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A handful of European nations are shifting to the political right as economic woes choke the continent.
“All eyes are on Rome right now,” an EU official told Reuters recently. Italy is just hours away from what should be Sunday’s historic elections, when voters go to the polls to elect a new parliament and determine who will rule the country next.
Polls predict that on Sunday the right-wing Brothers of Italy Party will take 25% of the votes and elect the party leader Giorgia Meloni as the country’s first female prime minister. Meloni is a right-wing candidate who denounced the culture of cancellation, promised to curb illegal immigration, campaigned to lower taxes and overhaul the welfare system.
Italy is the last European country on track for a shift to the right, after Sweden and the United Kingdom
FROM FRINGE LEADER TO FRONT-RUNNER: ITALIANS READY TO ELECT THE FIRST FEMALE PRIME MINISTER
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy Party, takes a selfie during a demonstration in Milan, Italy on September 11, 2022.
(Reuters / Flavio Lo Scalzo)
Europe has been choked by economic woes as countries prepare for a continuing energy crisis during the winter months, and forecasters warn that a recession will hit Europe hard.
“Given the downside risks and the high degree of uncertainty, everything is pushing for a contraction in economic activity in the eurozone in the coming quarters,” economists at Franco-German financial services firm ODDO BHF warned, according to Reuters.
Inflation hit record highs in euro-using nations, at 9.1% in August 2022, which is the highest level since that data was first recorded in 1997. eurozone was largely driven by an energy and gas crisis resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Before Liz Truss became Prime Minister of the UK this month, the Conservative Party leader touted the supply-side economy to help grow the nation’s stagnant economy.
Liz Truss arrives at the Conservative Central Office in Westminster after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest in London on 5 September 2022.
(AP Photo / Kirsty Wigglesworth)
“The economic debate over the past 20 years has been dominated by discussions about distribution,” Truss said in an interview on BBC television this month.
“But what happened is that we have had relatively low growth, so we have not had more than an average growth of 1% and that has held our country down.”
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It has since ushered in the return of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s supply-side economy policy, cutting taxes with the aim of increasing production. She has since defended the move, claiming she is willing to be unpopular in order to revitalize the economy.
“I don’t accept this argument that cutting taxes is somehow unfair,” he told Sky News.
“What we do know is that people with higher incomes generally pay more taxes, so when you cut taxes there is often a disproportionate advantage because those people pay more taxes in the first place,” he added.
Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Italy, and Prime Minister Liz Truss at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City
(Reuters / Remo Casilli | Stefan Rousseau – WPA Pool / Getty)
In Italy, Meloni and a bloc of conservative politicians have vowed to cut taxes, curb illegal immigration and end the country’s current welfare system.
Among the planned initiatives announced by the conservatives is a proposal to review the country’s welfare system and do away with the poverty policy of “citizenship income”, which gives people up to 780 euros per month depending on savings. and income.
Conservatives have also promised to “lower taxes for households, businesses and the self-employed” with a single rate of 100,000 euros for self-employed workers.
INFLATION IN GERMANY HITS THE ENERGY CRISIS NEAR 50 YEARS
Center for European Reform analyst Luigi Scazzieri told Voice of America that Meloni’s rise in popularity is attributed to his political and economic views, as well as his “down-to-earth” approach to voters.
“Partly it’s about his political platform, his socially conservative views, his economic views, which are also quite social in terms of, for example, increasing people’s pensions or benefits,” said Scazzieri.
“But it is also largely due to his personal appeal. And I would like to highlight here, for example, his way of speaking, which is very simple. He is very effective in connecting with ordinary voters,” added Scazzieri. “Finally, she also benefits from not having been close to the government for the past 10 years, and so she can credibly say that she represents something new.”
THE ECONOMIC BOOM IN EASTERN EUROPE WINS WHEN INFLATION REACHES DOUBLE FIGURES IN THE REGION
Sweden also saw a political shift to the right this month as a populist became the country’s second largest political force after national elections. The rise in popularity of the Swedish Democrats has largely been attributed to their plans to reduce crime and gang violence and curb immigration.
The leader of the Swedish Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, gave a speech at the party’s election surveillance in Nacka, near Stockholm, on 12 September 2022.
(Maja Suslin News Agency / TT via AP)
“Now the work is starting to do Sweden well,” Swedish Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson wrote on Facebook this month.
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“We have had enough of the failed social democratic policies that for eight years have continued to lead the country in the wrong direction. It is time to start rebuilding security, well-being and cohesion. It is time to put Sweden first,” he wrote .
European Union leader at the EU summit in Sibiu, Romania on 9 May 2019.
(Photo AP / Vadim Ghirda)
After the victory of the Swedish nationalist party, European officials fear that a “populist front” could block EU decision-making if Italy introduced Meloni as prime minister, Reuters reported. Hungary and Poland are both led by conservative leaders and have often joined forces to go against the EU executive.
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“Right-wing parties are getting more support than ever,” Zdzislaw Krasnodebski, a law and justice party MP in power in Poland, told Reuters. “This is an opportunity to correct European policy”.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
