Why do you think there is growing support for far-right parties in Europe?

Aging. Western Europe is also facing a demographic crisis. Birth rates in places like Spain and Portugal are some of the lowest in human history. What this means is that there aren’t more young people to contribute to the economy and pension plans. This is simply unsustainable. Eventually governments will have to make a choice on raising retirement age and reducing government pensions. However, as we saw in France, this position is generally untenable and the great majority of the public are against it.

(Giorgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen. The faces of Europe’s Far Right. Photo credit: New Statesman.)

Stagnating economies. When people can’t earn enough money to provide for themselves and their families, they are going to start looking for someone to blame.

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Housing crisis. Nearly all of Western Europe is dealing with this issue right now. Expensive housing puts home ownership out of reach for the majority of young Europeans. Even worse, no one is really addressing this issue.

Lack of innovation. This contributes to economic stagnation. This problem is exacerbated in individual countries because the best and brightest can emigrate to other countries with a better job market. Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc., have a hard time retaining top talent. This perpetuates a downward cycle.

Immigration. Let’s just get this one out of the way. Western Europe has seen an unprecedented wave of immigration over the past decade. Many of those who immigrate have difficulty integrating into society. Mostly, they come from countries that have far different values and customs. In some countries, like France, immigrants largely live in completely separate communities from native born French. This makes it easy to “other” the others.

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