The European Union had its eighth round of elections for the EU Parliament, starting on May 22 and running through May 25. Overall the election was a great step forward for European nationalism, with euroskeptic and nationalist parties making breakthroughs in multiple western European countries and significant gains in many others.
To define some terms: “nationalist” refers to a party which supports a national identity and national borders, usually accompanied by socially conservative policies and anti-immigration positions. European nationalist parties come in both the civic (propositional) nationalist and ethnonationalist varieties. “Euroskeptic” refers to parties opposed to the continued centralization of power in the EU international government and its interference in national affairs, desiring instead to halt the centralization, undo its power grabs, or even leave the EU entirely.
While I would generally support most of the parties listed below, a party being named in no way implies an endorsement of their entire platform or actions. The parties listed range from libertarian to national socialist, from left to right economically and socially, from soft civic nationalism to hard ethnic nationalism, and some of them hate each other. These are simply the parties in each countries which are nationalist or euroskeptic to a large degree, and oftentimes both. Wikipedia and Google are helpful if you want to learn more about a particular party’s history and policy stances.
Western Europe
United Kingdom
In one of the most stunning successes in the 2014 EU elections, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) came in first place with 26.6% of the vote, winning 24 (33.8%) of the UK’s seats. This is a dramatic increase from their 2009 results, when they attained 16.6% of the vote and 13 seats. While it is true that UKIP is a libertarian, civic-nationalist party rather than a true nationalist party, the victory of UKIP shows a clear break from the establishment parties by the British public, and any move towards exiting the EU can only be seen as positive. The British National Party only garnered 1% of the vote, down from 6% in 2009, losing both of their seats. The BNP has been wracked by internal problems and this, combined with the anti-nationalist full-court press by the British media and political establishment, caused most BNP voters to migrate over to UKIP or one of the other smaller British nationalist parties – the largest of which, the new party Britain First, only received 0.1% of the vote. The English Democrats were down as well, falling from almost 2% in 2009 to 0.7% in 2014, probably, again, due to losing voters to UKIP. Since most of their issues are domestic in nature, this might not indicate an actual drop in support for national elections. In total, 28.58% of the British vote went to at least semi-nationalist parties, who received 24 out of the 71 British seats.
Netherlands
The most nationalist political party in the Netherlands is what we would call a neoconservative party in America. The Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom) is pro-Israel, pro-homosexual, and pro-feminism, among other negatives; however, they are the closest thing to an actual nationalist party in the very liberal Netherlands, the only party willing to oppose immigration and Islam and to defend the idea of such a thing as Dutch culture and identity. Unfortunately, they dropped from 16.97% in 2009 to 13.2% in 2014. However, they managed to hold onto all four of their seats, and managing that in the current Dutch political environment is something of an accomplishment.
Belgium
Belgium is an artificial country with a French southern half (Wallonia), a Dutch northern half (Flanders), and a little bit of German in the east sewn together in the wake of the Napoleonic wars. Nationalism is almost entirely absent in the French half of the country, while the Flemish have a strong nationalist streak. Unfortunately, the support for nationalism and independence seems to be moving away from the ethnonationalist, euroskeptic Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) and towards the civic-nationalist, pro-EU Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (New Flemish Alliance). The New Flemish Alliance came in first overall with 16.85% of the vote and 4 seats, an increase of 10.73% and 3 seats over their 2009 results. The Flemish Interest, though, only received 4.27% of the vote and 1 seat, down 5.58% and 1 seat compared to 2009. Overall, the nominal Flemish nationalist vote was 21.12% of the vote and 5 Belgian seats out of the 21 total. However, if we only look at the vote in Flanders, that increases to 33.43% of the Dutch-speaking vote and 5 out of the 12 Dutch seats: an increase over 2009’s 25.76% of the Dutch vote and 3 seats.
France
Another one of this election’s big success stories is the Le Pen’s National Front in France. Coming in first overall with 24.85% of the vote and 24 out of the 74 French seats, this represents a huge increase over the 6.3% and 3 seats they received in 2009, setting the National Front up to be a major player in the 2017 French Parliamentary elections.
Germany
Earlier this year, German courts ruled that requiring parties to win a certain percentages of votes in the national elections in order to be able to participate in the EU elections was illegitimate. So for the first time, smaller German parties were able to win seats this year. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time any German nationalist party has been elected to a national or international seat since the end of WWII. The Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (National Democratic Party of Germany) received 1.03% of the vote and a single seat. In addition, the brand new Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) received 7.04% of the vote and 7 seats out of the 96 total German seats. While the AfD is not really a nationalist party, it is nominally euroskeptic and marks the first major breakthrough for a German party unwilling to completely toe the establishment line, that Germans are to blame for everything and must accept the burden of holding up the entire EU structure because of their guilt from WWII.
