1 in 10 Europeans will back right-wing parties in upcoming EU elections - study

in eu •  6 years ago 

One in 10 Europeans will back right-wing parties in the upcoming European Union elections, according to a new study, pointing to growing support for Euroskeptic movements across the bloc.
A Bertelsmann Foundation study found that right-wing parties with a populist, nationalist or Euroskeptic bent received the highest level of voter approval of any single political grouping. 10.3 percent of voters said they would cast their ballots for right-wing parties, while only 6.2 percent said they positively identified with left-wing groups, and 4.4 percent with a Green party.

Right-wing parties have seen a surge in support amid growing disillusionment with Brussels. Those parties include Italy’s Lega Nord, France’s National Rally party, as well as the right-wing Alternative for Germany – commonly known by its German acronym, AfD.

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(L-R) Matteo Salvini, from Italy's Lega Nord, Austrian Freedom Party member Harald Vilimsky, Marine Le Pen, France's National Front political party head, Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders and Belgium's Flemish Vlaams Belang party member Gerolf Annemans © Reuters / Francois Lenoir

The research indicates that voters care more about stopping parties and policies they dislike than advancing a positive agenda of their own, which, the researchers said, could end up feeding movements on the fringes.

“Many citizens no longer choose to back one party, but rather vote against parties they oppose the most,” said Robert Vehrkamp, a co-author of the Bertelsmann study.

“The populist parties have managed to create a stable and loyal voter base in a relatively short space of time,” he added.

Nearly 24,000 voters were surveyed for the study, which conducted interviews in 12 EU member states. The EU’s parliamentary elections will be held May 26.

Even centrists such as French President Emmanuel Macron are beginning to bend to growing right-wing sentiment. In an apparent concession to the Yellow Vest protest movement, the French leader conceded that the Schengen agreement, which allows for visa-free travel between 22 EU member states and four non-EU countries, is no longer tenable. Echoing right-wing leaders such as Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Macron also called for changes to the Dublin Regulation, which gives an EU member state the right to send back asylum seekers to their first country of entry to the bloc.

Original: https://www.rt.com/news/457678-eu-right-wing-parties-election/

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nice :-)

Very much expected, and not bad at all. There must be a balance...

It seems inevitable. Is it a good thing that is just is 1 of 10, and not more? That is the question.
But it is certain that as long as decision making is subjective, so will be the choices of certain people. The thing that matters the most is how much it effects others.

Much of the progress of the last 25 years would be lost in 3 years depending on the results of the European Union. We are heading back to the days of hierarchy and when the dust settle, people would ask how did we arrive here. It would not be easy for this kind of ideology to force on others their will and with them shaping the White house, its going to get tough as European Union can now pass into law these kind of sentiment.