Le Pen courts Hungarian, Polish far right in bid for European Parliament alliance France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen reached out to her counterparts in Hungary and Poland, both already in government, during a European elections campaign meeting in Brussels.
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Showing posts with label Marine Le Pen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marine Le Pen. Show all posts
May 6, 2019
May 6, 2017
French Pres.Elections: Macron launches legal suit after Le Pen repeats 'Bahamas bank account' rumours
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| Putin and Le Pen in Moscow |
Macron's team had earlier announced that the candidate had lodged an official complaint over "the spreading of false information" to try to influence the result of an election.
The complaint was filed the morning after a memorable live TV debate between the two presidential election candidates.
During one particularly heated exchange in a debate marked by insults and invective the pair argued about the legal issues they faced.
After Macron said it wasn’t him that was under investigation by police, referring to the fake jobs allegations facing Le Pen, the far right candidate replied: “I hope we don’t discover you have an offshore account in the Bahamas.”
Macron warned her that her suggestion was "defamation".
Judicial sources told AFP prosecutors in Paris had opened a probe following the complaint from Macron, which comes three days before Sunday's presidential run-off vote.
A source close to the case told AFP, the complaint targets "information that circulated Wednesday night on the internet" (probably from Russian sources) alleging tax evasion in the Bahamas.
Read more: Macron launches legal suit after Le Pen repeats 'Bahamas bank account' rumours - The Local
May 4, 2017
Far-right
candidate Marine Le Pen(supported by both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin) and centrist Emmanuel Macron clashed over their
vision of France's future, the euro and ways of fighting terrorism in an
ill-tempered televised debate on Wednesday before Sunday's run-off vote
for the presidency.
The two went into the debate with opinion polls showing Macron, 39, with a strong lead of 20 percentage points over the National Front's Le Pen, 48, in what is widely seen as France's most important election in decades.
For Le Pen, the two-and-a-half hour debate, watched by millions, was a last major chance to persuade voters of the merits of her program which includes cracking down on illegal immigration, ditching the euro single currency and holding a referendum on EU membership.
However, 63 percent of viewers found Macron more convincing than Le Pen in the debate, according to a snap opinion poll by Elabe for BFMTV, reinforcing his status as favorite to win the Elysee on Sunday.
In angry exchanges, Le Pen played up Macron's background as a former investment banker and economy minister, painting him as heir to the outgoing unpopular Socialist government and as the "candidate of globalisation gone wild."
He savaged her flagship policy of abandoning the euro, calling it a fatal plan that would unleash a currency war, and he accused her of failing to offer solutions to France's economic problems such as chronic unemployment.
Read more: Macron, Le Pen clash on euro, terrorism, in French pre-election TV showdown | Reuters
The two went into the debate with opinion polls showing Macron, 39, with a strong lead of 20 percentage points over the National Front's Le Pen, 48, in what is widely seen as France's most important election in decades.
For Le Pen, the two-and-a-half hour debate, watched by millions, was a last major chance to persuade voters of the merits of her program which includes cracking down on illegal immigration, ditching the euro single currency and holding a referendum on EU membership.
However, 63 percent of viewers found Macron more convincing than Le Pen in the debate, according to a snap opinion poll by Elabe for BFMTV, reinforcing his status as favorite to win the Elysee on Sunday.
In angry exchanges, Le Pen played up Macron's background as a former investment banker and economy minister, painting him as heir to the outgoing unpopular Socialist government and as the "candidate of globalisation gone wild."
He savaged her flagship policy of abandoning the euro, calling it a fatal plan that would unleash a currency war, and he accused her of failing to offer solutions to France's economic problems such as chronic unemployment.
Read more: Macron, Le Pen clash on euro, terrorism, in French pre-election TV showdown | Reuters
April 28, 2017
French Presidential Elections: EU MEPs act to strip Le Pen of immunity in fake jobs case
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| Le Pen and Putin during their recent meeting in Moscow |
The assembly's president Antonio Tajani announced that a request from French judges had been forwarded to its legal affairs committee. The process is scheduled to begin in June.
The move comes as Le Pen, an anti-EU politician who has been an MEP since 2004, campaigns for the second round of the French presidential election on 7 May.
French judges requested her immunity be lifted at the end of March over claims of undue payments to members of her National Front (FN) party.