Austria
Having managed to avoid the WWII guilt heaped upon their German brothers to the north, the Austrians have had a significant nationalist party in the form of the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (Freedom Party of Austria) since the 1980s. While still short of their late-90s high-water mark, the Freedom Party managed to get 19.72% of the vote and 4 seats out of the 18 total Austrian seats. This is up from the 12.71% and 2 seats they received in 2009. In addition, the new euroskeptic party, Die Reformkonservativen (The Reform Conservatives), garnered 1.18% of the votes, but no seats.
Italy
The Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five Star Movement) is in many ways the Italian version of UKIP. It is decidedly euroskeptic and anti-establishment, and its success is a blow against the legitimacy of the pro-EU Italian parties. The Five Star Movement came in second place with 21.16% of the vote and 17 out of the 73 total Italian seats. The traditional northern Italian nationalist party, Lega Nord (Northern League), unfortunately, only received 6.2% of the vote and 5 seats, down from 10.2% and 9 seats in 2009.
Spain and Portugal
Taking a decidedly left turn politically after Franco and in desperate need of EU funds, neither Iberian country has a viable nationalist party currently. The Catalonian separatists are heirs to the Spanish Republicans of the Spanish Civil War and are not only far left, but also see the EU as integral to their path to independence. Three small nationalist parties in Spain – Spanish Phalanx, National Democracy, and Republican Social Movement – received a combined 0.26% of the vote and no seats. In Portugal, the traditional Catholics (Portugal Pro-Life), the monarchists (People’s Monarchist Party), and the Portuguese nationalists (National Renovator Party) received a combined 1.38% of the vote and no seats.
Ireland
Irish nationalism has been co-opted by Marxism, and Irish nationalist parties tend to be very leftist and pro-immigration – just so long as it’s immigration from the third world and not from England.
Luxembourg and Malta
Having benefited enormously economically from the EU, Luxembourg has no euroskeptic or nationalist parties. Malta’s Imperium Europa remains a micro-party.
Northern Europe
Denmark
Denmark is northern Europe’s nationalist success story this year. The Dansk Folkeparti (Danish Peoples’ Party) came in first place overall, winning 26.6% of the vote and 4 out of the 13 total Danish seats. This is up from their 2009 fourth-place finish with 15.28% of the vote and 2 seats. It’s noteworthy that the DPP candidate Morten Messerschmidt received the highest number of personal votes (465,758) in the history of Denmark. The more left-wing Danish euroskeptic party Folkebevægelsen mod EU (People’s Movement against the EU) received 8.1% of the vote and 1 seat as well.
Sweden
Building upon their successful entrance into the Swedish parliament in the 2010 Swedish elections, the Sverigedemokraterna (Swedish Democrats) captured 9.7% of the vote and 2 seats out of Sweden’s 20 total seats. This was almost triple the vote they received in 2009, when they failed to win a seat with 3.27% of the vote.
Finland
In Finland, the Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) continued making gains, with a third-place finish of 12.9% of the vote and 2 seats out of the total 13 Finnish seats. This was up from 9.79% and 1 seat in 2009. The relatively new Sinivalkoinen Rintama (Blue and White Front) nationalist party only received 0.1% of the vote, with most Finnish nationalists opting for the more viable Finns Party.
Baltic States
Similar to eastern European countries, the three Baltic states are new to the EU and differ politically from western Europe. They have benefited economically from the EU, they have yet to receive large amounts of third-world immigration, and they have avoided the worse of the cultural Marxist indoctrination so far. So their center-right parties tend to be better, less devoid of common sense, and not suicidal, unlike their western counterparts. All of them have nationalist parties as well, but they tend not to be as sharply euroskeptic as western nationalists and more anti-Russian than anti-immigrant, since there are lots of Russians and not many immigrants in the Baltics. The Lithuanian Tvarka ir Teisingumas (Order and Justice) party received 14.27% of the vote and 2 out of 11 seats, the Latvian three-party nationalist coalition received 14% of the vote and 1 out of 8 seats, and the Estonian Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (Conservative People’s Party of Estonia) received 4% of the vote, Eesti Iseseisvuspartei (Estonian Independence Party) receiving 1.3% of the vote. While this marked an increase for both Estonian parties, neither managed to win one of Estonia’s 6 seats.
