The next
EU parliament elections are a chance to defeat the far-right
Published JUL 26 2018
https://www.ft.com/content/5fff7858-8f29-11e8-bb8f-a6a2f7bca546
Former
Trump strategist Steve Bannon wants to create a radical rightist movement in
the European Parliament
As an
architect of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory, Steve Bannon
knows a thing or two about unconventional political warfare. Now the godfather
of the US alt-right is gearing for combat in Europe. His arena is the campaign
for the next European Parliament elections, scheduled for May 23-26 2019. His
chosen weapons, as in the US, are set to be the stoking of social tensions,
economic nationalism, incitement of public anger at elites, systematic attempts
to discredit reasoned argument and the spread of misinformation.
Mr Bannon
is forming an organisation, under the innocent-sounding name of The Movement,
which will serve as an inspiration, tool and potential financial vehicle for
the support of radical rightist parties across the soon-to-be 27-nation EU.
Some of these parties are already strong in their own right. Italy’s League
holds power at national level and has emerged since May as the country’s most
dynamic, if divisive political force.
France’s
National Rally, formerly known as the National Front, is licking its wounds
after losing last year’s presidential contest, but it won the most seats in the
last EU elections of 2014. The rightwing populist Alternative for Germany is
the main opposition party and third-largest overall in the Bundestag. The
anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats have recently risen to the top of opinion polls
ahead of September’s Swedish parliamentary elections. Not all such parties will
seek to borrow from Mr Bannon’s sulphurous arts, but it is clear that the
European radical right is anything but a declining force.
At the
same time, the nature of the EU legislature and its five-yearly elections make
the assembly vulnerable to a Bannon-style insurgency. Under successive EU
treaties the parliament has accumulated ever more extensive powers, including,
since the 2009 Lisbon treaty, on international trade. But turnout has declined
in every vote since direct elections to the legislature started in 1979. Voters
feel no strong attachment to individual candidates. They often use the
elections as a way to express discontent about national conditions. In recent
contests, protest parties have been the beneficiaries.
The
parliament’s mainstream pro-EU parties do not help matters. Centre-right,
centrist and centre-left parties usually work in harmony on the European stage,
crafting laws together and flying the flag for closer EU unity. In the eyes of
many voters, especially since the post-2008 financial crash and the refugee and
migrant emergency, these moderate parties have become barely distinguishable
from each other. Such circumstances make it easier for unscrupulous extremists
and shrewd political entrepreneurs to attract votes at election time.
By no
means all the political tides are flowing in support of Mr Bannon and his
European partners in disruption. Emmanuel Macron, the French president,
appreciates the shortcomings of the European Parliament’s party structure. With
the help of his République en Marche party, which catapulted him to the
presidency, and reformist movements such as Spain’s Ciudadanos, Mr Macron aims
to break the traditional parties’ grip on the EU legislature.
There is,
then, all to play for in next year’s European Parliament contest. It would
certainly be strange if a legislature known as a stronghold of EU integration
were to succumb to the iconoclasts of the anti-EU radical right. But it would
be counter-productive to complain about Mr Bannon’s involvement in the
campaign. The best way to foil the dark intentions of Mr Bannon and The
Movement is to inflict a resounding election defeat on them both.
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