–Analysis–
BRUSSELS — It’s happened again. Another far-right party has come out ahead in national elections of a European Union member state. It happened in Italy in 2022, in the Netherlands in 2023 and now Herbert Kickl’s Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has become the strongest party in Austria after Sunday’s parliamentary election.
And as things stand today, France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen has a good chance of becoming president of the EU’s second largest member state in the next presidential elections in 2027.
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So how should the EU react when these nationalistic forces seem to be advancing within the bloc in a manner that essentially seems unstoppable?
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently gave an answer to this question: integrate! If these forces cannot be defeated on the open field of electoral combat, then bring them into the center of the institutions where they can be tamed.
Italy’s example
The example of Italy’s Raffaele Fitto is a good illustration of this strategy and the problems it entails.
Von der Leyen recently made Fitto, a member of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, one of the most powerful men in her new EU team. She designated him Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, a a key role at the European level in terms of political influence and budget management.
She did this even though Fratelli d’Italia had voted against her as Commission President. So she did it without needing to do it.
Now Fitto is not a dyed-in-the-wool right-wing extremist. He was a Christian Democrat for most of his political life and only switched to Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party in 2018. He is considered an honorable man, especially within the circles of the center-right European People’s Party, as well as a politician well-versed in European affairs.
This may all be true, but what is interesting is the reason given for his appointment, which goes beyond his qualifications: a member state as large as Italy must be treated accordingly in Brussels — namely with respect. That is why Italy needs a powerful office in the new Commission.
Meloni is undoubtedly a nationalist. She has repeatedly demanded exactly that in Brussels: respect for the Italian nation!
A weaker EU
Italy has demonstrably not been treated badly in the EU (for example, it received a major share of 192 billion euros from the COVID-19 aid fund).
But apparently many voters across Europe can be won over with political claims that their countries are not respected in Brussels.
But what will the EU look like if it immediately indulges every member state?
Whether you talk of Giorgia Meloni or Geert Wilders, Kickl or Le Pen — they have great success with this argument.
But what will the European Union look like if it immediately indulges every member state that shouts “We don’t feel respected!”? What will it look like if it kneels before these nationalist assertions? Well, it will be weak. If only because it will always be busy trying to include all those who feel “disrespected”. And since talking about disrespect pays off, the number of those who use this nationalistic argument will increase.
Inward-looking EU
The stronger the nationalists in the EU become — and it is to be expected that this will happen — the more difficult it will be to reach a consensus on a common policy.
The EU must survive in a world in which powerful players are resolutely pursuing their goals.
This will become most apparent within a short space of time when it comes to Ukraine, migration and climate. The disagreement can be traced down to the smallest ramifications of European policy.
The EU must survive in a world in which powerful players are resolutely pursuing their goals. Vladimir Putin wants to expand the borders of his empire, Xi Jinping wants to replace the U.S. as the leading world power, the U.S. wants — regardless of who wins the elections in November — that Europe itself takes more care of its neighborhood, for example of the war in Ukraine.
Thanks to Meloni, Wilders and now Kickl, however, the EU will mainly be preoccupied with itself — with the challenging and improbable taming of its nationalist spirits.
