Lea Ypi, professor of political theory at the London School of Economics, believes a new “European militarism” has not only empowered the radical right but also undermined the very ideals that made the European Union such an attractive proposition. Commonly described as far-right, the disparate group is on the ascendancy in Europe. It has achieved an impressive victory in the European elections.

Their performance in national elections is equally impressive. In France, far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is able to muster over 30 per cent of the vote, surging ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party. In Germany, many believe, the right-wing CDU is all set to win power in the next elections. Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic have hard-right parties in government. Cas Mudde, author of The Far Right Today, says that “not only is the radical right bigger and more mainstream, but their issues are now not even recognized as radical right positions anymore.” That the European Commission should have Commissioners to protect the European way of life well illustrates the point.

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The farright has also capitalised on the ‘proletarianization’ of the electorates across Europe. Lea Ypi argues that the European Union doesn’t truly represent the people as it merely “rubber-stamps” decisions made by the European Commission. It is “this representative gap that is filled by the radical right, turning the problem into simple binaries ~ either you or them, the state or Europe, the white worker or the migrant.” The far-right’s agenda may be “narrowly ethnocentric,” Lea Ypi contends, but “it is the only one on offer that speaks directly to people’s disillusionment.” Things have come to such a pass, she says, that no appeal to “European values will stop the river in which we’re all about to drown.”

Emboldened by its impressive performance in a significant number of countries, the far-right is now seeking transnational legitimacy by attempting to create a right-wing nationalist International. It is mobilising global support by this intensified cross-border networking with similar political formations. However, the trans-nationalisation of the radical right is not a new phenomenon. The conservative groups were united in a global struggle against their liberal and socialist enemies throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

During that period nationalism fostered a sense of identity and unity among people who shared a common language, culture, or history. The radical right is not only asserting its strength, but it is also seeking greater visibility internationally. The far-right combines not only the conservatives of Europe and America but also conservative intellectuals and think tankers ~ nationalists, neocon, ‘political catholic’ and those who ‘left the left’. The ‘Political Network for Values’ (PNfU) is the most important organising nexus for transAtlantic gatherings of leaders and activists. It has held several jamborees in New York, Budapest, Bogota, Brussels and Madrid.

The Conservative Political Action Conference, hosted by the American Conservative Union, is America’s oldest conservative grassroots organisation seeking to preserve and protect the values of life, liberty, and property for every American. The Spanish far-right party Vox hosted the global far right parties and groups ahead of the 2024 EU elections. The gathering in Madrid covered a broad spectrum of issues like “freedom in the face of cancel culture,” “the criminal left,” “the conservative alternative to illegal immigration”, etc. Vox also organised a mass rally which was addressed by leaders like France’s Marine Le Pen, Portugal’s André Ventura, Argentine president Javier Milei and Israeli Likud minister Amichai Chikli. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán joined the rally through video conference.

Vox has also forged ties with similar groups in Latin America. Argentine president Javier Milei, a libertarian, hosted the Conservative Political Action Conference in December 2024 where he laid out a vision for a co-ordinated international rightwing alliance. As Milei proclaimed, “the only way to fight socialism is from the Right.” He urged the conservatives around the globe to form a “rightwing international” network. The rise of the “American New Right” is no less significant. It has three broad constituents. The first group is known as “West Coast Straussians,” mostly intellectuals from the Claremont Institute in California, the nerve centre of the far-right.

The second group consists of the post-liberals. This Catholicinfluenced movement believes that liberalism’s focus on individual autonomy has undermined communities so necessary for societal well-being. The third group is led by Yoram Hazony, an Israeli-American philosopher and Bible scholar who is the main protagonist of the American New Right. This group has been actively working to establish a sort of nationalist international and it gathers nationalist politicians in the US and Europe at regular intervals. The loose coalition of conservative thinkers have emerged under the banner of the New Right, providing the intellectual heft behind the MAGA movement. In 2018 Steve Bannon, formed ‘The Movement’, headquartered in Brussels, to forge a European right-wing international. The idea was to export President Donald Trump’s brand of populism to Europe.

But he shut his shop later. Efforts have also been made to unite far-right parties like AfD in Germany, Lega Nord in Italy, National Rally of France and the United Kingdom Independent Party but with little success. The European hard-right parties are far from united. There are inner contradictions, ego clashes and conflicting agendas. Orban wants to conquer Brussels to save Europe from decay. His critics believe he is less and less interested in a united Europe. American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp’s empty boast “we are not going to let George Soros or Biden divide us” notwithstanding, Meloni’s pro NATO conservatives and Le Pen’s pro-Russia party remain far apart. How long the Catholic traditionalists, libertarians and Cold Warriors will stick to their marriage of convenience is anyone’s guess.

The war in Ukraine poses a threat to the post-Berlin Wall order in Europe. But it is ridiculous to talk about the end of Europe. Social democracy and a liberal social welfare state, its commitment of economic solidarity and its role in addressing climate change, place the old continent on a higher pedestal. Europe may have begun to lose its cutting edge in technology. But it hasn’t yet lost its democratic plot. It is the US which has lost its plot. The “Trumpocalypse” will have its own repercussions. Europe too will need to fortify itself against the barbarians at the gate

(The writer is director, Institute of Social Sciences,Delhi)