Europe Drifts to the Right

Right-wing populist parties are on the rise across Europe. The performance of the Swiss People’s Party and Austria’s Freedom Party have proven particularly strong, gaining over 20 percent of the vote in the last round of elections.

Right-wing parties have also proven successful in Scandinavia – the Norwegian Progress Party, Danish People’s Party and Perus in Finland have all become increasingly popular. After a string of successes at national level, Europe seems to be firmly in the crosshairs.

Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom and Marine Le Pen’s Front National recently announced the birth of a new alliance to fight next year’s European Parliament elections and to “liberate Europe from the monster of Brussels”.