In France, Holland, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Hungary and Austria parties described by their foes as “far right” are on course for significant gains at next month’s European elections. To the chagrin of progressive politicians, Giorgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders are popular with many voters. But centrist groups in the European Parliament are determined to do everything to stop them.
Europe does indeed feel like it might be returning to ‘the darkest pages of our history’
“We are facing a crucial moment in the history of our European project, where once more the far right is attempting to bring back the darkest pages of our history,” said a communique issued by a coalition of left-wing, green and centrist outfits in the European Parliament on May 8. The timing was no coincidence: that day marked the seventy-ninth anniversary of Victory in Europe day. It warned that “far right” parties represented a threat to democracy, due to the “constantly growing cases of harassment, vandalism, spread of disinformation, defamation and hate speech.”
The statement ended with a declaration that they “will never cooperate nor form a coalition” with a “far right” party. It called on Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, to endorse their message.
The communique was an insult to the intelligence of the European electorate. Voters have eyes and ears, they are aware of what has unfolded in Europe in recent months. It is not far-right students calling for the destruction of Israel; it was not members from Marine Le Pen’s party who were questioned by police on charges of “apology for [Hamas] terrorism;” it was not a right-wing Spanish member who tweeted soon after the October 7 attack: “Today and always with Palestine;” it was not a right -wing mayor in Brussels trying to prevent democratically elected politicians speaking at a conference because he objected to their views; it was not a Swedish right-wing member who recently attended a conference linked with Hamas.
Europe does indeed feel like it might be returning to “the darkest pages of our history;” but it’s not the right which is responsible for many of the most troubling recent events: it is a toxic alliance of elements of the progressive left and their Islamist allies.
The man who was shot dead in France last month as he set fire to a synagogue was an Algerian; and the man jailed for life last week for killing a pensioner in Hartlepool, “for the people of Gaza,” was a Moroccan.
It is Islamofascism that frightens many Europeans today: teachers murdered because they showed images of the Prophet; girls beaten unconscious because they don’t wear a headscarf; men stabbed to death because of their sexuality or because they drank alcohol.
What also alarms voters is that so many progressive politicians live in a state of permanent denial; they can’t bring themselves to confront the truth. They wring their hands about “Islamophobia” even as Jews are routinely persecuted in Europe.
Other than the deceit and delusion of their opponents, there are other factors that explain the popularity of politicians like Meloni, Wilder and Le Pen. They recognize the folly of Net Zero, and of open borders, and they know that only the male species has a penis.
The European left has lost its way this century, which accounts for the fact that most of the twenty-seven countries in the EU are run by governments that lean in varying degrees to the right. The left will only reverse this trend if they begin to speak and act with courage and honesty.
A start would be to issue another communique, alerting voters to the real danger in next month’s European elections, a coalition that poses a genuine threat.
The “Free Palestine” coalition is composed of parties from countries including France, Belgium. Sweden and Germany. One of its spokesmen Belgian member of parliament Fouad Ahidar has declared: “There are two major issues we want to discuss: Islamophobia in Europe, which is on the rise, and the Palestinian question.” Ahidar has described Hamas’s slaughter of 1,200 Israelis as “a small response” to seventy-five years of “massacres.”
The Free Palestine manifesto demands a “radical” change in the direction of European diplomacy. This could include legitimatizing Hamas and Islamic Jihad as political organizations, and imposing sanctions on Israel. It could also become illegal for European citizens to enlist in the Israeli army.
The French component of the coalition is the Democratic Union of French Muslims (UDMF), which states that its raison d’etre is anti-Zionism and anti-imperialism. Also operating in France is the Muslim Brotherhood. The academic Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, whose book about the organization last year led to her being given police protection, told Le Figaro: “The Brotherhood networks in France operate in two ways: either they lay their eggs in cuckoo parties on the far left, hoping to infiltrate these organizations, or they openly display their own colors.”
It is time that the European left grew up. Prattling on about Mussolini and Marshal Pétain is passé. There is a new threat spreading across Europe and once again its primary targets are Jews.
This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.
