KAS/Brok: Forces of negation and feelings of inferiority

02 December 2013

At the launch of a study on the rise of right-wing populist parties, Elmar Brok MEP, Chairman of the EP's Foreign Affairs Committee, responded with quiet confidence to the resurgent nationalist and populist tendencies in Europe.

Translated from the German

Six months prior to the European elections, Elmar Brok commented at the launch of a study conducted by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, entitled "Europe - No thanks", that instead of wearing yourself out on these "forces of negation and the feeling of inferiority" the benefits of Europe should be brought into focus. Parties who confronted those parties directly only increased the value of these forces and would ultimately lose out themselves. "We need to advocate what we mean by Europe with confidence", said Brok.

Summary of the Study

• Right-wing and nationalist populist parties have been able to establish themselves almost everywhere in Europe as relevant political forces.
• The rise of right-wing and nationalist populists went at the expense of the traditional parties.
• The current strength of right-wing populist and nationalist parties is based on the addition to their traditional core themes, xenophobia and criticism of the elites, of the the simple formula: "No to this Europe".
• Right-wing and nationalist populist parties are influencing established parties in Europe, their positions influence other parties and the party system in many European countries is changing permanently. 
• None of the strategies adopted by the established political parties in dealing with right-wing and nationalist populist parties - sharp demarcation, partial assumption of positions, tolerated minority governments or coalitions - turned out to be a panacea.

Brok proposed to carry out an annual cost-benefit analysis in which the facts could be presented and the truth about Europe be brought to the people. "Europe is set up differently than the populists are trying to make us believe", Brok said. For example, it was incorrect that solidarity was only demanded of Germany - the costs to combat the financial and economic crisis were in fact shared by all members. "Germany does not pay for everything alone. Greece has contributed to the stabilisation of Ireland as well", he said. 

Asked about the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), Brok recommended a differentiated analysis: the party, which managed to win 4 per cent of the vote in the national elections in September, could not be lumped together with the Front National in France or the FPÖ in Austria, which were openly directed against the democratic state of law. One of the authors of the study, Dr Florian Hartleb, said that an evaluation of the AfD at the present time was difficult. 

Faced with a possible entry of several populist parties into the European Parliament, both Brok and Hartleb held quite relaxed views: "They have indeed established themselves as relevant parties, but are far from taking over power in Europe, if only because they represent completely different positions and therefore will not agree with each other", Hartleb said. He also emphasised that in only half of the EU Member States had populist parties managed to achieve more than 1 per cent of the votes cast. The logical consequence was that they were on the whole part of the opposition. The concern that there would be no broad democratic majority in the new European Parliament was therefore unfounded, so Brok.

Full article (in German)

© KAS - Konrad Adenauer Stiftung