By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian
Most European politicians on the political right of the spectrum have hailed the return of Donald Trump, the former and future president who shares their tough views on issues like immigration.
Herbert Kickl of Austria, France’s Marine Le Pen, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Germany’s Alice Weidel, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders, all reject progressive universalism at home, embracing the cultural distinctiveness of their own countries. They see Trump’s election victory as a sign that political fortunes are moving in their direction.
In Austria, Kickl’s Freedom Party on Sept. 29 won the largest share of votes in the national election. Founded by former Nazis, it wants to “remigrate” Austrian nationals with migrant roots to create a more “homogenous” society. However, all the other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with them.
“This might seem like a slap in the face for many of you,” Kickl wrote to his supporters. “But I promise you: the last word has not been spoken. Today is not the end of the story.”
In just over two years’ time France could have its Trump equivalent in the Elysée Palace: Marine Le Pen of the National Rally, should she win the presidential election. She wished Trump “every success” after his victory and added: “This new political era should contribute to the strengthening of bilateral relations and the pursuit of constructive dialogue and cooperation on the international stage.”
Hungary’s Viktor Orban greeted the election results with glee, and toasted the outcome with a drink of vodka to “share our joy at this fantastic result.” The prime minister referred to it as “A much needed victory for the World” on X minutes after Trump declared victory.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has long cultivated ties to Trump’s camp, and has praised him. Her party has advocated controversial measures to control immigration, including a plan, stalled by Italian courts, to send would-be asylum seekers to detention camps in Albania.
Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician whose Party for Freedom came first in an election last year, but was shunned by establishment parties whose support he needed to form a government, could barely contain himself.
“Patriots are winning elections all over the world,” he exclaimed. “The liberal-leftish woke driven nihilists are full of disbelief and hate and unfit to give the people what they truly want: freedom and their own nation first.”
In Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader, Alice Weidel, called Trump “of course a model for us.” His slogan of “Make America Great Again,” she told Deutschlandfunk radio, was no different from her party’s program of “making Germany great,” because “we as the AfD stand up for the national interests and for the people.”
It seems entrenched political elites who largely control education, mainstream media and the bureaucracy, both nationally and at the European Union level, are being told that their expertise does not make them sovereign. But it comes down mostly to immigration and the cultural identity of the nation.
The lax border enforcement of progressives, instead of promoting immigration, has helped undermine its support. The movement of populations, with few controls, has fuelled this pushback.
Western multiculturalists regard Europe’s asylum system as an axiom of political virtue, whatever its degree of dysfunction. Criticism is equated with xenophobia. But the debate is about control, about who decides who should come into a state, and about the rules or obligations for the people living on a territory that is ruled by, and accountable to, the nation.
These parties often share Trump-style protectionist policies, aspects of which have been more traditionally associated with the left: supporting pensions and social services, backing trade tariffs, raising some taxes on the wealthy while lowering them for the working class, and price controls on rent and food during periods of high inflation.
But their most distinguishing feature is not just their opposition to immigration, but also their suggestion that European culture and values are being replaced by those of others.
The populist and nationalist revolt is, in their minds, a backlash against institutions and policies that have undermined democracy. Their voters are backing once fringe parties to ensure that social questions long ignored or dismissed by elites are dealt with.
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