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Translated from the German
In the recent Austrian elections, right-wing parties that openly propagate their aversion to the euro and to Europe gained more than 30 per cent of the votes - a new benchmark in the EU. But also in many other countries right-wing populists and right-wing extremists are gaining support.
So far, Germany is still a reassuring exception - but even there the eurosceptic party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) almost succeeded in entering parliament in the general election in September. This was very attentively registered in Brussels. If the AfD were able achieve a similarly good result in the European elections in May, they would easily enter the European Parliament, for which there is only a hurdle of three per cent in Germany. Policy strategists in Brussels assume that after the European elections up to 20 per cent of the MEPs might in fact want to abolish the European Parliament. That would be more than twice their current number - about 60 of the 765 deputies now are eurosceptics.
These developments are increasingly raising concerns. The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said: "This presents a serious risk - and therefore it is very important that the parties do not run election campaigns based on whether one is for or against the EU, but how to steer and shape the EU's future".
The French EU Commissioner Michel Barnier went even further and commented: "These populist movements have some arguments we have to take seriously, such as that there is too much bureaucracy and too much Brussels in general. Over the coming years we need a debate about this. We need to see what we can do less in Brussels and what can be done simpler. There are indeed things we need to change."
Full article (in German)