The rise of populism in Europe is not something that started only recently, but it does seem to me that the speed at which populist parties/leaders manage to increase their vote share has been growing to the point where they are close to or already managed to grab power. Populism in politics is not exclusively a tool of the right or the left, but in the last 25 years or so it has been predominantly a successful instrument for far right-wing political movements. Populism is maybe best characterized by defining it as a willingness to find scapegoats for what is wrong, like a perceived political elite that is disconnected from the wishes of the people, and/or frequently immigrants, foreigners, Muslims or Jews. Populism plays on emotions, cultivates nostalgia and seeks to make people dream. Their idea of the nation is based on ethnicity and identity, thus rejecting foreigners and immigrants. That the country may have a substantial need for labour from exactly those foreigners and immigrants because of the lack of youngsters in the country is an unwelcome truth and thus gets ignored. Until relatively recent though, the "cordon sanitaire" or "isolation" policies of the majority political parties kept the actual influence of these populists at bay. Those days have gone though, the electoral successes of the populists make it ever more likely that major democracies in Western Europe will be governed by populists before the decade ends. Just to mention some of the gravest threats in this respect: 1. The AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) just doubled their votes in elections for the Sachsen-Anhalt state parliament to almost 45%, making them the largest party. This sets the stage for nation wide elections in 2029. The problem with this is that these guys intend to not only take away citizenship of those they don't like, but they're also very friendly with Putin, which may lead to Germany leaving NATO as the ultimate consequence. 2. The Rassemblement National in France, the successor of the former Front National of Jean Marie le Pen, a neo nazi party. Marine le Pen, his daughter, tried to make the party more palatable for mainstream voters by changing the name and eliminating a few of the earlier talking points, but basically this has been more window dressing than fundamental change. The RN seems poised to win the presidency in the next elections in 2027. 3. The Fratelli d'Italia, the successor of the Alleanza National, a far right neo fascist party founded in 1946 by former supporters of Mussolini. Giorgia Meloni, the current party leader, is the first far right politician in Western Europe to succeed in dominating politics in her country and is the current prime minister. 4. The Partij voor de Vrijheid is a Dutch anti Islam, anti immigration far right populist party that has been successful to the point of becoming the largest party after parliamentary elections in 2023 and managing to form a government coalition with mostly other populist parties. Luckily this coalition failed rather quickly again and the PVV narrowly lost the following elections in 2025. 5. Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, is another anti immigration right wing populist party, and they may do well in the next general election in Britain, despite several scandals plaguing the party leadership. These examples are by no means the limit of populism in current politics though, Trump in the USA, Milei in Argentina, until recently Orban in Hungary, the list goes on. Even a moderate success can have grave consequences though, as was proven by Victor Orban when he singlehandedly blocked/delayed a decision of the EU to provide 90 Billion Euro additional support to Ukraine. I hope common sense will prevail again shortly, but apart from the midterm elections in the USA this coming November I am not very optimistic at this time about the future of democracy.
