If Britain had not left the European Union, we would be going to the polls this week as well as on 4 July. The European parliament elections have come round again and it is likely that there will be a mass revolt against the direction of the EU project.
Across the continent, voters disillusioned with the EU model of democracy are turning to the Eurosceptic right. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is on course to become the biggest single party in the European parliament. AfD is polling in second place in Germany. Geert Wilders’s Freedom party is comfortably ahead in the Netherlands. Chega, a new far-right party from Portugal, is expected to make big gains, as is the Freedom party in Austria and the Croatian Homeland movement. Greek Solution, a nationalist party created in 2016, has also been gaining momentum.
Some parties refused to take part in the debate for the EU presidency on the grounds that it was a sham
In recent years, insurgent centre-right Eurosceptic parties have been wrongly labelled ‘far-right’ by their opponents.
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