The strong rise of the far right is testing EU political governance – Theory – China Industry Network

Original title: The sudden emergence of the Dutch Liberal Party and its electoral victory has triggered a “right-turn” political whirlwind in European politics (quote)

The rise of the far right is testing EU political governance (topic)

In the recently concluded Dutch parliamentary elections, the Dutch Freedom Party, led by far-right politician Wilders, won a resounding victory, winning 37 of the 150 seats in the parliament. In the increasingly fragmented Dutch political arena, the sudden emergence of an unpopular far-right party with such an influential election result has once again attracted the international community’s attention to the far-right political forces in Europe. Wilders’s Liberal Party is very likely to successfully form a government together with other parties in the future, and he himself may become the next prime minister of the Netherlands. The rapid “rightward turn” of the Dutch political arena will not only bring major changes to the country’s politics, but will also have a profound impact on the future European political landscape.

In the past few years, European right-wing parties such as the Brotherhood of Italy, the far-right Spartans Party in Greece, and the right-wing Orthodox Finns Party in Finland have risen strongly, echoing the traditional right-wing parties in Germany and France, and creating momentum in the European political arena. A huge “political whirlwind”.

The rise of right-wing political forces in Europe poses a challenge that cannot be ignored to the EU’s dominance in European politics and the unity of internal decision-making. Right-wing parties openly oppose the “Greater Europeanism” political concept on which the EU relies, emphasize the political principle of giving priority to national interests, and openly challenge the EU in many fields such as national sovereignty, economic policy, immigration policy, social and cultural values, and environmental protection policy. authoritative position, even threatening to withdraw from the EU. The far-right Liberal Party, which won this election in the Netherlands, has made it clear that it hopes to hold a referendum on the Netherlands’ “Brexit” from the European Union, and has not compromised at all on the political stance that the Netherlands should “Brexit”. The victory of the far-right party in the Netherlands has set a very strong example for countries in central Europe that are about to hold general elections. If supported by countries with a strong sense of strategic autonomy within the EU, European right-wing political forces will inevitably have a strong impact on the EU’s internal decision-making mechanism, and will also affect the EU’s institutional reform, foreign trade policy, climate governance, Ukraine crisis and a series of other issues. political stance, forcing the EU to make adjustments in order to maintain internal unity.

If there are certain differences among European right-wing parties in the fields of national security and geopolitics, they are unprecedentedly unified on the issue of opposing immigration. In recent years, the overall economic growth of European countries has been sluggish, social and people’s livelihood issues have become increasingly prominent, and political attitudes against immigration have become increasingly recognized among ordinary social groups. Taking the Netherlands as an example, a popular populist view in the Netherlands believes that immigrants have harmed the economic interests of local ethnic groups and caused serious social and livelihood problems in the Netherlands. Although the Liberal Party’s political position on immigration has softened, the trend of the Dutch government taking a conservative stance will not change in the future. Within Europe, the right-wing stance against immigration not only greatly increases the possibility of ethnic conflicts within society, but also fundamentally deviates from the policy of free circulation of labor within the EU under the principle of European integration.

The development of far-right political forces in Europe directly reflects the European people’s dissatisfaction with the national social and political governance system, and is fundamentally related to the increasingly severe socio-economic and people’s livelihood issues. The real livelihood crisis is the breeding ground for the unprecedented growth of far-right political forces in Europe. Far-right parties have moved from the political fringes to the center of the political stage and even become the ruling party. Behind this is the strong emotional expression of the European people. Taking the Netherlands as an example, the Liberal Party’s election issues on social and people’s livelihood issues have aroused widespread resonance in the Netherlands and have also brought many new ideas to the Dutch political scene. During the election process, the party repeatedly mentioned the need to solve housing problems and inflation, expressed concerns about the economic downturn, and claimed to represent “the interests of ordinary people.”

The sudden changes in the European political arena epitomize the social governance crisis pervading the current European political life. It also deeply reflects the general dissatisfaction of EU member states with the current political culture in Europe. It is not an accidental political phenomenon that far-right parties have gained support from a large number of voters across Europe. The current electoral system common in European countries has directly led to political fragmentation, and multi-party coalition governments are unable to effectively solve social and people’s livelihood issues. In fact, a large number of immigrants have made practical contributions to the economies of developed European countries. However, the inherent differences and exclusions in religious and cultural belief systems have always prevented the formation of a unified national and cultural community within European countries.

Fundamentally, the current European social, political and cultural model originates from the inherent spiritual value of modern Western capitalist civilization. The principle of self-interest and confrontational cultural consciousness deeply embedded in European civilized life have dominated the basic model and value orientation of social development in European countries, and the emergence of far-right political ideology is an inevitable result. The social governance crisis in EU member states is the epitome of the EU’s political governance model. If Europe remains within the confines of the Cold War ideology and ignores the objective reality and basic laws of current world political development, what awaits the EU will probably be a more severe political test.

（Sun Shengnan Gao Jian,The authors are associate professors at the Department of Language and Culture, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, and director of the European Think Tank Research Center at Shanghai International Studies University)