Originally published as an op-ed in the Sunday edition of Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Sunday 25 September 2022. Own translation.
Of all the national elections held this year in Europe, three parties, from three countries, garnered the most international attention. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally received over 40% of the vote in the second round of the presidential election held in April. They hope to go beyond and win the next election. In Sweden, the fledgling Sweden Democrats party finished second, having quadrupled its electoral strength in a decade. In Italy, where the polls open today, the also young Brothers of Italy party is expected to come in first and its leader to become prime minister.
These three parties are simplistically described as “anti-systemic”, “extreme-right”, “anti-democratic”, and even “neo-Nazi”. However, although all three parties have their roots in neo-fascist movements developed in their countries after World War II, none of them behave in an anti-democratic or anti-systemic way. Put another way, none of these parties resembles Greece’s Golden Dawn or even the brutal Trumpian mutation of the American Republican Party.
Nor, of course, are the three parties mentioned above isolated and unrelated cases. On the contrary, they represent an important political trend which was born in Europe towards the end of the last century and has been dynamically developing ever since. This is the phenomenon of European Nativism (from the Latin nativus, meaning ‘native’ or ‘indigenous’), an ultra-conservative movement characterized by Euroscepticism and xenophobia towards ‘non-indigenous’ populations, particularly Muslims.
Among the first countries to have such parties were Austria, Belgium, and France. Followed by the Netherlands, where Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party maintains a political prominence, and more recently Germany. Like Sweden, all the other Nordic countries have strong nativist parties representing a nativism distinct from that found in Southern Europe, and most notably represented by the Italian League and perhaps Spain’s VOX party.
Despite individual differences, all the parties above share many important similarities. Firstly, their core ideology is constituted by three demands – with great electoral appeal – relating to a certain ‘European way of life’: the strengthening of culturally homogenous nations, the guarantee of social cohesion and law and order, and the preservation of the family as the basic social entity.
Secondly, these parties do not seek to annul the achievements of the welfare state or to limit freedom within their countries. Although deeply conservative, nativist parties remain faithful to the principles of liberal democracy so long as foreigners are excluded from it!
Thirdly, most nativist parties have youthful leadership that finds it easy to appeal to young electoral audiences.
Fourth, these parties are increasingly able to form coalition governments with traditional parties. In Austria, the Freedom Party, also rooted in Nazism, has been in a coalition three times with the centre-right. Scandinavian nativist parties have either participated in coalition governments (Norway and Finland) or have offered support to minority governments (Denmark) in exchange for passing laws with anti-immigration and sometimes anti-European components. In Italy, the League was part of the government that emerged from the 2018 elections and its leader, Matteo Salvini was Deputy Prime Minister – a scenario which may soon be repeated.
What might a future, in which Europe’s nativist parties continue to attract voters, hold? The answer has already been made clear in Austria, the country with the most first-hand experience of nativist governments so far.
In the 1999 elections, the Freedom Party, led by the then 50-year-old Georg Haider, surprised the world by coming in second with a narrow margin over the (centre-right) Austrian People’s Party. When these two parties formed a coalition government, other European cabinets broke off diplomatic relations. However, they soon realised that sanctions would not work and therefore reverted course. In the years that followed, the Freedom Party participated in two more governments. Today it is in opposition (having won 16.2% of the vote in the 2019 elections) and has significantly moderated its political rhetoric and agenda. An agenda from which major traditional parties have borrowed ideas from, especially those concerning anti-immigration. Over time, Haider’s once “neo-Nazi” and “far-right” party has transformed itself into a fully mainstream party that has legitimately governed without endangering Austria’s democracy. It is possible that Italy and Sweden today, and perhaps France tomorrow, will follow the same path. The question is whether Europe’s traditional parties will be able to adapt to a new political landscape reforming the continent.
