Vienna: As EU leaders refuse to tackle Covid and the Ukraine war, right-wing parties have expressed frustration over the crisis – a strategy to offset the upcoming European elections.
This trend is reflected in two countries in central Europe: Austria and Hungary.
Hungary’s prime minister, Victor, said he would “occupy Brussels” while calling his country a “liberal democracy”.
He called the June 9 election a “referendum” in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Austria, the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) has surged in the polls, fueled by discontent over the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, rising inflation and migration.
Since the last EU election in 2019, Europe’s right-wing parties have stepped up their rhetoric in response to the worsening economic situation, said Catherine Fieschi, a European policy expert at think tank Counterpoint in London.
Brussels said it had succeeded in the fight against the pandemic and that Russia increased its solidarity in the Ukraine crisis, “but the situation is still not the same as in 2019”.
“Praising the success of Living Europe” means “ignoring the pessimism of far-right voters” during the spending crisis.
