The Rise of the Far Right and Populist Movements in Europe

The far right and populist movements and political parties in Europe has been steadily rising in the twenty-first century. Especially in the last decade, we have witnessed election victories or significant increases in the share of votes by far right and populist parties in several European countries. In the French presidential elections of April 2022, the far-right and populist National Rally President Marine Le Pen got 41.5% of votes. In April 2022 Hungarian right wing populist Fidesz Party leader and Prime Minister Viktor Mihály Orbán, has won a fourth successive term with 53.7% votes. In March 2018, the Italian Five Star Movement formed a coalition government with the far-right League party. In Austria the far right Freedom Party (FPÖ) won 26% and the right wing populist ÖVP got 31% of the vote in the 2017 parliamentary elections and they formed a coalition government. In Germany the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 12.6% of the vote and entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2017. Also in 2017, the far-right Volya Movement entered the Bulgarian parliament for the first time. In Poland, the right-wing populist party Law and Justice (PiS) came to power in 2015. So why are far-right parties on the rise? Have far-right parties become normal for European countries? Are far-right parties threat to democracy? The purpose of this session is to discuss the answers to these and similar questions by examining the situation of the rising far-right and populist political parties in Europe.