Left-wing parties rule out alliances with far
right ahead of European elections
Signatories, including MEP Raphaël Glucksmann and
Frans Timmermans, promise to ‘combat hatred, racism and xenophobia’
Jon Henley
Europe correspondent
Thu 23 May
2024 07.00 CEST
Leading
left-wing parties across Europe have ruled out alliances with the far right and
pledged to “relentlessly combat hatred, racism and xenophobia” ahead of
European parliamentary elections likely to see significant gains by hardline
nationalists.
“Turbulent
times require a clear course and a firm attitude. They do not tolerate
vagueness or cowardice,” said the joint appeal, published on Thursday and
shared with the Guardian. “The time has come to become democrats of combat, no
longer of habit or comfort.”
Signatories
included MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, who heads the French Socialist party’s list
for the June election, and Frans Timmermans, a former European Commission
vice-president and leading member of the Dutch Labour party (PvdA).
Others to
join the appeal were Paul Magnette of the Belgian Socialist party (PS), Nicolas
Schmit, lead candidate of Europe’s Socialists & Democrats (S&D) for the
job of European Commission president, the Spanish Socialist Iratxe García,
German Social Democrat Katarina Barley, Poland’s Robert Biedroń and Italy’s
Elly Schlein.
“While the
far right is progressing throughout Europe, we solemnly commit not to give up
on our democratic, humanist and united principles,” the leftists’ statement
said, pledging “to build a strong barrier against the far right” at all levels.
The
signatories undertook to “reject any electoral or governmental alliance with
far-right parties, at national or European level, and to immediately exclude
any formation from our European social democratic family which contravenes this
rule”.
It follows
current Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s refusal to say her
centre-right group would not in future work with national-conservative and far
right parties including Brothers of Italy, Poland’s Law & Justice (PiS) and
Spain’s Vox.
Another
trigger for the socialists’ intervention is thought to be the decision by
centre-right Dutch VVD party last week to enter government with Geert Wilders’s
far-right Freedom Party (PVV). As a result, the European parliament’s liberal
group – to which the VVD belongs – has promised a vote on whether to allow it
to remain a member.
Polling
suggests the S&D group will again finish second in the European elections,
perhaps shedding a handful of MEPs, with the main centre-right European
People’s party (EPP) expected to remain the largest group.
However,
far-right and hardline conservative parties are forecast to make significant
gains, finishing first in nine countries including Austria, France and the
Netherlands and second or third in nine more including Germany, Spain, Portugal
and Sweden.
Analysts
say those gains may make little immediate difference to the workings of the
parliament, because its three mainstream groups are likely to retain a working
majority of MEPs overall and the far right are divided by factional rivalries.
However,
the combination of a stronger far-right presence in parliament and in several
national governments around the continent could end up compromising key EU
projects such as the green deal and recently agreed migration package.
Signatories
to the leftwingers’ statement called on all parties supporting “the democratic
principles at the foundation of European construction” to “escape ambiguity or
compromise”, saying it was time to “defend our principles and our open
societies with infinitely more vigour”.
Wherever
the far right attacked minorities, they said, “We will be there. Wherever you
attack women’s rights and LGBTQI+ rights: we will be there. Wherever you insult
a European citizen to inferiorise [sic], humiliate or dehumanise them: we will
be there.”
The
signatories said they would stand up to Europe’s far right “without weakening
or bending”.
“When a
European citizen is attacked and humiliated because of who he is, it is the
whole of Europe and, beyond that, humanity that is attacked and humiliated,”
they said.
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