Marek Sierant: The rise of populism is the last call for Europe

Marek Sierant

…to start fighting hostile Russian propaganda, populists themselves, and the tools they use.

Given the growing trend of far-right parties on the continent, how do you see our future after the EP election? The correspondent of the Polish Radio ZET, Marek Sierant, expressed his vision to the Newssky correspondent.

What would you call politics in Europe now?

For some time now, there has been a vast growth of populism in Europe, primarily from right-wing parties that oppose migrant policy. They are anti-Islamic. And recently, their anti-Ukrainian pro-Russian, and pro-Kremlin, views came to the surface. They used to hide it, but now everything is coming to the surface.

The worst situation with this, which is paradoxical, is in Western Europe, the old Europe, which should teach Eastern Europe democracy, democratic processes, and other things related to democracy for the common existence of Europe.

Here, as you can see, we are all observing a great crisis of political elites, which, unfortunately, are too bureaucratized and too detached from modernity and from real problems of their electorate. They sometimes, as you can see, offer very strange ways of solving difficulties, which impose even more restrictions that put pressure on small and medium-sized businesses, which are currently too difficult to build in Europe. At the same time, they talk about equality, about the fact that everyone has equal chances and the same opportunities to start, but in fact, they take to Europe numerous migrants who are unable to assimilate here; they are somewhat hostile to societies, to culture, to people; they are socially backward and go to crime.

Europe does not like it; it cannot cope with those issues, and this is a good opportunity for all populists and demagogues. We know very well that almost all of them are pro-Kremlin.

How, in your opinion, does Russia react to such a trend?

Russia is watching this carefully, recognizes them well and uses these problems and tensions to financially support such things while at the same time helping, as in particular on the Polish border, refugees who are supposed to get to Europe, inflame the enmity even more, and at the same time finance and manipulate issues related to immigrants.

So the truth is that Europe cannot cope with either Kremlin propaganda or populist political forces; the elites are detached from the real issues of the people; they only managed to overly bureaucratize Europe and European business. Europe is constantly fighting for its profits; European societies have become poorer by 20–30% recently, while in America societies have become richer by 20%. That is, we lag the USA by 40%. People see it; it prompts them to take anti-systemic actions, and Russia uses it.

In which European countries is the threat of populism most urgent?

Germany, Belgium, Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain are the countries where populists currently have the most support; in particular, in the Netherlands, it is the Freedom Party, the FPO in Austria (a neo-Nazi party that does not hide its fascination with National Socialism), the 5-Star Movement in Italy, and the Spanish party Vox, and the German AfD. All of them are pro-Russian. Even among the so-called conservatives—more conscious, I would say—there is also no shortage of “interesting” people, particularly the ID group—pro-Russian, which is strong, and they will negotiate with the conservatives (unfortunately, there is someone to negotiate with), and this will be a huge problem. In the countries I mentioned, this political force can have a lot of support, and traditional parties like the EPP will have huge concerns in Europe.

There are also populist parties on the eastern flanks of Europe. PiS is not anti-Ukrainian, but in Hungary—the populist Fidesz surely is. In Bulgaria it’s “Vazrazhdane”. In Greece the pro-Russian populists are also doing well. So, we can observe big changes to the EP. Not so radical as to be able to block and destroy the system, but there may be issues with future votes regarding support for Ukraine. Some votes will have to be recounted constantly, and a certain number of votes may be lost or blocked by these populist forces.

The appearance of all this is the last call for Europe to start fighting against hostile Russian propaganda, populists, and the tools they use. Because if we do not do this, then the next elections to the European Parliament will be lost for traditional Europe, and Europe will face the threat of collapse.

Of course, Russia needs it, but not only Russia but also China. It is no secret that some European projects were financed by China. In Germany, the AfD is financed through China and Russia. These were anti-European, anti-immigrant, and often anti-Ukrainian projects.

What will the new European Parliament be like?

The new European Parliament will be mostly pro-democracy and pro-European, but all these populist forces will have a considerable opportunity, greater than in the previous one, and if this trend towards the mainstream political elite does not stop, we may lose Europe in the coming elections. Already in the next parliament, we will sometimes have to look for the necessary votes for certain initiatives.

Such nations as Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic countries—Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and even the Scandinavian countries—keep Europe in comparison with the populism of the pro-Kremlin parties in the ‘old member-states’. Unfortunately, this does not happen in countries that have always identified themselves as those who know a lot about democracy and will teach others how to build it. Unfortunately, the opposite is happening.

Maryna Kovalchuk, deputy editor-in-chief (Central Europe and Canada) and head of the V5 Media project, contributed.

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