Jim Hartman: Europe turns right: Will the U.S. follow?

Conservative and right-wing parties across Europe demonstrated their increased strength in picking lawmakers for the European Union Parliament in June 6-10 elections.

At stake were 720 parliamentary seats in 27 sovereign states with up to 370 million EU voters going to the polls.

France, Germany, Spain, Italy and smaller countries saw huge advances by parties on the right that oppose mass immigration, reject extreme climate change measures and resist dissolution of their national identities into multi-cultural holes.

While many in the media describe these votes as victories of the “far right,” the majority of voters simply want to cut migration, put a brake on the self-destructive race to net-zero carbon emissions and confront Europe’s chronic economic problems.

In France, the far-right National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen, has long campaigned against erosion of France’s national identity and security through mass immigration, especially by Muslims. National Rally won 32% of the vote.

President Emmanuel Macron’s Renew Party received less than half that, 15%. Macron called a snap election. Le Pen is now the favorite in the 2027 presidential election.

In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party was crushed (13.9%), as were his liberal and green allies.

The center-right Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union made big gains winning a combined 30% as did the far-right Alternative for Germany party which won 15.9%.

In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Workers Party fell to second with 30.2%. The winning center-right People’s Party added an impressive nine seats, with 34.2%. The far-right Vox party and allies captured an additional 14.2%.

Italy’s far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni was the only major incumbent European leader not to see her party trounced. Her Brothers of Italy party won 29% its best result in a nationwide ballot, and her overall center-right alliance reached 47%.

Host of the recent G-7 summit, Meloni has slipped into the mainstream. Her strong performance in the EU elections confirms her role as a continental power broker.

Meloni’s signature issue: controlling immigration by stopping migrants from crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.

Veteran Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party came first in his country’s vote, with 44%.

When Orban pushed back asylum seekers and built a border fence during Europe’s 2015 migration crisis, his actions were widely attacked. Now, other governments have followed suit.

A right-wing nationalist, Orban is Hungary’s longtime leader and an EU critic. He’s a big fan of Donald Trump and the feeling is mutual.

Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders, under security protection for two decades for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, stunned pundits last November when his party finished first in parliamentary elections.

Wilders’ party won seven seats in the European Parliament. Expect a new Dutch government to opt out of EU asylum rules and forcibly deport people who lack a residence permit.

The big losers throughout Europe were the Green parties, which lost more than a quarter of their parliamentary seats (21 of their 73). In Germany, the Green Party’s vote share plummeted to only 11.9% down from 20.5% in the last 2019 European Parliament election.

The Green Party flop is attributed to flagging interest in climate change – and reaction to the high costs of Green policies.

Crucial industries such as autos and chemicals are struggling under sky-high energy prices and anti-carbon regulations.

Many share the frustration of farmers who took to the streets in continent-wide protests last winter expressing opposition to climate-based tax increases on cars and fuel.

America’s Democrats should heed the European Parliament election outcome. The big story is that voters there are turning right.

Rather than four more years of the green revolution, open borders, vast increases in federal spending, and further devotion to the new religion of diversity, equity and inclusion, American voters may follow Europe in another direction.

E-mail Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.