European Elections 2014 Far Right very prominent

Hello board, I didn't know where to post this, not sure if this is the right section but whatever (I think there should be a section for European Politics)
FN, Front Nationale won the european elections in France, I know this is a far right nationalist party with a strong disdain and intolerance for immigrants.

I'm not sure how other nationalist parties did in these elections, but I can notice far right movements are gaining a new strength. I know here in Europe, people are becoming a bit too intolerant towards immigrants, mostly muslims or anything that's more dark coloured.

For instance,
My father lives in Sweden, in the past years Sweden (like many countries in the EU) has been swarmed by immigrants looking for better conditions, he tells me these guys are there, sucking their money and doing nothing, they force their own culture on the swedes, are rude, can't drive, that I can't move to sweden because the 'talibans' are taking everything.. whatever, I'm sorry my father says things like these, because he's definitely generalizing and he's certainly being xenophobic with these sorts of comments
I wished to know what you think of this ATS, I'm not sure what kind of implications this will have in the European Parliament, or to be more country specific, France.
What are your opinions on the matter?
Is this a sign the far right are becoming stronger and stronger?
Should we worry?
Cheers ATS, sorry for the dry presentation, couldn't find any source online in english about this.

a reply to: WhiteWine

Should we worry?

Well it's not like Nationalism and xenophobia caused any problems for Europe in the 20th Century... Oh hold on a minute.

a reply to: WhiteWine

It looks like right-wing / conservative and EU-skeptic parties are the winners of this election.

As expected, pro-EU media are trying to put the focus on immigration, and are already warning of an alleged "rise of racism", instead of talking about the real reasons for the election results:
the peoples discontent with the ongoing centralistic agenda throughout the european nations.
Any criticism towards centralistic EU-policy is stigmatised as "anti-European".

The EU's centralism and disregard for the peoples souvereignty in their respective countries had to inevitably lead to nationalism as a counter movement. This election was a protest vote - and brussels should better take notice.

originally posted by: ColCurious
a reply to: WhiteWine

It looks like right-wing / conservative and EU-skeptic parties are the winners of this election.

As expected, pro-EU media are trying to put the focus on immigration, and are already warning of an alleged "rise of racism", instead of talking about the real reasons for the election results:
the peoples discontent with the ongoing centralistic agenda throughout the european nations.
Any criticism towards centralistic EU-policy is stigmatised as "anti-European".

The EU's centralism and disregard for the peoples souvereignty in their respective countries had to inevitably lead to nationalism as a counter movement. This election was a protest vote - and brussels should better take notice.

The people voted for these not because they agree with what these parties represent, but because they are protesting against centralistic parties, right?
But xenophobia and racism are well alive in Europe, so the pro-EU media are not so wrong after all, they're only wrong on the situation they applied the 'rise of racism' because this is not really the rise of racism.
People didn't vote because of immigration for example, they voted because they are angered towards the centralistic EU policy?
I myself wouldn't vote in a nationalist party, I really don't have a political ideology but far right movement is definitely not my thing.
These far right movements are euro sceptic, I am too, but I don't share anything else in common with them besides that, I think the EU failed immensely, and my country didn't get much from joining the EU, and made a huge mistake in making the euro our currency..

I will say that I feel sorry for Europe. In the States, our immigrants are mostly from Central and South America, and there is already a mixture of Native, European, and African ancestry there, much the same as there is here. While the cultures are not the same, there are parallels, and the fact that both are heavily Christianized helps a great deal in jumping major cultural gaps. There are many problems, and there is a lot of conflict amongst the differences, but there is enough common ground that things can be workable. Most countries in Central and South America seem rife with poverty and corruption, but they are generally pretty well developed and not necessarily entirely different from many parts of the U.S.

In Europe, it's something completely different, at least it seems that way from the outside. There is little to no common ground between an ultra-liberal (by U.S. standards), very open, and tolerant to a fault culturally Christian society and conservative Muslims from war-torn and third-world countries. That is not to say that one is necessarily superior to the other, but it is to say that it's reasonable to expect there to be a considerable bit more problems simply because of the reality of the situation. Such huge culture shock, on both sides of the aisle, on such a large scale cannot be very easy to deal with, and I guess that things are finally starting to boil over.

