Far-right political parties and their anti-Europe rhetoric pose a real threat to the EU, argues Michael McGowan
The achievements of the European Union, and the brave initiative of the founders who took the historic step of putting an end to centuries of conflict in Europe and a 20th century of mass cemeteries and concentration camps, must not be lost.
Yet the growth in support for anti-European, anti-immigrant and far-right parties across the European Union, and the worst recession since at least the 1930s, has raised concerns that this may result in a parliament with a majority of anti-European MEPs for the first time in its history after the May 2014 European elections.
Indeed, an increase in the number of MEPs from populist and far-right parties fuelled by national prejudices will not tackle Europe’s problems of austerity, unemployment, and falling living standards.
When I was first elected to the European Parliament in 1984, I became aware of the influence and dangers of the far right. The Front National had gained 11 per cent of the vote in France and Jean-Marie Le Pen and nine other fascists joined the parliament, where they formed the Group of the European Right with members from Italy and one from Greece. In Belgium an anti-immigrant independent also won a seat. This was around the time highly respected German MEP Rudi Ardt was elected leader of the Socialist Group, of which I was a member. He had been active in opposition to Hitler and a member of the resistance, and his aunt had been executed by the Nazis.
Following the election of the French Christian Democrat MEP Pierre Pfimlin, a former French prime minister, with the support of the European Right Group led by Le Pen, the Socialists were scandalised and, together with much of the left, wore white roses as a protest against fascism.
In October 1984 the Parliament set up a Committee of Inquiry into the Rise of Fascism and Racism in Europe, and a second Committee of Inquiry into Racism and Xenophobia was set up in October 1989. The anti-racism campaign of the parliament would continue in the nineties and led to the designation of 1997 as the European Year Against Racism.
Chilling echo of the 1930s
And now, the November 2013 launch of a pan-European alliance of far-right parties – led by Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, and Geert Wilders of the Dutch Freedom Party – has led to comparisons with the 1980s. But the recent rise of far-right parties across Europe is really a chilling echo of the 1930s.
Marine Le Pen has played down the anti-semitic record of her party and has concentrated on mobilising hatred and fear not against Jews, but against Muslim immigrants. Meanwhile, Wilders concentrates on the threat to national identity from the European Union.
Italian prime minister Enrico Letta has recently warned that the increased support for such parties as the Front National and the anti-establishment Five Star movement in Italy, besides the UK Independence Party or Ukip, is the most dangerous phenomenon facing the European Union.
The predictions about the outcome of the 2014 European elections are that Nigel Farage’s Ukip could become the biggest British party and that right-wing parties in Poland, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria are expected to perform better than in 2009. In the Netherlands, Wilders’ anti-Islamic populism is doing well in the polls and the anti-Euro Alternative for Germany party is also predicted to win a European seat.
The challenge for Ireland is not only to use its influence and support the economic recovery of Europe, but also to help provide the leadership that Europe so desperately needs in rejecting anti-European, anti-immigrant, populist, extreme nationalist and far-right parties and tendencies.
Ireland has a record of positive and consistent support for the European Union. It is now the time for Ireland to mobilise all its resources and see off all those who wish to destroy one of the greatest achievements for peace and democracy in the history of Europe.
Michael McGowan is a former MEP and President of the Development Committee of the European Parliament.