The parliament alerted the EU's anti-fraud office, Olaf, in 2015 after it discovered that about 20 people paid as assistants to FN MEPs were also listed as working at the party's headquarters near Paris.
According to a report leaked by French media earlier this year, Olaf found that Le Pen signed work contracts for her bodyguard and her head of cabinet assistant. It said the contracts could constitute a "misappropriation of funds, or fraud and use of fraud".
Last September, Le Pen was asked by the parliament to repay €339,946 to cover the salaries of the two assistants.
Paris judges opened a case against the FN over embezzlement, organised fraud, forgery, and undeclared work. They searched the party's headquarters in February.
Le Pen's head of cabinet, Catherine Griset, was charged a few days later.
According to Le Monde newspaper, judges found a document that could prove that the FN established a system to fund the party with EU parliament money.
"In the coming years, we can manage only by making large savings thanks to the European Parliament and if we obtain additional transfers," FN treasurer Wallerand de Saint Just wrote in a note to Le Pen, according to Le Monde.
On Thursday, the AFP press agency said parliament told judges the cost of the alleged fake jobs between 2012 and 2017 was €4,978,122.
Le Pen has denied any wrongdoing and said that the case was "persecution by political opponents".
She has so far refused to comply with court summonses, but losing her immunity would oblige her to obey.
The EU parliament already lifted her immunity in an unrelated case in March. She is under investigation in France after posting on Twitter, in 2015, pictures of men being tortured and killed by the Islamic State (IS) militant group, to protest against the comparison between IS and her National Front party by a journalist.
Le Pen, who came second in the election first round on Sunday, wants France to leave the euro and has promised to organise a referendum on the country's EU membership.
Read more: MEPs act to strip Le Pen of immunity in fake jobs case
April 27, 2017
French Presidential Elections: Can France's 'new man' prevail?-by Trudy Rubin
Trudy RubinTrudy RubinThe final vote for the next French president, on
May 7, will not only be critical for all of Europe but will have a major
impact on the United States.
Despite their country's political and cultural differences from America, the French are going through an election upheaval that is amazingly similar to the convulsion that produced Donald Trump. The country is split between the winners from an open, globalized society and the losers who feel abandoned by traditional politicians.
On Sunday, in a first-round ballot with a field of 11 candidates, voters rejected mainstream parties of left and right, along with a host of independent candidates. The top two choices for a runoff were a political novice, Emmanuel Macron, who heads a new centrist party and supports an open society, closely followed by the populist, immigration-bashing nationalist, Marine Le Pen.
The polls show Macron ahead by 20 percent, yet - in these strange times - the outcome is far from certain. Should Le Pen pull an upset, we could see the collapse of NATO and the European Union and a further surge of populism on the continent.
In conversations this week with the current French ambassador to Washington, Gerard Araud, and a former French ambassador Pierre Vimont, I heard serious concerns about the likely results.
"I would bet yes for Macron," says Araud, who was in Philly speaking for the French-American Chamber of Commerce and at Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania. But then the ambassador listed his caveats.
Le Pen appeals to those who have been hurt by free trade agreements or automation. "It's not by chance that Hillary Clinton lost in the [U.S.] rust belt," he says, "and Marine Le Pen has done well in the French rust belt." Moreover, says Araud, the problem goes well beyond the issue of trade. "Ahead of us we have more automation, so how do we retrain a 45-year-old truck driver? We are facing a real problem that may worsen.
"As in America, the result in Europe is that we increasingly have dual societies, where 50 percent are quite comfortable and confident, and the other part of the population is suffering, with their income stagnating and dropping. They are looking for scapegoats, like immigrants."
This new political climate has helped Le Pen overcome the long-standing French distaste for the neo-fascist origins of her National Front Party. She has disavowed the party's anti-Semitic founder, her father, who advanced to the second round in 2002 presidential elections but then lost 80 percent to 20 percent.
Araud fears that Le Pen could win "because Macron is an unknown quantity and he will need people from the left and right to vote for him." That poses a problem which may look familiar to Clinton's supporters. In the first round of voting, third place with 20 percent of the ballots went to a far leftist with a certain resemblance to Bernie Sanders; many French Berniacs, including young activists, say they will never vote Macron, while some may switch to Le Pen.
Some voters for the fourth-place candidate, from France's conservative Republicans Party, may also vote Le Pen. And many disgruntled voters may stay home.
