The rise of the political right in Europe
By: Benjamin Chan-Kai ‘25 and Charles Downes-Le Guin‘25
Italy’s newly elected prime minister speaks at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) 2022. Photo courtesy of Vox España, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On October 22, 2022, Giorgia Meloni made history by being elected as the prime minister of Italy. Meloni has become the first female prime minister of Italy and the leader of the most right-wing political party to lead Italy since World War II.
Meloni ran on anti-LGBTQ sentiment, nationalism, and anti-immigrant policies. Each of these values is a part of the larger right-wing party she ran with, the Brothers of Italy, whose roots trace far back to a time where fascism was prominent in Italy.
The Italian Social Party, or MSI, was founded in 1946 by Giorgio Almirante prior to the Brothers of Italy. Almirante was an important part of Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party. Following WWII, the MSI drew more fascist supporters into its ranks, however, it remained a small political party until the 1990s.
During the 1990s, the MSI became known as the National Alliance and had a new leader, Gianfranco Fini. Fini was a more presentable candidate, which allowed him to win 46.9% of the votes while running for mayor of Rome. It was during this time that Meloni joined the ranks of the MSI.
Meloni took ideas from the MSI and helped co-found the Brothers of Italy in 2012. Since then, the party has gradually become more accepted into the political scene, culminating in 26.4% of the votes in the 2022 election. Using a political alliance to gain more votes helped win the Brothers of Italy the election, and Meloni the prime minister position of Italy.
The election in Italy is just one example of far-right political parties gaining more power across Europe.
In France, far-right candidate, Marie Le Pen, nearly completed a historic push to win the presidency over current French president Emmanuel Macron.
In Sweden, another far-right group, the Sweden Democrats, totaled the second-highest number of votes, giving them an influential position in the country’s agenda.
More far-right progress has been tallied for parties such as the Alternative for Germany Party (AfD), which added 10% of the vote in parliamentary elections last year, and Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, who totaled 52% of the votes.
Each of these parties and their corresponding leaders are running on ideas similar to Meloni's of anti-immigration, nationalism, and isolationism, law and order, and anti-LGBTQ sentiment. and anti-ethnic minorities. These values are in stark contrast to what many people perceive as politically-correct opinions, which begs the question of how we got here.
The 2008 economic crisis serves as a focal point for the shift in the acceptance of right-wing ideas. The economic downturn shrunk a traditionally left-leaning working class and created a crisis of ideologies. Economic fears caused many people to have a more cynical view of society.
This shift towards a cynical mindset has been one factor that has led many countries to start implementing harsher restrictions on immigration.
In Italy, Meloni has supported the great replacement theory for Muslim immigrants. The theory states that non-white immigrants could eventually displace native-born white Europeans if too many were to be assimilated into society. One way Meloni hopes to prevent this from happening is to build a wall around the borders of Italy, an idea many of us are very familiar with.
One of Meloni’s party members, and a Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Aboubakar Soumahoro, stated that “Their fault is to speak another language. Their fault is to have another color,” while accusing the then Italian government of using migrants as a distraction from other issues.
Meloni and her party's ideals pose a threat to the 5.2 million immigrants that journey through Italy every year: 3.4 million of which travel a potentially fatal journey across the Mediterranean hoping to avoid the rising food prices, and deteriorating conditions in their home countries.
Fears like migration and losing jobs contribute to the radical far-right view that has been normalized throughout the years.
Many people’s futures are dependent on how newcomers to power like Meloni will handle their policies not seen in many countries in decades.