EUROPEAN voters revolted against their political leaders in last week’s continent-wide parliamentary votes.
The result was a bombshell: right-wing parties made huge gains, shaking the existing foundations and sending warning signals to voters in the US, Britain and Canada.
France President Emmanuel Macron called a surprise election in the hope of undoing the lurch to the right. Right-wing parties in Austria, Belgium, Holland and Germany scored smashing victories over conventional middle-of-the-road parties or the left.
Italy has moved firmly to the right under its attractive moderate prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, whose political roots lead back to Mussolini and Italian fascism.
Poland and Eastern Europe remain a question mark. Switzerland is moving right as its voters consider a ban on new immigrants. Hungary has become a bastion of what it calls “white Europe”.
What caused this political earthquake? The answer is simple: immigration.
Much of the world wants to move to a prosperous, easy-going Europe. The European Union (EU) has become a world leader in human and animal rights and stands out for its honest legal system and general decency.
The raw corruption and criminality so common in the US are not so often seen in Northern Europe. Besides, Western Europe is the paradise next door for many third-worlders.
Many Europeans are outraged by the growing numbers of Africans and Asians crossing their porous borders. I have been watching this immigration tsunami for decades.
Germany, still guilt-stricken over its wartime crimes and short on population, has opened its gates to mass immigration, but how can decent human beings slam the door in the face of suffering millions?
Anyone who has been to Paris lately has seen the ethnic composition of the city change from European to African and Middle Eastern.
Immigration has brought waves of crime and street violence. Criminals – pickpockets, purse snatchers, burglars, beggars – infest all of southern Europe. The Riviera has become crime-ridden.
Gypsies, also known as Roma, are high on the criminality list. Many Roma hail from Romania. Police cannot do much about their thievery because of lingering wartime guilt and because many criminals are under 16.
The recent parliamentary elections in Europe – that brought over 300 million to the polls – cannot be ignored. They are a salvo of protest from voters who want immigration halted. They do not want to see Europe go multicultural, multiethnic, lesbian, gay and third-world. They want the traditional Europe of high culture, white society and fiscal caution.
Most significant for Europe, Germany’s traditional centrist parties took a beating. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition just had a big scare. No wonder it did badly.
The colourless Scholz has done little to help the economy and nothing to stop immigrants, legal and illegal. The Americans love him because he is quiet and obedient. Most Germans do not want their civilisation third-worlded.
Ever since 1945, Germany has been occupied by the US military. There are over 36,000 active-duty US military personnel based in Germany alone. Another 12,000 are based in Italy. All in all, the US maintains around 100,000 troops in Europe and the Mediterranean region.
These forces no longer deter a Soviet attack, as was the alleged case in decades past. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the embodiment of US military and financial power, is there to dominate Europe and keep it under Washington’s thumb. The recent Euro parliamentary vote could be a major first step in asserting Europe’s independence.
Equally important, many Europeans have no interest in provoking war with Russia. They would prefer to trade with Moscow, not fight.
Europe’s new crop of right-wing leaders wants to improve relations with Russia and resume importing its natural gas. Europe has had to pay the price of America’s economic war against Russia.
I extensively interviewed the founder and former leader of the rightist National Rally, ex-paratrooper Jean-Marie Le Pen. He said: “Immigration equals invasion. Look at California. Americans took it from Mexico. Now, Mexican immigrants are taking it back.” Voila!
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