So the future of Europe depends on this: whether the 39-year-old Macron, a banker whose only political experience was a brief stint as economics minister for the current socialist government, can convince enough French voters that he offers new answers for a divided country.
Note EU-Digest: We can only hope the French voters contraruto the US voters will vote with their head, and not vote for candidate Le Pen who is not only supported by Putin and Trump, but who, with her convoluted ideas, could also destroy France and the EU.
Read more:Can France's 'new man' prevail?
Despite their country's political and cultural differences from America, the French are going through an election upheaval that is amazingly similar to the convulsion that produced Donald Trump. The country is split between the winners from an open, globalized society and the losers who feel abandoned by traditional politicians.
On Sunday, in a first-round ballot with a field of 11 candidates, voters rejected mainstream parties of left and right, along with a host of independent candidates. The top two choices for a runoff were a political novice, Emmanuel Macron, who heads a new centrist party and supports an open society, closely followed by the populist, immigration-bashing nationalist, Marine Le Pen.
The polls show Macron ahead by 20 percent, yet - in these strange times - the outcome is far from certain. Should Le Pen pull an upset, we could see the collapse of NATO and the European Union and a further surge of populism on the continent.
In conversations this week with the current French ambassador to Washington, Gerard Araud, and a former French ambassador Pierre Vimont, I heard serious concerns about the likely results.
"I would bet yes for Macron," says Araud, who was in Philly speaking for the French-American Chamber of Commerce and at Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania. But then the ambassador listed his caveats.
Le Pen appeals to those who have been hurt by free trade agreements or automation. "It's not by chance that Hillary Clinton lost in the [U.S.] rust belt," he says, "and Marine Le Pen has done well in the French rust belt." Moreover, says Araud, the problem goes well beyond the issue of trade. "Ahead of us we have more automation, so how do we retrain a 45-year-old truck driver? We are facing a real problem that may worsen.
"As in America, the result in Europe is that we increasingly have dual societies, where 50 percent are quite comfortable and confident, and the other part of the population is suffering, with their income stagnating and dropping. They are looking for scapegoats, like immigrants."
This new political climate has helped Le Pen overcome the long-standing French distaste for the neo-fascist origins of her National Front Party. She has disavowed the party's anti-Semitic founder, her father, who advanced to the second round in 2002 presidential elections but then lost 80 percent to 20 percent.
Araud fears that Le Pen could win "because Macron is an unknown quantity and he will need people from the left and right to vote for him." That poses a problem which may look familiar to Clinton's supporters. In the first round of voting, third place with 20 percent of the ballots went to a far leftist with a certain resemblance to Bernie Sanders; many French Berniacs, including young activists, say they will never vote Macron, while some may switch to Le Pen.
Some voters for the fourth-place candidate, from France's conservative Republicans Party, may also vote Le Pen. And many disgruntled voters may stay home.
So the future of Europe depends on this: whether the 39-year-old Macron, a banker whose only political experience was a brief stint as economics minister for the current socialist government, can convince enough French voters that he offers new answers for a divided country.
Note EU-Digest: We can only hope the French voters contraruto the US voters will vote with their head, and not vote for candidate Le Pen who is not only supported by Putin and Trump, but who, with her convoluted ideas, could also destroy France and the EU.
Read more:Can France's 'new man' prevail?
April 25, 2017
French Presidential elections: Parties in France Unite Against Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Penn is expected to have great difficulty in overcoming the
united opposition of all other French mainstream political parties now
united against her in support of Emmanuel Macron, the Centrist Candidate
Read more: Parties in France Unite Against Marine Le Pen - The New York Times
Read more: Parties in France Unite Against Marine Le Pen - The New York Times
April 23, 2017
France: Tight race for the Elysee Palace - by Bernd Rieger
French voters will be going to the polls this Sunday with the memory of Thursday's deadly attack in Paris still fresh in their minds. All candidates, from left to right, cancelled their final campaign appearances
following the incident. They are all calling for police and
investigative authorities to be boosted.
The right-wing populist Marine Le Pen accused the Socialist government of having failed in the fight against Islamic terrorism. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve in his turn accused Le Pen of exploiting the terror threat for the purposes of her campaign.
Surveys indicate that, after the fear of economic decline, voters are most worried about security and the threat posed by terrorism. There are no opinion polls recent enough to have measured voter sentiment following the most recent attack, which targeted police officers in the heart of Paris.
The state of emergency imposed in France after the Islamist attacks in Paris in November 2015 is still in force.