While in the U.S., one can raise the argument that illegal immigrants founded the country. True or not, right or wrong, it will cause many to take a step back and reconsider the situation and their own attitudes. In Europe, this does not work, as "this is OUR land" is pretty much spot on. I'm sure that this is not helping the situation.

None of the mainstream parties are doing anything to assuage the concerns of people, so they vote with their feet.
I voted UKIP this time.
I will next.
I'll keep voting UKIP until Labour commit to an in out Referendum
I'll never vote LIB Dem again, I did last time and they raised the tuition fees that they opposed before I voted. Scum.

Anyway, the best method of changing the course of these arrogant idiots in the LIBLABCON is to vote loads of them out so they lose their cushy jobs. Show them the real consequences of not representing the interests of the electorate. If that means voting for someone you don't like that much, it's a small price to pay.

a reply to: SprocketUK

I forgot to vote because of family stuff but would have voted UKIP. I remember a time when we did have a swing from one party to the other - one to earn the money and the other to spend it. It worked pretty well till the big corporations came along and the world markets changed.

I hate the idea of only two parties because its easy to bribe only two parties so I would like to see, as in other European countries, a number of different parties and starting with UKIP is a good idea. I also think its an insult to the people of this country to deny us a vote on staying in Europe and I wonder just what agenda politicians have when they deny democratic rights on such an important issue; coupled with the fact that even the Irish got to vote on this issue, although they voted out initially? Their Government didn't like it so they had to vote again - and guess what, they all changed their minds? Unlikely!!

I think its well time to have new faces and new ideas in London and, an English parliament, we occupy and have the larges number of people and area in the UK yet we appear to be invisible. I also get pretty sh--ty when I see Scottish Politicians who have seats in London telling us on TV that we should have Scottish politicians in London whilst we also have a Scottish parliament. Funny how on UK tv its also the group that has more to loose that gets to shout on the screen, whilst the enforced silent majority just have to lump it.

a reply to: SprocketUK

I'll never vote LIB Dem again, I did last time and they raised the tuition fees that they opposed before I voted. Scum.

If early results are an indication it looks like the LIB Dems are going to take another battering tonight , they're currently sat behind the Greens in 5th place , Cleggy could well be the first casualty of this election ...I'm sure he's sorry.



Never liked the man , I don't agree with Nick

Leasts its not just us britz thand are pissed off with being run from brussels!

a reply to: Shiloh7

Can't argue with any of that mate

So the numbers are coming in and it's looking good.
Apart from all the eu nutjobs screaming racists on twitter.

a reply to: WhiteWine

Should we worry?

Nah, more than anything it is a sign of skepticism towards ever expanding bureaucracy and meddling of the European Union.

Almost every European government has ignored their peoples cries for a stop of the transfer of power to the supranational body that the EU has become.

And almost every time the people are being allowed to have their say, be it elections or referenda, they increasingly say no!

So don't worry - be, well, happy!

I am German and it does not surprise me.
I bet in Germany the right winged parties would get more votes if the people would actually vote for what they want, but here you can't.... as soon as you do it and somebody figures out, you are declared a racist and a nazi.
I really hate it to be always politically correct, just because of our past.

I mean, I did not expierence WW2, my parents did not and even my grandparents were children at that time.
So why am I not allowed to have my own opinion. I have a lot of immigrants as friends, but we clearly have a problem in Europe and especially in Germany.

People can basically come here and get money for living here without ever having to work for it. I am fed up.
Furthermore when I see my tax money spend all over Europe and the people still call us Germans nazis, I get pissed. Why should we care if they will still call us nazis and compare us to Hitler?

I like the EU because I can freely roam, can pay with the same money, but I do not like the EU with their lack of transparency, all the regulations and the financial system.
I mean we have enough problems ourselves in Germany, people are poor, yet we give our money to Greece/Spain/Italy and allow more and more immigrants, because this is apparently politically correct and we as the Republic of Germany are not allowed to get stricter immigration rules, because then we are the bad guys again.

I wish France all the best, because at least one country wakes up and realizes, that this can't go on forever.

