From Spain from Pedro Sanchez And Italy her Georgia Meloni as of Sweden from Jimmy Akessonthe sides of the right are strengthened.

Who would have thought a few years ago that Italy’s first ever female prime minister could come from a party that has never won more than 5% of the vote in a parliamentary election. Or that the party is 4%, as it was before 2018 Brothers of Italy (FdL) Georgia Meloni, could jump to… 26% within four years.

Who not once in the distant past, but last year sang her praises Jacinda Ardern or her Sana Marineobviously they did not expect that they would lose their premierships within a few months in New Zealand And Finland respectively.

Political time is now flowing rapidly, fueling events never seen before.

In recent years, we have seen the collapse of groups in Europe that have dominated for decades. The example of the French is typical socialists/ PS (factions of Mitterrand, Jospin, Hollande, etc.) presidential candidate (If Hidalgo) of which he did not even get 2% in the 2022 elections.

Indicative of these ups and downs are huge fluctuations which is what we have seen in recent years in Europe as a percentage of the number of parties. For the sake of truth, one could refer to Georgia Meloni’s 4.4%, which went up to 26% over a four-year period (2018-2022), as well as to the SYRIZA percentage, which jumped from 4.6% in 2009 to 35% in 2015 before dropped to close. up 20% in the latest polls in May.

Now, in 2023, Europe is moving clockwise.

The election was dominated by New Democracy with 40.8%, increasing its percentage compared to 2019 and widening the gap with SYRIZA.

Outside of Greece, the centre-right Spanish People’s Party (PP) won the municipal/regional elections on 28 December.^her May, defeating the Prime Minister’s Socialists (PSOE). Pedro Sanchez which, on the contrary, suffered considerable losses.

“In the municipal elections, the PP received 31.5% of the vote, increasing its share by almost 9 percentage points, winning on the collapse of the centrist Ciudadanos. The PP came first in seven of the 12 regions/communities where elections were held and dominated in several regions (Valencia, Aragon, etc.) where the PSOE had previously dominated,” writes El Pais, referring to the “dramatic turn of the elections” to which Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez decided to respond in an equally “dramatic” way: pushing Spain into early national elections on 23 July.

“Now, perspective (ss centre-right) PP co-ruling with (ss far-right) Voice it is not something abstract, but something almost definite,” notes El Pais, pointing to the far-right faction of Vox in Santiago Abascal whose rates have also risen sharply in recent years, from 0.2% in the 2016 general election to 15.08% in November 2019 and from 0.3% in the 2015 municipal election to 7.2% last Sunday .

However, in recent months other European countries to the north have seen right turns.

The Swedes came to the polls last September, and Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and the ruling Social Democrats withdrew from government. They have now been replaced by a minority government with Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson, the mainstay of the centre-right (Krissson’s Moderate Conservative Party) and a key supporter of far-right Swedish Democrats Jimmy Akesson. For reference, Akesson’s Swedish Democrats (SD) scored the best result of their course last September, scoring over 20% for the first time.

However, last April we also had elections in Finland, where Prime Minister Sanna Marin and the ruling Social Democrats (SDP) came in third after the center-right National Alliance (NCP) Petri Orpo and the far-right Finnish Party (Finns) Rika Cigars. After this election campaign, Sana Marin even announced that she was going to leave the leadership of the PSD in 2023…

However, a few kilometers further south, in Mediterranean Italy, Georgia Meloni is not about to retire. By contrast, eight months after winning last September’s election, the 46-year-old far-right Italian prime minister’s ratings are on the rise, with her Brothers of Italy party approaching 29%. in opinion polls, where 30% maintain a lead of about 10 percentage points from the Democratic Party (DP). “Georgia Meloni is a danger to Italy and the rest of Europe,” Roberto Saviano wrote in The Guardian in September 2022. Opposite climate, London Times a few months later: Last February, her eyes were on the pragmatic turn of a policy that, as prime minister, did not confirm the fears of those concerned about her fascist past, according to the Telegraph.

But also in France, Italy’s neighbor, the party that saw the most growth in last summer’s parliamentary elections was Marine Le Pen’s (and Jordan Bardela’s) National Anxiety (and Jordan Bardela), a faction that now stands out as the strongest in parliament. seats among the opposition forces… in view of the next presidential election in 2027, in which Emmanuel Macron will not be allowed to run again as a candidate.

Former neo-fascist parties in France, Italy and Sweden are “softening some of their politics” and “retouching their image” in an attempt to attract more voters, and it is now clear that millions of voters are not afraid of a dark past. from these factions,” comments Nigel Jones in the pages of the British Spectator, emphasizing, however, that the front of the European right is far from being considered united and homogeneous.

Some of the once populist right-wing parties have now moved closer to the center, abandoning, for example, the Eurosceptic stance they have expressed in the past on leaving the EU. and the eurozone, Sam van der Staak of the international organization IDEA (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) told Euronews a few months ago, while underscoring something else: the center parties have taken a tougher stance on fronts such as immigration with blessing a large part of the voters.

Elections, not presidential, but parliamentary, are expected in autumn 2023 and Polandwith the ruling right-wing faction Law and justice (PiS) from Yaroslav Kachinsky lead the polls against Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform.

“In front of him war in UkrainePoland’s right-wing government has been in the international headlines mainly because of its standoff with Brussels over the rule of law, reforms in the Polish judiciary, and Poland’s perceived deficit of democracy. The top figures of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party have been among the staunchest critics of technocratic Brussels.” we wrote in “K” in April last year.

However, in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, “the nationalist government of Poland […] which has become a key bulwark in the West’s confrontation with Russia. […] she feels justified,” wrote Isaan Tarur in the Washington Post.

“Justified”, despite the anti-Polish stance he took towards the Ukrainian, he also feels Viktor Orban who was successfully re-elected last year as prime minister Hungary.