May 14, 2019

The far-right looking to destroy the EU from within

located:	United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Austria
editor:	Gurmeet Singh

The European Elections are a few days away. Full disclosure: I can’t vote. As a British citizen living in Germany, I am indeed entitled to vote. Britain is, after all still a part of the EU.

However, given the appalling state of Brexit, which has delayed Britain’s involvement in the elections, my registration to vote (as well as many others) looks likely to miss the deadline. Of course, it’s my own fault for believing that Britain would indeed leave the EU on March 29 th 2019. Like many other British citizens, I believed the UK was done with the EU. Hence my somewhat naive belief that registering to vote wouldn’t be necessary.

But the UK’s not done with the EU. Not through love for the European project. No, the UK is still in the EU out of sheer pig-headed incompetence. However, pro-Brexit parties and activists are no longer fuming at the prospect of not leaving the EU on the promised date; instead, they are joyfully preparing to fill the European Parliament with radical anti-EU candidates who are hell-bent on wrecking the orderly political processes of the union.

Support for the ‘Brexit Party’ outdoes support for the other political parties by some margin. And say what you want about Nigel Farage, the man knows how to simply and effectively manipulate the public at large; from appearing like an everyday ‘man in the pub’, to offering a staggeringly elementary counter-punch to the heavy-handed narratives of the pro-EU British centre by naming his new political party, the “Brexit Party”. It’s an incredibly simple tactic that will work. People will be motivated to once again vote against what they see as elite politics, and the patronising attitude the elites take to their concerns. Many voters see the elections as simply the elites ignoring the result of the 2016 referendum. And believe it or not, seeing “Brexit” on the ballot paper will work more than “Labour” or “Conservative”.

However, underneath the legitimate concerns to do with democratic process, as well as structural capacities to manage elections, there is a serious problem of who will get into the European Parliament at these elections. If a substantial number of far-right representatives are able to enter the parliament, and form a working bloc, they will become unignorable for the foreseeable future.
Imagine the damage an even more anti-migrant EU could do to refugees; imagine the kinds of cynical deals a Trump-sympathising EU would be willing to make.
Britain will provide extreme politicians to the EU, many of whom will operate under the “Brexit” moniker. But many will also come from France, Italy, Germany, Austria and others. It is unlikely that they will form a frightening majority, but they will prove to be a formidable, if not pivotal political force within the European Union.

Although it’s too early to say just how they will affect the Union, it will finally become apparent that at the heart of the EU, there has always been an irrepressible kernel of extremism.

Photo: A 2015 demonstration of German radical right group Pegida. Kalispera Dell, CC BY 3.0

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