Edit: Btw. I am also pissed that we allowed Erdogan to hold a speech this weekend.. he should not be allowed to hold an election campaign in Germany, but we have to many Turkish people that it seems ok for everybody. I just hope some of our politicians would finally have the balls to call him out on an international stage, like they do with Putin... or like they did with Janukovich.... But apparently dozens of deaths in Turkey are not as important as a few deaths during Maidan protests.

It's quite amusing that UKIP are seeing this resurgence; obviously there are so many immigrants now that they are starting to infiltrate the proud, white communities of rural Middle England.

I've rubbed shoulders with immigrants most of my life, but no one could give a toss what I thought about it.

Obviously also there are concerns about the federalisation of Europe, and the generally antidemocratic style of leadership.

But mass immigration is the biggie.

Most of us don't want to be invaded by millions of foreigners, especially ones that are culturally different...to say nothing of the unwelcome competition for jobs.

Thank you for all the replies,
Portugal too has alot of immigration, and we don't have the structure to welcome them.
I see alot of hard working immigrants, Ukrainian dudes that lived in my building, these guys shared an apartment with another 10 ukrainians and all of them, worked their asses off and I befriended these guys and whish them all the best, I know too there are many living off of our taxes and don't do #, I can apply this to alot of the gypsies that move here, they have habitation, they actually live pretty good, but during the day you can see them begging for money, faking diseases or faking amputated legs, and after the end of the day they just group and they all look healthy and happy.

Our nationalist party PNR (Partido Nacional Republicano) doesn't get any coverage, no longer are the portuguese interested in nationalism, we had our fair share with Salazar, so we just go with either the left of right, even though the right (PSD, CDS-PP) parties are the majority and currently lead the country, the left (PS, BE) won these european elections.
The Neo-liberalism policies are crushing the middle classes like ants, I used to be in the high-middle class and after 2006, my bourgeoisie family that owned alot of property and had a steady and nice income is now left in rags, we had to sell everything to make sure we had money to live, I don't even know if I will be able to make it to university, the poor are getting poorer and so are the rich, except a few.
I don't blame the immigrants, maybe in central europe and nordic countries that is the real issue but here in Portugal, it was our government that couldn't control expenses and made really sketchy investments.... we owe so much right now we won't be able to properly develop, this amazing diverse country with loads of resources (which I wasn't aware of) is going down the sewer because politicians don't care anymore about the interest of the nation but only their personal interests..
I'm so sad this is happening, I don't know what I can do to help, voting does not help in anything here, both parties are disgustingly bad!

cheers ATS

a reply to: WhiteWine

Yes, we should be worried.

Economic insecurity traditionally leads to extremes in nationalist opinions, and I fear we're seeing that happening right now. The real danger is that these far right parties have become a little more adept at manipulating peoples dissatisfaction with the existing political climate, while hiding their own dirty laundry.

It's interesting to me that UKIP has used the "waste" of Europe as a platform and the "elite" of the UK government as a way to boost their own popularity, while hiding the fact that Farage was a city trader, gladly takes millions in pay being in the European Parliament while simultaneously attacking the fact that people like him are paid so much, and he claims UKIP is not a racist party while numerous Councillors of theirs are on record making racist statements.

He's right that other parties have radical members, but UKIP seems to have SO MANY of them.

It's extremely disappointing that so many people are willing to cut their own noses off to spite their face. Being distrusting of the existing parties is no excuse for supporting a party whose members express some of the most dangerous and nonsensically xenophobic opinions.

None of their policies stand up to scrutiny, no UKIP supporter I have spoken to seems to have any opinion on anything other than "IMMIGRATION!!" And even then it's a tabloid-led version of the facts, limited in thinking and without any real analysis.

So, yes, we should be very worried. Wait and see what happens next, I can pretty much guarantee we're going to see a surge in ultra-nationalism, hate crimes and violence as the fascists of Europe become more emboldened.

I now live in Spain which is VERY close to Marocco.

When I go out during the day, I see women covered with "jihabs" or whatever those things are called. There are bars and tiny 24hr stores that are owned by Arabs opening left and right.

In our apartment complex, the last few months several Brits MOVED OUT and Arabs MOVED IN. When we hear people talking downstairs in the "recreation area"...we hear ARABIC.

Don't get me wrong. I am the least person on this planet who is racist, not even remotely. But it is about a healthy balance which I don't think is there anymore. If you go outside and think you're in Tehran (and sometimes I really do)...something is wrong.

