EU “EU elite, Brussels bureaucrats, green madness” – European right-wing populists gain new momentum against opposition to EU climate action

The right wing of the European Parliament will not be able to block climate action with its voice, but populist speech is seeping into other parties. Rising energy prices will give right-wing parties an extra boost.

Brussels

“This the climate package is ill-conceived and, moreover, shows the complete arrogance of the EU elite. Thriving municipalities and the brilliant future we are promised are fake news [valeuutisia]. ”

This is how the Austrian MEP got it Roman Haider Parliament’s plenary in September, when the European Commission presented its comprehensive Fit for 55 climate action package. MEPs sitting on the far right in the sitting scrambled after speeches on the climate package.

Despite his name and speech, Haider, who represents the Austrian right-wing freedom party FPÖ, is unrelated to an already far-right politician To Jörg Haider, whose rise to the Austrian government in 1999 was a shock to the European Union.

It was the beginning of a rise in nationalist and xenophobic policies in Europe, fueled by the financial crisis that began in 2008 and the refugee crisis of 2015. Now there are parties in this line in every EU country.

Last autumn, it became clearer that European right-wing populist parties were gaining new momentum in EU climate policy. It has been a feed for them at a time when their popularity has plummeted from its previous peak in several countries. For example, in the German elections in September, support for the right-wing party AfD declined from 2017.

Right-wing populists previously raised themes do not appeal to mobile voters right now.

Immigration is not a major concern for voters, especially with the coronary virus and movement restrictions clearly reduced the number of asylum applications in Europe. Governments also managed to soften the impact of the coronavirus on people’s livelihoods.

But now it is time to tackle climate change and combat it.

Far-reaching decisions are now being made about how to move, how to warm and how to protect nearby nature.

Last July, the EU Commission presented a comprehensive package of measures to help the EU deliver on its promise: greenhouse gas emissions will be 55% lower in 2030 than in 1990.

For Europeans it is slowly beginning to dawn on the fact that climate policy has progressed to a very personal level: far-reaching decisions are now being made on how to move, how to warm and how to protect the surrounding environment.

See also  The United States called on the authorities to start negotiations on Ukraine with the words “put up, fools!”

“Opinion polls show that Europeans are really concerned about climate change and the environment. It is clear that the necessary measures will affect the daily lives of citizens. Even if the action brings good, people’s basic resistance to change is already evident in many discussions, ”says the lead researcher Annika Hedberg From the European Policy Center in Brussels.

“It is easy for political actors to catch up with this basic opposition and suggest that nothing be done at all – or at least no more than the others.”

At the same time, energy prices in Europe have risen sharply due to a combination of factors. That, too, came to the populists like a tray.

Although the climate measures for the Fit for 55 are not yet in force, it is easy to suggest that the current price increase is only a foretaste of the future. The Hungarian Prime Minister, representing the right-wing party Fidesz Viktor Orbán accused in October “Brussels bureaucrats” about the price spike.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the EU summit in December 2020.

“Only the rich can afford a future ecological transition,” also said a representative of the Italian Lega Marco Zanni at a sitting of Parliament.

How a strong force for right-wing populists in EU decision-making?

Zanni is the chairman of the 70-member Identity and Democracy (ID) group formed by the right-wing populists in the parliament, which includes Basic Finns from Finland. The group includes AfD from Germany and the National Alliance from France, among others.

Another concentration of right-wing populists in the parliament is the 64-member ECR, the European Conservatives and Reformists, the largest member of which is the Law and Justice Party in power in Poland. The group includes the Swedish Democrats, the Spanish Vox and the Italian brothers.

The largest of the non-attached members is the 13-member Hungarian Fidesz, which received entry passes from the EPP, the largest group in the Parliament.

There has been a lot of talk this season about group convergence and a possible new right-wing group, but so far it has remained the talk. In theory, even if united, the right cannot, with its voting power, prevent the Commission’s climate action from passing through more than 700 Members of Parliament.

See also  Frauds | The questionable activities of the employee were revealed in the e-mail of the ex-spouse - the former employee of Live Nation was sentenced for fraud

Representatives of the far right have also not been able to play an influential role in the committees in the committees, ie to lead the preparation of reports on the Commission’s legislative proposals.

In practice however, the importance of the right-wing populists in the parliament is greater than can be seen from above, Stella Schaller and Alexander Carius in their mapping of the climate lines of populist parties.

According to Schaller and Carius, the steadily growing number of populists means they are getting more and more speaking time in plenary and more muscle to negotiate with the ruling parties.

“They can also change prevailing social norms about what kind of arguments are acceptable to say in a political debate,” the researchers write.

The same is happening in climate policy as it is in immigration policy. The line and language used by populists will seep into other parties if they find the message echoed by voters.

European right-wing populists are not uniform in their climate policies.

According to Schaller and Carius, the direction in which other parties under cross-green and populist pressure are turning is crucial for the future of EU climate policy.

Fear of populist parties has contributed to the crackdown on European governments, which urgently mitigated the effects of rising electricity and gas prices on consumers in the autumn.

There are fears that the rage rising from the electricity bill will start to show on the streets in the same way as it did in France in 2018, when yellow-vested protesters began to protest against the government’s fuel tax increase.

European right-wing populists are not uniform in their climate lines. The extreme is represented by the German AfD, which does not believe in man-made climate change and would not want to give up coal-fired power plants or internal combustion engines.

Thus, direct climate denialism, or the denial of climate change, is beginning to be rare in the official programs of populist parties. The Danish People’s Party, for example, revised its derogatory line after suffering a defeat in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

See also  Riding | The Swedish Olympic champion was rushed to the hospital - he fell off his horse

“Basic Finns by no means deny climate change and that we should not move forward. A greener and cleaner planet is in the interests of us all. We are only questioning these disproportionate actions for which the Commission has not issued impact assessments, ”says the EU MEP. Laura Huhtasaari (ps).

Laura Huhtasaari on a visit to Italy before the EU elections in spring 2019.

The same arguments are repeated in the speeches of Huhtasaari and other European right-wing populists. Institute of Foreign Policy a year and a half ago in a report these speeches were named climate nationalism and climate conservatism.

The perspective of climate nationalism is that Europe and individual countries have already done their part and will do too much in the future, as China, for example, continues to burn coal in peace.

Climate conservatives are basically ready for climate action but emphasize their high cost to businesses and citizens and want to slow down. The opposite is plagued, according to conservatives, by “green madness,” which takes competitiveness and strikes a small person.

To the political According to researcher Annika Hedberg, the debate includes the fact that parties and politicians are debating what steps should be taken to achieve the goals.

Hedberg urges those committed to tackling climate change to take people’s concerns seriously but also to talk more about the opportunities and benefits of climate action.

According to Hedberg, it could be assumed that the parties most concerned about immigration would also be more active in preventing climate change.

“Political leaders, economic leaders, the media and opinion leaders all have a role to play in this. Much more should be heard about cleaner air, a better quality of life, lower healthcare costs, new business and better jobs, and security implications. ”

According to Hedberg, one could assume that the parties most concerned about immigration would also be more vocal and active in preventing climate change.

“If we do not slow down and stop climate change, today’s migration flows will be small compared to future migration scenarios.”

.
#elite #Brussels #bureaucrats #green #madness #European #rightwing #populists #gain #momentum #opposition #climate #action

Related Posts

Next Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended