parliament.

To the contrary, there’s an influx of EPP representatives – the European People’s Party Group (gained 14 seats), a center-right group.

Elections specific to France and Germany – the two European powerhouses – are even more exemplary. In France, Emmanuel Macron’s party has suffered a humiliating defeat to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party (which describes itself as a movement and not a party), which adheres to French nationalist ideas. Marine Le Pen in some publications has also been called “Putin’s friend” (which in the modern Western-European mind reads close to “the enemy of our world”; real or alleged connections to Russia and Vladimir Putin seem to be an extremely effective enemy tag). Following this rout, Macron announced snap elections; in his own words: “I do not want to give the keys to power to the far right in 2027.”

In Germany, Scholz’s SDP has fallen to third place – after the opposition CDU/CSU and the right-wing AfD (Alternative for Germany...

The media do not use words symmetrically to describe “far right” and “far left.”

By my count (I’ll spare you the details), there are some “far right” parties with members in the EU parliament; a total of 8 members.

Symmetrically, there are some “far left”; a total of 6.

I don’t count AfD as “far right”, nor Syriza of Greece as “far left”. I put them into categories intermediate between “center left” and “far left;” and “center right” and “far right.” The political spectrum is a continuum, not an either/or proposition.

The few far-right parties in EU parliament use rhetoric and symbols of militarism and nationalism (or, ultra-nationalism).

Symmetrically, the few far-left parties in the EU parliament use rhetoric of nihilism (or, anarchic violence) and communism.

Anybody who knows AfD (on the right) or Syriza (on the left) knows that these parties are a bit fringy; but, only a bit. They have worked with, or seek to work with other parties on a pragmatic basis. Therefore, they seek reform (from the standpoint of their voters) and not destruction.

We have been seeing for some time now, Georgia Meloni - whose Brothers of Italy party is described as far right - head the government in Italy. She’s terrific.

In the Netherlands, we now have a coalition government the largest member party of which is Geert Wilders’ Party of Freedom. Good for the Dutch!

In France, Marine Le Pen’s party, National Rally, looks to become the largest party in that country’s National Assembly.

In Austria, the polls point to the so-called far right Party of Freedom coming in first, with the potential of forming a majority coalition with the center-right People’s Party.

So, at the national level as well as the European level, the so-called far-right parties are on the march.

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