The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has fired the starting gun to next year’s European Parliament elections by warning the entire European project faces destruction at the hands of populist forces sweeping the continent.
“This election will be tougher than ever before. We will have to fight against those who want to demolish Europe. With their fear. Their populist deceit. And their attacks against the European Project.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“There is now a Farage in every country,” he added, a swipe at the former Ukip leader who helped bring about the Brexit referendum.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Farage told the EU’s chief negotiator the European Union would collapse after the UK leaves the bloc, something Barnier said “we cannot allow”.
In what appeared to be a coordinated response by senior EU officials to the growing threat posed by populists in Europe, his comments were swiftly followed by an attack on Hungary’s nationalist leader Viktor Orban by European Council President Donald Tusk.
The former prime minister of Poland, who’s own country has been censured by the EU for ‘rule of law’ violations, accused Orban of tolerating xenophobia, nationalism and antisemitism while undermining liberal democracy.
“I want to say it very bluntly: no one has the right, at least in our political family, to attack liberal democracy and its foundations” he said.
Orban’s Fidesz party currently sits in the same centre-right group as Tusk and most mainstream European conservatives, “but there is increasing pressure to expel the Hungarian party following years of attacks on the rule of law”, says The Independent.
The news site reports that Orban, who was attending the conference and sitting to one side of Tusk during the speech, “looked glum throughout most of the president’s address”.
With Hungary, Poland and Italy now controlled by overtly anti-EU populist governments and support for Alternative for Germany, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (formerly the Nation Front) and Geert Wilders’ Dutch Freedom Party growing, there is mounting concern Eurosceptic parties are poised for significant growth in their representation at the European Parliament.
A Reuters survey of national opinion polls conducted in the summer forecast Eurosceptic parties to end up with around 60% more MEPs after next May’s elections, winning 122 of the 705 seats.
Adding to the EU’s woes is reports Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steven Bannon, plans to develop a new “supergroup” within the European parliament.
He has expressed the hope that it would attract up to a third of MPs after the elections next May and hold real sway over future direction of the bloc.
-
Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocratFeature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?
-
Comey indictment: Is the justice system broken?Feature U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of lying and obstructing Congress
-
Government shuts down amid partisan deadlockFeature As Democrats and Republicans clash over health care and spending, the shutdown leaves 750,000 federal workers in limbo
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
The dark history of myths about immigrants eating swans and petsIn the Spotlight Nigel Farage has mimicked Donald Trump and peddled tropes and rumours that have long been used to ‘dehumanise’ immigrants
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