The race for France's presidency is wide open. The latest polls predict that four candidates out of the 11 candidates have a realistic chance of advancing to the decisive May 7 runoff. Two candidates, far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron, who founded a new party, have both been touted as favorites for the last several weeks. Some polls give Le Pen a slight edge; others give it to Macron. It is a neck-and-neck race. But far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillon, the only representative of an established party, also have a decent chance of advancing. The two are just 2 or 3 percentage points behind front-runners Le Pen and Macron. That is well within the margin of error for such polling.
Election researcher Stephane Wahnich warned in a recent DW interview that nothing was certain. "We have many undecided voters in France. About a quarter of all voters have said that they will not decide until election day. That means that we are asking people who they will vote for even though they have yet to make up their minds." Wahnrich complains that France's voting public is no longer stable. "Our society is radically changing. This makes it difficult to come up with reliable projections. When you consider that fact, you have to conclude that opinion polls for this election are completely overrated."
Far-right populist Le Pen lost out in the first round of France's last presidential election in 2012. This time it seems certain that she will advance to the runoff. The ruling Socialist party of departing - and extremely unpopular - President Francois Hollande is playing no role whatsoever in the election. That is also something completely new in French politics. The country's political left is more divided than ever before. On the other hand, the rise of far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is especially popular among young French voters for his radical anti-EU slogans and calls for 100 percent taxation on the rich, is rather astonishing. Melenchon utterly rejects globalization and free-trade: "All trade deals that devastate the signatory countries must be stopped."
Read more: Tight race for the Elysee Palace | Europe | DW.COM | 22.04.2017
The right-wing populist Marine Le Pen accused the Socialist government of having failed in the fight against Islamic terrorism. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve in his turn accused Le Pen of exploiting the terror threat for the purposes of her campaign.
Surveys indicate that, after the fear of economic decline, voters are most worried about security and the threat posed by terrorism. There are no opinion polls recent enough to have measured voter sentiment following the most recent attack, which targeted police officers in the heart of Paris.
The state of emergency imposed in France after the Islamist attacks in Paris in November 2015 is still in force.
The race for France's presidency is wide open. The latest polls predict that four candidates out of the 11 candidates have a realistic chance of advancing to the decisive May 7 runoff. Two candidates, far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron, who founded a new party, have both been touted as favorites for the last several weeks. Some polls give Le Pen a slight edge; others give it to Macron. It is a neck-and-neck race. But far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillon, the only representative of an established party, also have a decent chance of advancing. The two are just 2 or 3 percentage points behind front-runners Le Pen and Macron. That is well within the margin of error for such polling.
Election researcher Stephane Wahnich warned in a recent DW interview that nothing was certain. "We have many undecided voters in France. About a quarter of all voters have said that they will not decide until election day. That means that we are asking people who they will vote for even though they have yet to make up their minds." Wahnrich complains that France's voting public is no longer stable. "Our society is radically changing. This makes it difficult to come up with reliable projections. When you consider that fact, you have to conclude that opinion polls for this election are completely overrated."
Far-right populist Le Pen lost out in the first round of France's last presidential election in 2012. This time it seems certain that she will advance to the runoff. The ruling Socialist party of departing - and extremely unpopular - President Francois Hollande is playing no role whatsoever in the election. That is also something completely new in French politics. The country's political left is more divided than ever before. On the other hand, the rise of far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is especially popular among young French voters for his radical anti-EU slogans and calls for 100 percent taxation on the rich, is rather astonishing. Melenchon utterly rejects globalization and free-trade: "All trade deals that devastate the signatory countries must be stopped."
Read more: Tight race for the Elysee Palace | Europe | DW.COM | 22.04.2017
April 2, 2017
France- danger looms with LePen - Is Emmanuel Macron the new Napoleon Bonaparte of France? - "lets hope so" - by Dominique Moisi
Sixty years after the signing of the Treaty of Rome, France
is poised to hold an election that could make or break the European
Union.
A victory for the pro-EU independent centrist Emmanuel Macron could be a positive turning point, with France rejecting populism and deepening its connections with Germany. If, however, French voters hand the presidency to the far-right National Front’s Marine Le Pen – who was, tellingly, just warmly received by Vladimir Putin in Moscow – the long European project will be finished.
