In my 16 November press review, I looked at the seemingly inevitable rise of far-right ideas in many EU Member States. However, two recent events merit our full attention for highlighting the extent to which civil society is mobilising to counter this trend, three and a half months ahead of crucial European elections.
In Germany, massive demonstrations in response to the rise of the far right indicate that the tolerance threshold for the actions of far-right political parties has been exceeded. Tens of thousands of people marched over several days in cities throughout the country, and continue to do so at weekends, to denounce the racist ideology of the extreme right. The demonstrations follow revelations by Correctiv on 10 January of a secret meeting organised last November by the AfD and neo-Nazis to discuss a plan to deport millions of non-Germans and Germans of immigrant origin.
In another noteworthy development, on 23 January the German Constitutional Court issued an unprecedented ruling which bans the neo-Nazi party Die Heimat (Fatherland, formerly the NPD) from receiving public funding for the next six years, as reported in the Berlin daily Die Tageszeitung. Reporting on the debate that has begun across the Rhine about the possibility of taking legal action against the AfD, columnist Kersten Augustin asks “What do we do about the fascists?”
In Poland, the newly elected government formed by Donald Tusk is trying its best to un-PiS the country’s state apparatuses and public media, although the purge is proving more difficult than expected. This should serve as a warning, writes British journalist and historian Timothy Garton Ash in his column for the British daily The Guardian. Restoring democracy is proving even more difficult than creating it from scratch.
For those who were unable to attend, you can listen to the replay of our conversation with Timothy Garton Ash at our Live event on 6 February (link), where the formidable expert on Poland discusses, among other things, the lesson that European democracies absolutely must learn from the Polish example.
As Dutch political scientist Cas Mudde has been hammering home for years, and as he wrote recently on X: “The far right is a loud minority, not the silent majority. Also, if the streets tell us anything, it is that ‘the people’ do NOT want far-right politics! Can media and politics finally take note?”
Members of the European Parliament have sounded the alarm to the European Commission about their “concerns” regarding the decline of rule of law in Greece, reports the international media outlet euronews. Harassment of journalists, bugging of political opponents, excessive use of force by the police, hostile campaigns against migrants… The MEPs are asking the European Commission to look into the criteria for obtaining European funds in Athens.
From the Second World War to the present day, Europe has relied on the United States for its security, guiding NATO policy and nuclear deterrence, and even acting as arbiter between Member States on a number of issues. If Trump is elected at the end of the year, the United States may well put an end to this protection. The American magazine looks at the concrete steps the EU can take to prepare for this potential abandonment by Washington.
