Is the far right on the ropes in Europe?

Last week’s parliamentary elections in Austria have left some suggesting that the far right in European politics, which has enjoyed a fair amount of electoral success in the last couple of years, is now on the ropes.

The recent Austrian elections occurred after the collapse of that county’s coalition government. Due to its makeup, this government was always fragile. Although it was led by the mainstream center-right People’s Party, it was propped up by the far-right Freedom Party. The government did not take long to unravel.

In recent months, the Freedom Party got embroiled in not one, but two major scandals involving dodgy Russian money, suspected embezzlement of political party funds, and the alleged misuse of the Austrian intelligence service. This scandalous behavior by the Freedom Party meant that the coalition was untenable. The government collapsed in May.

The resulting elections saw the People’s Party surge, while the Freedom Party’s support fell to 16 percent from 26 percent in the 2017 election. Many of the Freedom Party’s supporters from 2017 either switched to the People’s Party or did not vote.

But for those who think that Europe has now reached the beginning of the end of far-right political parties gaining ground, a word of caution is needed. Considering the magnitude of the scandals faced by the Freedom Party, it is extraordinary that it still took 16 percent of the vote and came third. If 16 percent is the floor of the Freedom Party’s support in Austria even after all the scandals, it will likely make a future electoral comeback.

There are a few other examples debunking the idea that the far right is dead in Europe. In Italy last month, the coalition government of the left-wing populist Five Star Movement and the far-right Lega party (formally known as the Lega Nord) collapsed after months of infighting.

At the time, polling showed that if snap elections were held in Italy, Lega would actually increase its share of the vote. So a new coalition government was formed by centerleft parties normally at odds with one another to avoid risking this possibility.

After the European Parliament elections in May, the far right increased its seats from 36 in 2015 to 73. In April, elections in Estonia brought the far-right People’s Party into a coalition government, and it now holds key Cabinet positions. Last month’s local elections in Germany saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) make big gains too.

The resilience of the Freedom Party in the Austrian elections, the fear of the Lega surging in the polls, and the rise of the Estonian People’s Party hardly show the far right in Europe beating a retreat. The far left has seen electoral success. The Communist Party of Greece, Die Linke (The Left) in Germany and the Portuguese Communist Party, to name a few, have enjoyed recent success at the ballot box.

The rise of the political fringe in Europe represents a complete failure of sensible, responsible and moderate political voices from the mainstream to come together to address the many social and economic problems faced by many Europeans.