Clearly, this is no ordinary French election. With the EU’s survival on the line, the stakes are higher than in any election in the history of the Fifth Republic. So, does France’s nationalist, xenophobic right have a real chance of coming to power?
A victory for the pro-EU independent centrist Emmanuel Macron could be a positive turning point, with France rejecting populism and deepening its connections with Germany. If, however, French voters hand the presidency to the far-right National Front’s Marine Le Pen – who was, tellingly, just warmly received by Vladimir Putin in Moscow – the long European project will be finished.
Clearly, this is no ordinary French election. With the EU’s survival on the line, the stakes are higher than in any election in the history of the Fifth Republic. So, does France’s nationalist, xenophobic right have a real chance of coming to power?
March 9, 2017
European fascists embrace Trump - by John J. Dunphy
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| European Fascism 2017 |
My late father served in the army and earned a Purple Heart. Dad rarely talked about his wartime experiences. Once in a very great while, however, he let something slip out. I recall when the TV news was broadcasting a story about an aged Nazi war criminal, who had been located living quietly in the United States. “Hang him! I saw what they did!” my father exclaimed. The implication was obvious. At some point while stationed in Europe, Dad had seen some of the horrors of the Holocaust.
Fascists feared and hated the American flag because it represented values such as justice and equality, which they abhorred. Our flag also symbolized military defeat for fascists, since it was carried into areas liberated by our fighting men. It made me sick and angry when I read that the Stars and Stripes, once the bane of fascists, is now carried by them during demonstrations.
The 62 million Americans who voted for Trump betrayed the legacy left to us by the Greatest Generation. Men such as my father fought to save the world from fascism. Trump voters allowed fascism to entethe USA through the ballot box.
Read more: The Telegraph | Dunphy: European fascists embrace Trump
March 2, 2017
France - Presidential Elections: Gabriel warns of devious and dangerous Le Pen winning French presidential election
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| Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders - a devious destructive duo |
"It has become a realistic danger," said Gabriel, a center-left Social Democrat.
If Le Pen does win the election, the idea of European unity would not disappear, Gabriel insisted. "But without France's engagement, Europe is certainly unimaginable in the long run," he went on. "First and foremost, the French would be the first to feel the effects of a so-called Frexit.
"Because the results of such uncertainty about Europe's future would be of course capital outflow, absent investments and mass unemployment," Gabriel said.
Macron remains the frontrunner in the election race, with 39 percent of those consulted in the latest survey by pollsters Ipsos giving him a favorable opinion. In the poll, Le Pen is the favorite to win the first round in April with 35 percent of the vote.
In the poll released by the magazine "Le Point" on Wednesday, Macron was followed by Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon, with 38 percent, while former frontrunner Francois Fillon had fallen 18 percentage points to 25 percent, just behind Le Pen, at 26 percent.
Read more: Gabriel warns of Le Pen winning French presidential election | News | DW.COM | 15.02.2017
February 13, 2017
Are narcissists taking over politics ? - Trump in the White House, with Geert Wilders, Marie Le Pen and Frauke Petry waiting in the EU wings
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| Xenophobia is growing in Europe |
Like Trump did, they unite voters with a platform of blocking migrants from the Middle East and Africa. More blatant demonstrations of anti-Semitism flared up in Greece, with its Golden Dawn party donning Nazi-like uniforms and symbolism.
Cas Mudde, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, commented on the parallels between European and American politics. “I see the phenomena as very similar. Trump is the functional equivalent of the far right in Europe; he performs the same functions in the political system, and attracts the same kind of support… white, nativist, lower-educated and those very unhappy with the establishment.”
Looking at Europe we see that also there a narcissists group of populist political personalities have benefited from the great disparity between the "have and have's not" and distrust by the people of political parties who are not serving the people, but rather corporate interest.
Following focus is on three countries which will be holding national elections this year where ultra-right narcissist politicians have made major inroads.
In the Netherlands: Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who founded the right-wing Freedom Party, also endorsed Trump, tweeting, “Make the Netherlands Great Again.”
Wilders, who also bears a weird physical resemblance to Donald Trump, applies similar nationalistic rhetoric with confusing undocumented statements, sprinkled with vague plans.
France: French Jews who also hold Israeli citizenship will have to give up one of their nationalities if Marine Le Pen, the far-Right French Presidential candidate, wins the presidential election this spring.
The leader of the anti-immigration Front National said she would bar the French from holding the citizenship of countries outside the European Union, except for Russia, which she described as part of “the Europe of nations.”
