The right is rising and Europe is terrified: Marine Le Pen's far-right party in France won a quarter of the votes in her country in the European Parliament elections, and will receive between 23-25 seats in parliament, which constitutes about a third of France's seats.
Le Pen's achievement represents an increase of thousands of percent, when in the previous election the party received only three seats. Le Pen's success could also be seen in the municipal elections held in France a short time ago.
But Le Pen is not alone: in Germany, the neo-Nazi party N.P.D. won a percentage of the vote, which could earn them a seat in the European Parliament. Greece also showed an impressive increase in the strength of the far right, with the Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party winning ten percent of the vote. In Austria and Britain, right-wing parties also saw a significant increase in their strength.
The European Parliament is the parliament of the European Union, and is the only body in the European Union directly elected by the citizens of the EU countries. Elections to the Parliament have been held every five years since 1979. The Parliament currently has 766 members, with each country being allocated a number of seats in the Parliament according to its size. This makes the European Parliament the largest multi-national democratic parliament in the world, and the second largest in terms of population (after India). The Parliament approves laws initiated by the European Union, and monitors and scrutinises their implementation.
""It's bad that a racist party gets 25 percent""
The European press was quick to declare the 'triumph of European hatred,' and Martin Schulz, the outgoing president of the European Parliament, declared that "this is a bad day for the European Union." The German Schulz, whose party had lost power, added: "It is bad that a racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic party is getting 25 percent of the vote in France," explaining that "the voters themselves are not extremists, they have simply lost hope.".
A leading French newspaper wrote that the results may not have been entirely surprising, but 'France is shocked.' "The victory of the far right will shock France and all of Europe – the political system is out of balance.".
What led to the surprising results?
European researchers point to several reasons: the rise of Islam and the loss of citizens' personal security, and the European Union's austerity policies that have harmed the lives of millions of citizens. The simple and magical solutions of the extreme nationalists spoke to the hearts of voters, and they flocked to them in droves.
Hatred of a common enemy: Muslim immigrants
Sources in the Jewish community in Paris told the Haredim10 that their personal confidence is shaken in light of the results, and that Le Pen's victory proves that Europeans are not really bothered by anti-Semitism, as one might expect.
However, Israeli researchers interviewed by the Israeli media today downplayed the significance of the results from a Jewish perspective. They said the strengthening of the right-wing stems from fear and hatred of the common enemy: Muslim immigrants.
Dr. Ofer Koenig of the Israel Democratic Institute explains in an article he wrote following the elections that in recent decades there has been massive Muslim immigration to Western European countries. Unlike earlier waves of immigration that came mainly from colonialist colonies, this immigration is generally characterized by religious-cultural isolation, the immigrants' unwillingness to assimilate into general society, and their refusal to adopt the values of the receiving countries.
This is why, he said, long-time residents see immigrants from Islamic countries as a tangible and clear threat to their public space.
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