For months now, we have seen the rise of far-right thinking in several countries in Europe. Several politicians are also trying to make people believe that Europe is a bad thing for their countries.
The future of the EU is being jeopardised by people stirring up social tensions for short-term political gain, Spain’s environment minister has said ahead of next month’s European parliamentary elections.
Teresa Ribera, who is heading the list for the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ party in June’s poll, said the European project is at risk of “an implosion”.
She told the Guardian:
“When you have people asking themselves what scapegoats they can use for their problems – rather than correctly identifying the causes of their problems and addressing them – the search for scapegoats ratchets up.”
Ribera said she had been deeply troubled by the moderate right’s increasing embrace of the far right and its tactics and language. Although the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, recently criticised some on the far right for being “Putin’s proxies”, she refused to rule out working with the hardline European Conservatives and Reformists Group, which includes Spain’s far-right Vox party, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and Poland’s Law and Justice party.
“I think that’s very worrying and, up to a certain point, it was a betrayal,”
said Ribera.
Read more: EU at risk of ‘implosion’ as far-right seeks scapegoats, minister warns
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