Germany: You can tell well in advance when Frauke Petry, the leader of Alternative für Deutschland, a burgeoning new right-wing party, is going to give a speech. AfD members put up posters all over a town’s main streets declaring, “Frauke Petry Is Coming.” As the appointed hour approaches, police assemble, and usually demonstrators, too, protesting against a woman known to her enemies as “Adolfina” and “die Führerin.”
More than a century ago, philosopher George Santayana reminded us that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
His words ring true today. The growing rise of Nationalism on virtually every continent should give cause for great concern.
Following World War II, the global goal was to create political and economic structures and forge alliances like the UN, EU, IMF, WTO, NAFTA and the recently signed Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership to bring peace and prosperity to the world.
In many ways, these efforts succeeded. More people than ever now have the means to travel outside their native countries. Global investments have given rise to vastly improved living conditions in poorer countries. Political structures like the EU have led to the creation of powerful new markets for global commerce. Modern communications now transcend borders in Nano-seconds, bringing the world ever closer together.
But, achievements like these have come with a price: The re-emergence of Nationalism throughout the world was also caused by the disruptions brought about by globalization.
Global Trade must become Fair Trade again, not one controlled by large corporations who get unfair tax breaks and special favors from the local governments where they operate.
Nationalism is a powerful force and can at times work positively. It can be the glue that holds people together especially in challenging times. It celebrates a country’s culture, history and religion. It instills national pride and a sense of strength, but also, unfortunately, at times, creating scapegoats, real or imagined. The latter is happening today
Don't be fooled by the "nationalistic talk" of Wilders, Le Pen, Petry, and many other so-called nationalists - they definitely are not true nationalists and will sink all of us in Europe into a deep hole if they ever are elected and allowed to rule by you the voter. Worse of all, if you do elect them, you might never again get the power to vote them out of office. Just look at Turkey today and see what has happened there.
Or see how Donald Trump has performed the first weeks of his Presidency. Scary stuff.
For example, the common US belief today exposed by Donald Trump that China has claimed the bulk of jobs lost in America since 2000 is not true. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, roughly 700,000 of the six million US manufacturing jobs lost in the first decade of this century went to China. The rest disappeared because of decreased consumer demand after the 2008 global financial crisis and technological advances that made many jobs obsolete.
Job losses aside, perhaps the biggest impact of the 2008 global financial crisis is that it intensified a worldwide backlash against globalization and the ever increasing disparity between poor and rich that had been festering for decades, further bolstering the steady global tilt toward Nationalism.
But not all is lost - if you get involved. Staying at home and complaining will not work. Go to local government, city and town meetings, ask questions, protest if you don't like what you hear.
Don't vote for politicians and parties who have not delivered what they promised.
Support parties which focus on your needs: more jobs, better education, health care, a clean environment, alternative energy and cutting military spending'
For it to succeed, real European integration—of which much more will be needed if Europeans want to retain stability and current levels of economic well-being—needs to learn a crucial trick from the nation. In much the same way that the power of the nation made people look beyond the blood bonds of family and tribe and elevate solidarity to a higher level, so European integration needs to surpass citizens’ attachment to the nation and raise it by one level.
The trick is not to dismiss the lower-level identity and try to make it superfluous. The way to go is to leave the nation undamaged by adding another layer that can become politically and emotionally meaningful.
This rising nationalism in Europe also demands that leaders on the left look beyond austerity to a more robust economic policy built on investments in infrastructure, jobs, and education.
EU-Digest
November 4, 2016
People Power: People are fed up: "Populism against the Establishment - a Global Revolution in the making?"-by RM
Most people are fed up with their corrupt governments and the power of corporations over the political environment, media, etc, except, obviously, the "1% have all" global elite..
A Harvard University working paper explains this development as follows:"Rising support for populist parties has disrupted the politics of many Western societies. Perhaps the most widely-held view of mass support for populism -- the economic insecurity perspective--emphasizes the consequences of profound changes transforming the workforce and society in post-industrial economies. Alternatively, the cultural backlash thesis suggests that support can be explained as a retro reaction by once-predominant sectors" of the population to progressive value change.
Alternatively, the cultural backlash thesis suggests that support can be explained as a retro reaction by once-predominant sectors of the population to progressive value change. cultural backlash thesis.
