Editor Jesse Starcher

Many Far-Right Nationalist parties in Europe have come together in an alliance in an attempt to put themselves on a level playing field with the European Union. The Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, of the League party announced the alliance in a conference in Milan.

The alliance is followed by Germany’s controversial AfD party, the Finn party of Finland, and the Danish People’s Party. The alliance will be campaigning in the European parliament elections in May. They hope to form a parliamentary group, “The European Alliance for People and Nations” to compete against centrist parties.

Well over ten other Nationalist parties have joined and German AfD Chairman Jörg Meuthen has stated that they do not wish to fully dismantle the European Union, only to “Bring Radical Change.”

Despite the amount of controversy surrounding the views of these Parties, many of them based off of anti-immigration and of course, nationalistic policies, Right-Wing groups have been on the rise. Many parties have slowly gained more and more support over the years, many garnering over twenty percent of the vote in elections. These numbers have not slowed, and many leaders in Europe and other nation have shown concern at this.

Nationalists have in fact already gained some footholds in Europe, with Hungary’s Fidesz party, and Poland’s Law and Justice Party. Macron, the president of France, denounced the rise of Nationalism in speech at a WWI remembrance memorial.

He would state, “By putting our own interests first, with no regard for others, we erase the very thing that a nation holds dearest, and the thing that keeps it alive: its moral values,”. He would also call on to the leaders attending the memorial to reject the “selfishness of nations only looking after their own interests. Because patriotism is exactly the opposite of nationalism.”