I'm not sure that any of the parties are, strictly speaking, traditionalist in their politics. Even so, it's great to see the shaking up of the liberal consensus in Europe. Amongst the top performers were:
France: The National Front achieved the highest percentage of votes of any
French party at 25%. The ruling socialists scored only 14%.
Denmark: The Danish People's Party finished with 26% of the vote.
Germany: The Alternative for Germany, a new party, scored 7% of the vote. That may not seem much, but it is a great step forward and will give the party credibility.
Austria: The Freedom Party scored 20%.
The Netherlands: The Freedom Party scored 13%.
Italy: The Five Star Party scored 21%.
Great Britain: UKIP 27.5%
The results stunned the ruling elites in Europe. This was the reaction in France:
President Francois Hollande's office said he would hold urgent talks today with top government ministers in what French media called a crisis meeting.Excellent. Hopefully at least some of these parties will be able to capitalise on their strong showing and open up political space in Europe for those opposed to globalisation and open borders.
Speaking before the meeting, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said it was 'a political earthquake in France' and 'a very grave moment for France and for Europe', while ecology minister Segolene Royale said: 'It’s a shock on a global scale.'
Worth celebrating, meaningless as it is. I say this because if I recall correctly the EU Parliament can't initiate legislation itself, only say yay or nay to legislation given it by the European Commission, an unelected body. That makes the composition of the EU Parliament essentially irrelevant. It can't repeal or change any existing legislation unless the EC wants it to, and in many cases the permanent bureaucracy implements policies on their own accord without consulting Parliament.
ReplyDeletePoland's Janusz Korwin-Mikke's "New Right" party and came fourth overall, but also outdid any of the other right-wing European groups in that it was the most popular in the 18-25 age bracket (ie, it came first among the youth. First!). But of course, the Western media and the the conservative blogosphere misses it entirely. Better to obsess over feminist homo-loving liberals who are anti-Muslim because the Muslims are so threateningly conservative... vomit.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I'm less sure about the New Right party. There is little information coming out about it, but it seems in part to be a radically libertarian party. But it is certainly good news that a Eurosceptic party is so popular amongst younger voters.
DeleteThe success of the Front National in France is particularly heartening since they seem to be quite focused and politically very competent and astute. Le Pen might well become a serious contender for the presidency. Unfortunately both the Front National and UKIP are hampered by the very anti-democratic voting system of those countries.
ReplyDeleteUKIP could well win a quarter of the vote at the next general election and not win a single seat. Well it's difficult not to be delighted by the annihilation of the Liberal Democrats that may pose another problem. The one good thing about the Liberal Democrats was that they split the leftist vote.
I agree about the Front National. In France you have a major electoral party with a capable leader combined with a rank and file movement that is determinedly anti-liberal. France is the place to watch right now.
DeleteRe Anon's comment re Janusz Korwin Mikke:
ReplyDeleteIt is true that JKM is mostly libertarian, but his views on homosexuality and women put him firmly on the right of even the US paleolibertarians. On the other hand, many of the right-wing parties of Western Europe are liberal in the post-modern sense, so much so that they become anti-immigration only because Third-Worlders are so hostile to all the lovely feminism and sodomy that characterizes Western EU culture today (think "bearded lady", the winner of the Eurovision song contest 2014). I believe that was Anon's point, and it is not entirely without merit.
Secondly, there does seem to be an almost intentional blindness on part of Western commentators when it comes to Central Europe. Hungary rarely gets any attention, yet it is the only state in the EU which actually has an explicitly nationalist government. One would think that the landmass between the Baltic and the Black seas was some kind of depopulated desert...
This is good news.
ReplyDeleteHopefully some of the strengthened parties will refrain from doing the usual trick of the establishment right, which is to seek legitimacy from leftist authorities by embargoing and delegitimizing every group that is even more to the right.
This trick doesn't work. It prevents the right from grouping, organizing, and delivering the goods for its voters. And it moves the Overton window steadily to the left. In time, the people who play this game find the line between acceptable and unacceptable has moved to under their own feet; then they move left to remain respectable, and start to embargo and criticize those who still hold to the principles that they used to profess.
When the voters deliver pro-white politicians with socially healthy agendas victory, and the politicians turn that potential into actuality, that will be real change.
It can happen. Look where the Soviet Union / Russia used to be, and look where it is now.
One of the things Putin did right was, he didn't play the Western game of confining the debate to how much funding leftist institutions should get, and how fast and radically the recommendations of these institutions should be implemented. Instead, he settled on a traditional institution that could serve to advance socially conservative values, that is the Russian Orthodox Church, and he started doing everything he could to strengthen it. The more the state strengthens the church, the more it can do to heal Russian society of its cynicism and moral sickness, and the more it crowds out sources of influence that are corrupted and debilitating.
The same option may not be available to politicians in the West, because the churches are so corrupted. (Give Pope Francis more prestige and influence, and he would use it to call for more Muslim mass immigration into Europe, while repeating "who am I to judge?" on the homosexual agenda.) But something analogous must be attempted. Build socially conservative institutions; establish virtuous cycles; don't argue about how much of the leftist agenda to implement and how quickly, but instead implement nation-saving contrary agendas.
The establishment may call this a protest vote and treat it as a protest vote, but the new Euro-skeptic right mustn't treat it like that; it must work together, deliver results for its constituents, and start building and institutionalizing virtuous cycles.
Eastern European nationalists tend to be stuck in the conflicts of the 20th century. Jobbik wants Hungary to take back large chunks of neighbouring Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. Ukrainian nationalists want to expel their country's Russian minority while joining the EU and opening the doors to immigration from Africa and the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteEuropean nationalists in general, and Eastern European ones in particular, tend to have strong historical grievances that focus on other European nations, and not on the real demographic threat that now faces Europe. A certain sense of political maturity is needed to transcend this kind of petty infighting. I
know little about JKM and would like to know where it stands on these larger demographic issues.
You're welcome, Mark, but the voting pleasure is all mine. Please also note that some smaller parties, including some right-wing ones, also won German EU seats for the first time.
ReplyDeleteThis vote was very important:
1) it proved that EU-skepticism is a winning political card
2) it will move center-right parties rightward
3) it will be a political springboard for the next national elections
4) and it makes right-wing positions seem less radical or bizarre.