A surging far right cements its place in Europe

If Donald Trump wins next month, he will find a hotbed of political parties in Europe that share his rightward mix of authoritarianism, populism and extreme hostility to immigration.

LONDON — If Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election next month, he will find across the Atlantic a hotbed of political parties that share his rightward mix of authoritarianism, populism and extreme hostility to immigration.

This is the rise of the European far right, which reached a high-water mark on Sept. 29 when Austria’s Freedom Party won the largest share of votes — 28.9 % — in the national election. The FPÖ, as it’s known, was founded by former Nazis and wants to “remigrate” Austrian nationals with migrant roots to create a more “homogenous” society.

This is not a new trend, and its current cycle has been covered by NBC News and others for at least a decade. But the last 12 months have been a bonanza for this former fringe of the political spectrum. There have been big wins for France’s National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, as well as for Dutch anti-Islam radical Geert Wilders and the neighboring Alternative for Germany, which is being monitored by Berlin’s own intelligence agency for suspected extremism.

“The overall trend is unmistakable: The far right is gaining ground,” said Matthijs Rooduijn, a politics professor at the University of Amsterdam. European “far-right parties are here to stay,” agreed Cas Mudde, a professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia and the author of 2019’s “The Far Right Today.”

Some scholars trace the roots of this surge to two events: the global financial crisis of 2007-08 and the 2015 spike in migration into Europe, fueled by wars and unrest across the Middle East and North Africa. The economic crash left Europeans poorer, with crumbling public services and infrastructure. The border crisis added to that a rapid influx of people, many from Muslim-majority countries.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/surging-far-right-europe-austria-anti-immigration-rcna173398

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