Populist leaders like Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Norbert Hoffer, Nigel Farage, and Geert Wilders are prominent today in many countries, altering established patterns of party competition in contemporary Western societies. Cas Mudde argues that the impact of populist parties has been exaggerated.
But, nevertheless these parties have gained votes and seats in many countries, and entered government coalitions in eleven Western democracies, including in Austria, Italy and Switzerland.2 Across Europe, as is demonstrated, their average share of the vote in national and European parliamentary elections has more than doubled since the 1960s, from around 5.1% to 13.2%, at the expense of center parties.3 During the same era, their share of seats has tripled, from 3.8% to 12.8%.
Even in countries without many elected populist representatives, these parties can still exert tremendous ‘blackmail’ pressure on mainstream parties, public discourse, and the policy agenda, as is illustrated by the UKIP’s role in catalyzing the British exit from the European Union, with massive consequences.
The electoral fortunes of populist parties are open to multiple explanations which can be grouped into accounts focused upon (1) the demand-side of public opinion, (2) the supply-side of party strategies, and (3) constitutional arrangements governing the rules of the electoral game."
But unhappiness with their situation and the rise of populism does not only limit itself to Western and Industrial societies.
Why? Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people.
- Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than € 2.30 a day.
- The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.
- Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
- Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
- 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle.
And now, here we have the US Presidential elections, with two candidates who in all reality are products of the Establishment, but both courting the populist movement.
Though Clinton has suffered from her perceived coziness with Wall Street, she took a hard line against “those who get rich by cheating everybody else.”
And she warned:“I want to send a clear message to every boardroom and executive suite across our country,” Clinton said. “If you scam your customers, exploit your employees, pollute our environment or rip off the taxpayers, we will hold you accountable.”
Billionaire Donald Trump is even more blunt and probably also slightly more honest when it comes to showing he is standing up for the "have-nots" But while doing this, he is also demolishing the US Republican party as we know it. Nevertheless, his most lasting impact may be more substantive — he has pushed the GOP into a much more populist corner on policy, challenging the party’s platform on everything from free trade to entitlements. The Republican party will never be the same again.
And last but not least - Donald Trump boasts he can’t be bought by the special interests and advocacy groups that normally fund political campaigns. Yes indeed he can now safely label himself the "billionaire populist".
Whatever the result will be of this totally unorthodox US Presidential election, one thing is clear - a political revolution is in the making around the world, and if we think this is as bad or dangerous as it can get - think again.
©
EU-Digest
February 12, 2014
The Netherlands. Dutch populist eurosceptic politician Geert Wilders wants Netherlands to leave EU
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| Eurosceptics Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen |
He claimed Thursday a "NExit" -- Netherlands exit from both the European Union and euro currency zone -- would add nearly 10,000 euros ($13,000) to GDP per capita over two decades, from around 35,000 euros now.
The Dutch government rejects Wilders' views, saying a pullout from the European Union would cause irreparable damage to trade relations in a country heavily reliant on trade, and a euro departure would lead to a new financial crisis.
November 13, 2013
An Eurosceptic Alliance? - Le Pen, Wilders eye eurosceptic alliance for EU elections - will the voter be fooled?
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| Le Pen and Wilders the Eurosceptic Alliance |
Ms Le Pen arrived in the Netherlands on November 13 for further talks with Mr.Wilders .
But will it work to band Eurosceptic parties from around Europe, including the Netherlands, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Denmark together?
"Eurosceptism has reached its peak", said a French Euro Parliamentarian." Even though the European voter might initially have been attracted to these Populist political parties, the voters are also not completely stupid.
They have seen during the economic crises and the recent NSA spying drama that only a united Europe can withstand and react as one against the onslaught of negative economic and political forces from outside the EU.".
"What could the Netherlands, which is totally dependent on trading with other EU nations, achieve by going solo", says D66 Party chief and parliamentarian Alexander Pechtold, "I have asked Mr. Wilders this question many times but he never comes up with any concrete answers."
Le Pen has sought to rid her party of overt neo-Nazis and racists and has distanced herself from the anti-Semitic remarks of her father. But a string of embarrassing scandals over racism among party members could still make her an unappealing partner for Wilders in the eyes of his Jewish backers and local supporters.
Wilders, who is anti-Islam, has been funded by The Middle East Forum, a pro-Israeli think tank based in Philadelphia, USA: the group also funded Wilders' legal defense in 2010 and 2011 against Dutch charges of inciting racial hatred.
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