Eurozone crisis ‘ has fuelled the revival of Far Right’

‘More tension than ever on Germany ’ ‘We’re stronger outside the EU’

THE European single currency is fuelling the rise of the far Right across Europe, a string of senior figures have warned.

Justice Secretary Michael Gove yesterday said that the extremist Right was ‘stronger across the continent than at any time since the 1930s’, as a result of problems caused by the euro.

Mr Gove was backed by former Tory chancellor Lord Lamont, who said there was ‘no doubt at all’ that the rise of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn in Greece was ‘directly linked to the sado-austerity’ imposed on Greece by the EU in order to keep it in the euro.

Meanwhile, former Bank of England governor Mervyn King warned that the introduction of the euro had been a disaster for Europe and remained a threat to Britain.

Lord King said the single currency, and the policies imposed to prevent its break-up, had driven anti-German sentiment to its highest level since the Second World War. The cross- bench peer, who served as governor until 2013, said the single currency suffered from inherent problems that would eventually cause major issues for the UK.

‘The euro area is our biggest trading partner, that’s going to carry on being the case, and therefore it does matter to us what goes on there,’ he told the BBC.

‘This is now going to be a battle between the political will of an elite that created this and daren’t now admit that it was a mistake, and economic arithmetic. And we’re all going to suffer from that. It’s very clear that we are influenced and affected by what goes on in the euro area and, as I describe it, it has been a, I think, economic, if not disaster, very serious problem and it’s affecting us.’

He went on: ‘Germans wanted to bind Germany into Europe so the rest of Europe would never again be frightened of Germany, it’s had exactly the opposite effect. And if you look at the attitudes towards Germany today in Greece or even Italy, you see t here’s more t ension and concern about Germany than ever before.

‘And this is a headache for Germany, they didn’t set out to find themselves in this position. But the economic arithmetic has led them inexorably to it. And that is why in the longer run, the euro area, not the EU, but the euro area, is something we should all be concerned about.’

Mr Gove said the rise of ‘Hitler worshippers’ Golden Dawn in Greece was ‘ a direct consequence of what has happened with Greece and the single currency’. It came as far-Right Slovakian militants yesterday won seats in the country’s parliament for the first time. The People’s Party: Our Slovakia group – which has organised marches against the Roma minority – took eight per cent of the vote, nearly three times more than predicted.

And in Hungary, the Jobbik party, known for its Hungarian Guard uniforms and similar antiRoma stance, is the second largest party in the parliament.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Gove denounced the pro-EU campaign, led by the Prime Minister, for suggesting ‘Britain is beaten and whacked and incapable of independent existence, and that we’ve got to stay in the EU because that’s the only thing preventing economic decline and looming disaster. I simply don’t accept that point.’

Mr Gove also dismissed the PM’s repeated claims that EU membership made the UK stronger and safer.

He said: ‘I think overall our national security is strengthened if we are able to make the decisions that we need and the alliances that we believe in outside the current structures of the European Union.’

Mr Gove said EU judges had taken decisions against the UK’s national interests by dictating ‘what our spies can do and whether we can be kept safe’.

He added: ‘Our security and sovereignty stand together. I believe that there are better opportunities to keep people safe if we are outside the European Union.’

Lord Lamont said the rise of Golden Dawn in Greece was ‘directly linked to the sado-austerity’ imposed on Athens.

He echoed Mr Gove’s concerns about the destabilising effect of the euro, adding: ‘The question then is, does it make sense to belong to an organisation whose central centre is actually the Eurozone where everyone is concentrating on what is happening in the Eurozone? ‘Does it make sense for Britain, which has an entirely different destination, to be linked to this?’

Armed Forces minister Penny Mordaunt yesterday attacked the ‘hysteria’ over leaving the EU. Miss Mordaunt, a Royal Navy reservist, told the Sunday Telegraph that ‘layers of fantasy’, ‘bogus scare stories’ and ‘spin’ were being put out by Remain supporters.

She also warned that women were being alienated in the campaign by the arguments being put out on both sides by men. ‘Women are turned off by personality politics and they want to know the facts,’ she added.