How Internal Feuds May Limit Far-Right's Impact on European Policymaking

Despite the expected surge of far-right parties in the EU elections, their internal divisions could hamper their ability to wield significant influence in the next European Parliament.

Jun 07, 2024

The Facts:

The European Union (EU) elections are poised to see substantial gains for far-right parties across Europe. Two of the most prominent parties, Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France, have consistently polled strongly and are expected to return around 50 MEPs to the next European Parliament. However, a growing rift between these two parties threatens to undermine their potential to form a united nationalist, anti-immigration political force.

The German far-right and the French far-right are not historical bedfellows in the European Parliament, with the AfD only joining the ID group in 2019. Just before the elections, a long-simmering feud between AfD and National Rally erupted. The National Rally is now insisting it can no longer sit with the AfD in their Identity & Democracy (ID) faction in the European Parliament. The trigger was inflammatory comments made by AfD's lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, who asserted that SS members were not necessarily war criminals. This, coupled with other controversies involving AfD, such as one of Krah's parliamentary assistants being charged with spying for Beijing and an AfD candidate embroiled in a cash-for-influence scandal, has prompted the National Rally to distance itself.

Le Pen's decision to cut ties with the AfD is seen as a move to present her party as more respectable and non-threatening, which could help her in a potential 2027 French presidential bid. The French party has also been irked by AfD officials' rhetoric around "remigrating" millions of people from Germany and taunts over the legal status of the French overseas department of Mayotte.

With the National Rally surging in polls and the AfD losing steam, the inability of these two parties to work together could have significant implications. Being without a political group in the European Parliament means a party loses access to funding, speaking time, and the prestige of belonging to one of the institution's political families. The European Parliament is structured around international alliances, and the exclusion of AfD from the ID group could weaken the far-right's numerical influence.

The specter of far-right anti-European parties gaining ground and uniting to destroy the European Union from within is a recurring concern every five years during European Parliament elections. Far-right parties are converging on a vision of the EU itself and, after the Brexit debacle, have disavowed plans to leave the bloc. Instead, they seek to minimize the role of the European Commission, making its president into a mere "employee" of the member states.

Broader divisions within the far-right landscape in Europe are also evident. Beyond the ID group, there is the hard-right camp of Euroskeptics and nationalists that includes Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy and Poland's Law & Justice, as well as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's unattached MEPs. These factions have differing views on issues like Russia's war in Ukraine and how to approach China.

The View:

It is clear that the far-right in Europe is a house divided, and this division could undermine their ability to wield significant influence in the next European Parliament. While the conventional wisdom suggests that stridently nationalist parties cannot unite across borders, this reflects historical ignorance and political complacency. The National Rally and AfD may have found common ground in their nationalist, anti-immigration rhetoric, but their unwillingness to work together demonstrates the inherent contradictions of worlds views.

The rift between these two parties is particularly telling, as it highlights the diverging political strategies employed by the far-right. The National Rally, under Marine Le Pen's leadership, is on a crusade to "de-demonize" the party and present it as a respectable, mainstream alternative. This strategy stands in stark contrast to the AfD's more radical, revisionist approach, exemplified by Maximilian Krah's comments about the SS.

The center-right believes that some parts of the ECR group, such as Giorgia Meloni's MEPs, can be tempted away from the more extreme elements to work together with pro-European forces. This reflects the center-right's own weakness and opportunism, as they court the far-right in a bid to maintain power. By doing so, they are inadvertently legitimizing the far-right's positions, further blurring the lines between the political center and the fringes. The continued mainstreaming of the far-right means that these parties will almost surely remain influential, reflecting the center-right's weakness and opportunism.

Ultimately, the far-right's inability to unite is not only a testament to their fundamental differences but also a reflection of the center-right's own weakness and opportunism. The mainstreaming of their rhetoric and policies, even among supposedly centrist or center-right parties, serves as a stark warning that the threat posed by the far-right cannot be underestimated. The battle for the soul of Europe is far from over, and the outcome will have profound implications for the future of the European project.

TLDR:

The European Union (EU) elections are expected to see substantial gains for far-right parties across Europe, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France.
A growing rift between the AfD and National Rally threatens to undermine their potential to form a united nationalist, anti-immigration political force.
The National Rally is now insisting it can no longer sit with the AfD in their Identity & Democracy (ID) faction in the European Parliament, citing inflammatory comments made by AfD's lead candidate.
The inability of these two parties to work together could have significant implications, as being without a political group in the European Parliament means a party loses access to funding, speaking time, and the prestige of belonging to one of the institution's political families.
Broader divisions within the far-right landscape in Europe are also evident, with differing views on issues like Russia's war in Ukraine and how to approach China.
The continued mainstreaming of the far-right's rhetoric and policies, even among supposedly centrist or center-right parties, serves as a stark warning that the threat posed by the far-right cannot be underestimated.