Europe is gradually turning blue and, as the extreme right advances, the right-wing of the continent is making its effects noticeable. The retreat from the green agenda, the hardening of anti-immigration positions or the replacement of the debate on social policies with security and defense are some of the palpable consequences within the EU.
More than half of the governments are in the hands of the European People’s Party (14 and in some cases supported by the extreme right); Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic are led by the far right; five are governed by the liberals, although one of them is Emmanuel Macron, who is in low times and has come to leave the government in the hands of the right; and only four belong to the social democratic family, which is about to lose the chancellorship in Germany.
The green agenda was one of the first victims of the right-wing of Europe. Largely due to electoral pressure due to the rise of the extreme right, which he placed them on the target and took advantage of the breeding ground for unrest in the countryside. In the midst of protests by farmers across the continent, both Brussels and governments began to reverse some of the main measures of the European Green Deal, such as the nature restoration law, regulations to limit the use of pesticides or Recently, the postponement of the entry into force of regulations to combat deforestation.
Meloni, the example to follow for Von der Leyen
Another consequence of right-wing is the tightening of immigration policies. The far-right Meloni has become the champion for the majority of European capitals and even for the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who has accelerated the plan to copy the controversial deportation centers to countries outside the EU such as the that Italy has launched in Albania and that justice has stopped.
Any glimmer of solidarity, such as that of the Syrian refugee crisis of 2016 or that launched to welcome Ukrainians fleeing war, has disappeared. Now there is talk of returns, deportation centers and even financing walls. All under the euphemism of the search for “alternative solutions” to the migratory movements that have always existed. The table at which the leaders who defend this hardening sit is increasingly full and at it sits Von der Leyen, from whom the legislative initiative in the EU originates.
And Spain is one of the few countries that maintains a different position. He has criticized the decision of several European countries to paralyze the processing of asylum applications from Syrian citizens a few hours after Bashar al Assad’s regime fell. He has also distanced himself (practically alone) from the proposal to create deportation centers. And it was the only country that voted against the directive against migrant trafficking in which the Council wants to eliminate the so-called ‘humanitarian clause’ that allows assistance to migrants not to be criminalized. “The political message that is being sent can be worrying,” reproached the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, during the debate with his counterparts.
What happens when the extreme right controls the Council of the EU?
“In the debate on demography and depopulation, the focus has been on natal issues, which is what underlies countries governed by the right or the extreme right when reports from different organizations point to immigration as an element to reverse the demographic pyramid,” The Secretary of State for Youth, Rubén Pérez, explains to elDiario.es about the drift that has been imposed in the Council of the EU – where the governments are represented -.
To a large extent, this debate has been guided by Viktor Orbán’s far-right executive, given that he was in charge of the rotating presidency this semester. And, although it has not been very wordy in legislative terms, in the few files in which it has tried to advance, its imprint has been noted. Spain and eight other countries blocked Hungary’s attempt to water down the law against fake scholarship holders.
The positions of the Council of the EU have traditionally been more conservative than those of the European Parliament, but now there has also been a complete shift to the right. Adding to the electoral improvement of the PP is the extreme right, which represents more than 25% of the seats. And, furthermore, everything happens through the group led by Manfred Weber because it can put together alternative majorities to the coalition with socialists and liberals that ‘governs’ the EU. There is no longer a cordon sanitaire.
Equidistance with Netanyahu and Gaza disappears from the debate
In addition to the photo of the ‘hardliners’ against immigration, the last meeting of the leaders of the 27 in 2024 once again evidenced the equidistance with Benjamin Netanyahu of most governments. The conflict in the Middle East, which is one of the most divisive in the EU, took a back seat in the European Council. The issue was, in fact, broached over dinner and the Gaza massacre has practically disappeared from the debate. The conclusions make a brief allusion to the massacre and once again demand the “immediate ceasefire” that took months to demand from Israel. And the biggest criticism of Netanyahu is limited to being the “deep concern” about the law that prohibits the activity of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
Precisely in conflicts, especially in Ukraine, the EU has based the primacy of the debate on security and defense over the social agenda, which is once again in the background.
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