Eastern Europe
Bulgaria
Bulgaria is one of the three countries this year that suffered a dramatic decrease in the nationalist vote. This is likely due to political corruption being a bigger issue than immigration, as Bulgaria has been a net exporter of labor since joining the EU. Атака (Attack) received 2.9% of the vote, down from 11.96% in 2009, and lost both of their seats. The new Национален фронт за спасение на България (National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria) received 3.05% of the vote, and the Nationalist Party of Bulgaria only received 0.1% of the vote. None of Bulgaria’s 17 seats were won by nationalists.
Croatia
Savez za Hrvatsku (Alliance for Croatia) is an electoral alliance of the four largest Croatian nationalist parties, along with a collection of smaller ones. The Alliance for Croatia received 6.08% of the vote, which is about what they got collectively in 2013 when they ran as separate parties; it was still not quite enough to win one of Croatia’s 11 seats this year.
Cyprus
The Greek nationalist party in Cyprus, Εθνικό Λαϊκό Μέτωπο (National Popular Front), has strong ties to Greece’s Golden Dawn and, while they managed to acquire 2.69% of the vote this time, more than doubling their 2009 vote (1.03%), this was still far short of winning one of Cyprus’s 6 seats.
Czech Republic
The Czech euroskeptic, libertarian party Strana Svobodných Občanů (Party of Free Citizens) received 5.24% of the vote and won 1 of the Czech Republic’s 21 seats, a great improvement over their 1.26% showing in 2009. The Czech national socialist party, Dělnická Strana Sociální Spravedlnosti (Workers’ Party of Social Justice), dropped down to 0.53% from their 1.07% showing in 2009.
Greece
Despite literal 24/7 attacks by the media and political establishment, attempts to ban them, the unjust imprisonment of their leaders, the physical assault and even murder of their members, and probably some vote fraud thrown in for good measure, Χρυσή Αυγή (Golden Dawn) scored a solid 9.38% of the vote and won 3 of Greece’s 21 seats. This cemented them as Greece’s third-largest political party in a dramatic increase from their 0.5% showing in 2009, and even an increase over their 6.9% in the 2012 national elections. While on the far left, the Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς (Coalition of the Radical Left) is just as rabidly anti-establishment as the Golden Dawn, and they came in first place overall, with 26.6% of the vote and 6 seats.
If I were an EU bureaucrat, these results would actually concern me more than Great Britain’s or France’s euroskeptic victories. In the summer of 2012, the Euro crisis was almost brought to a head when support for the establishment Greek parties collapsed due to oppressive austerity measures forced on the country in order to continue borrowing money and to remain in the Euro zone. Greece was forced to hold a second election a month after the first, for no one was able to form a majority coalition government. A Greek exit from the Euro zone and a possible collapse of the Euro was narrowly avoided when the traditionally opposing establishment parties, New Democracy (center-right) and PASOK (center-left), managed to get 158 out of 300 seats in a coalition government with the help of a smaller leftist party, DIMAR, after the second election. However, these three parties only managed to garner a combined 31.24% of the vote in this EU election last week. In an election largely seen as a vote of confidence on the current governing coalition, this should be extremely troubling to the establishment. Current national level polls show that the three coalition parties are only polling at a slightly better 38.3%, still far short of what they would need to get a majority in the Greek Parliament. Even if they convinced the new left-wing POTAMI party to coalition with them, that would only add another 8.1%, still leaving them 3.6% short. None of the other four parties expected to win seats are likely to be willing to join a coalition government, as they strongly oppose the austerity measures supported by the establishment parties. Further, neither of the two left-wing parties of this four are likely to coalition with the two right-wing parties, meaning that the Greek parliamentary elections in 2016 are likely to end in a three-way deadlock and be even messier than the ones in 2012. Expect a new and bigger Euro crisis in 2016 if things haven’t already been brought to a head by UKIP winning the British national elections and calling for a vote to exit the EU in 2015.
Hungary
Hungary’s nationalist Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom (Movement for a Better Hungary) party received almost the exact same level of support this year (14.68%) as they did in 2009 (14.77%), yet due to the left-wing Hungarian socialist party’s continued collapse, this actually meant that Jobbik came in second instead of third this year, with their same 3 seats out of Hungary’s total 22. Hungary’s center-right party, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség, is better than many other country’s center-right parties and outright won the election with 51.49% of the vote and 12 seats. With Fidesz and Jobbik sitting on two thirds of the Hungarian vote, Hungary’s future looks solidly right-wing.