Upstairs on my soon roof, I have a garden hose. The left neighbor is Arab and a week ago I was quite surprised to find a rotten mattress on MY sun-roof thrown over as if my sun roof is some sort of waste disposal site. (Obviously I threw it back to him again).
We also have a water hose, and the guy/guys simply jump over to our sun roof taking our hose/water to clean their furniture because they don't have a hose, without asking.

I had a bike WITHIN our apartment complex, all the way in back which cannot be seen-in from the entrance. You have to enter the complex through a gate and go all the way to the back and then right to see where the bike was.

By pure coincidence, two days after Arabs moved in exactly across this area ..my bike vanished. Coincidence?

I am waiting for more Brits moving away and then us being the only ones left here who are not Arabic.

Edit: With "Arabs" I man Muslims which are most likely from Morocco.

NOTE: We had a VERY nice and highly intelligent guy from Morocco as neighbor across many months ago. He spoke several languages (Spanish, Farsi, French and I think a bunch more) very impressive but did not understand one word English. Saying: I am not generalizing them or at least I try : ) It's just really difficult since there is such a wide cultural gap.

originally posted by: NoRulesAllowed
I now live in Spain which is VERY close to Marocco.

When I go out during the day, I see women covered with "jihabs" or whatever those things are called. There are bars and tiny 24hr stores that are owned by Arabs opening left and right.

In our apartment complex, the last few months several Brits MOVED OUT and Arabs MOVED IN. When we hear people talking downstairs in the "recreation area"...we hear ARABIC.

Don't get me wrong. I am the least person on this planet who is racist, not even remotely. But it is about a healthy balance which I don't think is there anymore. If you go outside and think you're in Tehran (and sometimes I really do)...something is wrong.

So let me get this right... you're a British immigrant to Spain, complaining about other immigrants to Spain?

I'm confused, why is it okay for white British people to emigrate to Spain but something bad when another group of people does it?

It might not be racism (I really don't think it is) but there is some real hypocrisy here. Millions of British people have emigrated to Spain, Australia, Canada... but that's okay while other groups are portrayed as "invading" like a foreign army?

a reply to: NoRulesAllowed

Really.

You don't see the hypocrisy and irony in the fact that you're English and in Spain but complaining about foreign immigrants?

How do you think some of the Spaniards think when they step outside their front door and they see parts of their country resembling crappy parts of the UK and hearing nothing but English being spoken?

With all due respect, was this post a deliberate attempt at trolling?

After watching and reading the leaders of the three major parties reaction to the Euro election results in the UK I've got to say that Cameron appears to be dealing with it better than Clegg or Miliband - and it really pains me to say that.

Clegg insists that his party will continue to take a pro-Euro stance etc - shame he didn't show such determination to stand by his and his party's principles on any other issue whilst they've been in The Coalition government.
He's compromised almost all of his party's core principles and policies and has zero credibility.
I suspect it will take the Lib-Dems decades to regain the ground they have lost.

Miliband has simply refused to acknowledge the groundswell of support for UKIP and then states that the support is due to UKIP offering simplistic solutions to long term issues.
Yes, long term issues that his party has been actively complicit in causing and who have done nothing to address those issues.
If Miliband had said something along the lines of 'Yes, we are obviously out of step with a large and growing section of the UK population. We recognise this and we are going to re-assess our policies and take active and positive steps to address these concerns whilst maintaining our commitment to a fair and just society' he would be an absolute shoe in to be elected Prime Minister at the next election.
But no, he comes out with the usual empty, political rhetoric and he point blank refuses to even discuss immigration and the EU.
The man is a joke and a disgrace to The Labour Party - the party that allegedly represents 'the working man', what a laugh that is.

Cameron isn't much better.
But at least he seems to recognise that many people in this country are well and truly pissed off and they demand to see some sort of action from politicians.

I voted UKIP as a protest over the horrible monstrosity that the EU has become, the treasonous transfer of sovereignty to it and the ongoing open door immigration policy that NO major political party has made any attempt whatsoever to address.

Surely someone is going to grasp the nettle before next years General Election otherwise many people will see UKIP as the only option open to them.