Brussels can’t ignore the cries for change

across Europe, mainstream political parties are being savaged by disillusioned voters demanding the right to be heard.

We have witnessed extraordinary – and deeply disturbing – surges of extremism in austria, Poland, Greece and Germany.

Yesterday, it was Italy’s turn to reject the status quo, with more than 50 per cent of the vote in its general election going to three anti-establishment parties.

one, founded only nine years ago by a comedian, confusingly combines elements of socialism, consumerism, and Green politics, with a dash of xenophobia. The other two are hard-right aligned.

There’s certainly no love lost between them and forming a new government will be far from straightforward. But they are all deeply, passionately Eurosceptic.

The liberal elite loves to dismiss such parties as ‘populist’ – their euphemism for ignorant.

But this kind of populism is in the ascendant, as the people rebel against mass immigration, high unemployment and – crucially – the belief their concerns are being ignored by the ruling class.

They blame the ill-conceived single currency for their country’s economic crisis (nearly a third of young Italians have no job). and they blame the EU for forcing them to take in 690,000 migrants since 2013. This election result is a cry for change. But is Brussels listening? of course not.

Michel Barnier and the rest are far more interested in punishing the UK over Brexit than fixing the EU’s democratic deficit.

The oxford English Dictionary defines populism as: ‘The policies or principles of political parties which seek to represent the interests of ordinary people.’

How tragic that Brussels thinks that is something to be despised.