Poland
Almost 97% of the Polish population identify as ethnic Poles, and the vast majority of the remainder are Europeans. Poland also tends to be extremely conservative socially, to the point that Polish parties differentiate themselves over whether or not stem cell research is moral rather than whether homosexuality should be celebrated or just tolerated, as in western Europe. That being the case, Poland’s center-right would be any western country’s far right, and Poland’s second-biggest (almost tied for biggest) party, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice), is moderately euroskeptic. Poland’s main pro-EU party, Platforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform), was down to 32.13% this election, compared to their 44.43% in 2009. Euroskeptic parties were the main beneficiaries of this, with Law and Justice gaining 4 seats to tie Civic Platform at 19 seats each. Three new and explicitly euroskeptic Polish parties also did well; the euroskeptic, libertarian Congress of the New Right received 7.15% of the vote and 4 seats, the Catholic nationalist United Poland received 3.98% of the vote, and the Polish nationalist National Movement coalition received 1.39% of the vote. Combining Law and Justice and Congress of the New Right gives 23 of Poland’s 51 total seats to euroskeptics.
Romania
Romania was the second country where nationalists saw major reversals, largely for the same reasons as Bulgaria. With political corruption a much larger issue than immigration, a net outflow of labor, and net inflow of EU money, the Partidul România Mare (Greater Romania Party) dropped from their 2009 vote of 8.65% to 2.7% this election and lost all 3 of their seats. The populist, euroskeptic Partidul Poporului (People’s Party) received 3.67% of the vote but also failed to win a seat. None of Romania’s 32 seats were won by nationalists.
Slovakia
Slovakia was the final country to see nationalists lose support. The nationalist Slovenská Národná Strana (Slovak National Party) dropped from their 5.55% vote in 2009 down to 3.61% this year, losing their 1 seat.
Slovenia
The nationalist Slovenska Nacionalna Stranka (Slovenian National Party) increased their share of the vote up to 4.04% from their 2009 showing of 2.85%, but this is still far short of their historical high, and they failed to win one of Slovenia’s 8 seats.
Conclusion
The good news is that euroskeptic and/or nationalist parties came in first place in Great Britain, Belgium, France, and Denmark and second place in Italy, Hungary, and Poland. In addition to those countries, euroskeptic and/or nationalist parties scored in the double digits in the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Lithuania, and Latvia. So in total, 12 of the 28 EU countries, including some of the biggest and most populous, had solid showings. Smaller gains were made in many of the other countries as well.
It’s interesting to note a very strong correlation between the strength of euroskeptic and nationalist parties and the duration of a country within the EU. The four countries where euroskeptic and nationalist parties came in first place were all members back in 1973, while Slovakia (2004), Slovenia (2004), Bulgaria (2007), Romania (2007), and Croatia (2013) – where euroskeptic and nationalist parties did poorly, didn’t win seats, and even lost seats – are all much more recent members. This is a clear indication that rule by unelected bureaucrats, the institutionalization of cultural Marxism, petty regulation tyranny, and mass immigration – far from ending nationalism, encouraging economic growth, and creating a social paradise as they claimed – are generating a nationalist revolt and financial collapse. The EU’s very own foundational policies are planting the seeds of its destruction.
The bad news is that even though euroskeptic and/or nationalist parties did come in first place in a number of countries, this only means 26% to 17% of the vote, because of how many parties shared the vote. So even in countries where euroskeptic and/or nationalist parties “won,” they remain in a distinct minority numerically in the EU parliament. While this larger bloc of euroskeptics and nationalists may be able to throw up some roadblocks in the EU parliament to the globalists’ and Marxists’ agenda, they will still be able to circumvent the euroskeptics to a large degree with the majority they retain and their army of unelected petty dictators.
However, returning to the good news and ending this on a high point: this election does send a clear signal that the political tides in Europe may finally be turning. Even if this EU election was largely symbolic, if these results can be carried over and improved upon in the various national elections, then this could be the beginning of real change. We in America can only dream of having a viable nationalist party that actually cares about us, our identity, and our future. However, we need to take this chance to watch the successes and failures of the different approaches European nationalist parties are taking, so we can fine-tune our own strategies accordingly, and be ready to take maximum advantage of the opportunity when our own time comes.
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