the anti-migrant, anti-woke, anti-green obsessions of European far-right parties

Six weeks before the European elections, many polls anticipate a further increase in far-right parties that are more numerous and more powerful within the Union than five years ago.

But what do these parties have in common? For Cas Mudde, professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia (United States), it’s nativism. This theory which classifies the citizens of a nation in order of arrival and “purity” (ethnic, religious or cultural) “remains the key ideological element of these parties”. They find themselves in the rejection of immigration and the defense of the traditional family. Against “wokism”, it will be about protecting values ​​but also a way of life – ““climate” is increasingly integrated into far-right rhetoric, in a populist approach”points out the specialist.

We have taken the broad outlines of the programs of the main far-right parties to understand the themes on which they intend to move the lines in Brussels, but also what divides them.

Immigration, a founding theme

Unsurprisingly, the European far right has made it a priority to strengthen the external borders of the European Union (EU) to block the way for migrants. The MEPs from these groups also abstained or voted, in April, against the migration pact which they considered to be too lax.

At the initiative of countries where the far right is in power, Europe is increasingly barricading itself: the Hungarian Viktor Orban has had a double fence 175 kilometers long erected against Serbia. In the Mediterranean, Italy is doing everything to restrict the activities of rescue associations by increasing legal procedures and refusing them to disembark, sequestering migrants in the open sea. They support, in unison with other far-right parties, the need for Frontex to refocus on its mission as Europe’s border protection agency rather than helping migrants.

Far-right groups in several member states also want to close internal borders permanently, which is prohibited by the Schengen free movement agreements. However, it is possible to temporarily deviate from this: at the start of 2024, almost half of EU countries had reestablished controls, citing the terrorist threat or migratory pressure.

Another of their avenues for limiting immigration consists of “externalizing” asylum seekers arriving in Europe to third countries – a point on which the extreme right has been joined by the program of the European right (and even by the social democrats in Denmark). In November, the government of Giorgia Meloni, very committed to this path, concluded an agreement with Albania for the installation of two detention centers under Italian law on Albanian territory. Even more radical, Eric Zemmour’s training, Reconquête!, assumes be favorable to the idea, presented by the Austrian ultra-right ideologue Martin Sellner to Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, in Germany) and to the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ, in Austria) of a plan of “remigration” consisting of sending back citizens “unassimilated” in their country of origin.

“Wokism”, a new battlehorse

A scarecrow almost as frightening as the conspiracy and racist theory of the “great replacement” of European populations by “uncontrolled” immigration has appeared in recent years in far-right discourse: wokism. A year ago, a number of European far-right parties met in Budapest to denounce this “progressive virus” and the fight for the defense of minorities and free choice of sexual orientation.

Over the past ten years, attacks against the rights of homosexual, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people have increased across Europe. From the Baltic countries to Croatia, via Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, anti-LGBT+ alliances have been created between conservatives and far-right organizations. The Queer Your EU association has calculated only on key textslike the resolution for the rights of LGBT + people (2021) or against hate speech (2022), the two groups having voted the most against are by far the European Conservatives and Reformists (CRE) and Identity and Democracy (ID) , which brings together most of the far-right MEPs.

Certain points fought by these parties are decided at the national level – such as the change of gender in civil status, for example. But others can be addressed in the European Parliament, such as the recognition of filiation rights, crucial for same-sex families, whose rights are not identical from one member country to another, and which is refused by MEPs from ‘far right.

“Unraveling” the green deal

The economic and energy crises occupy a central place in the speeches of far-right leaders, who point out the financial costs and excessive constraints linked to the ecological transition.

At the European level, the target of their criticism is the European Green Deal, a roadmap aimed at achieving carbon neutrality in 2050. “Everything will be unraveled”following the June elections, assures an advisor of the National Rally to Politico, as many far-right candidates also promise. The Belgian Vlaams Belang thus submitted a resolution to the European Parliament in February to “abolish the green deal”denouncing a “climate fanaticism”.

The anger of farmers at the start of the year was also exploited by far-right groups, which advocate deregulation. “Long live the farmers, whose tractors are forcing Europe to reverse the madness imposed by multinationals and the left”greeted Matteo Salvini, head of the League and vice-president of the Italian Council of Ministers, after the Commission’s setback on pesticide regulations.

In addition to farmers, it is also motorists and energy consumers who must be “saved”. In Germany, the AfD took advantage of the concerns aroused in public opinion by the “heating” law to present itself as the guarantor of ” freedom “ in front of the “climate dictatorship” and intends to oppose the energy renovation component of the green pact. The party is also opposed to any ban on combustion engine cars.

In Poland, it is a real “anti-decrease” program that the Konfederacja alliance is brandishing for each household with its slogan: “A house, a barbecue, some grass, two cars and a vacation.”

Deep differences over Ukraine

Mathematically, a coalition of far-right MPs, Christian Democrats and conservatives could obtain a majority in Brussels following the June elections. However, such a hypothesis seems unrealistic as the differences between European far-right parties are so deep.

In particular, they are deeply divided over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Russophilia of the Hungarian Fidesz party (which no longer belongs to any European group) and the more discreet one of the National Rally (which is part of ID) oppose the Atlanticism of parties such as Brothers of Italy, belonging to the CRE and ideologically closer to the conservative right.

Beyond ideas, it is above all a question of political strategy: there is a real “hate between the ECR and ID groups, explains Catherine Fieschi, specialist in extremism at the consultancy firm Counterpoint. Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen are doing everything to discredit Giorgia Meloni. The gap that existed between the two groups continued to widen. »

During the next term, the political scientist anticipates, “what is likely to happen are ad hoc alliances as we saw in July around the law on biodiversity”, which has been wrongly accused of imposing unbearable constraints on the agricultural, forestry and fishing sectors. After being blocked again by a revolt of far-right governments, the adoption of this text was postponed, and the associations are worried: in July, Viktor Orban’s Hungary took the helm of the rotating presidency of the ‘Union.