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Europe’s young FED UP with leftie EU old guard in switch to right-wing politics
BRUSSELS’ plans to charm young voters with free Interrail passes may be too little too late as studies show Europe’s youth have a tendency to favour right-wing politics.
All across Europe, the appeal of anti-establishment nationalism has struck a chord with younger voters who are looking for a change from the norm.
Youngsters are now moving even further right on the political spectrum than their parents and grandparents, with many expressing distain for the European Union.
Studies have also revealed European youths are highly skeptical of traditional politics and instead are leaning towards more anti-establishment parties.
Only five per cent of young voters in Hungary, six per cent in Poland and nine per cent in Slovakia believe that joining a political party would make a difference compared to an average of 12 percent across the EU on average, according to a Eurobarometer poll.
Hungary has been leading far-right sentiments in Europe, following its national referendum on the EU migrant quotas - which were almost unanimously rejected.
While the extreme right and Eurosceptic Jobbik party remains a distant second to the ruling Fidesz - but it hugely popular among university students according to a 2015 poll.
András Dániel, a Hungarian college graduate, said: “Under Jobbik, politics would work for the people. We see a future with this party.
“We were promised that the standard of living would improve with EU membership … But we are now even more behind Austria than before.”
Speaking after a meeting with the party’s vice-president László Toroczkai, one 18-year-old added: “The other parties don’t deal with young people.”
In Poland, ultraconservative and anti-Brussels Law and Justice party garnered a third of votes from young people in last year’s election - as well as being the most popular option for first time voters.
Tom Junes, a historian and visiting fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Sofia, said: “There was always a strong Right current in Poland after 1989.
“For more than a decade, Poland has seen a more or less two-party system. Now young people in Poland are voting against the establishment.”
And earlier this year, almost a quarter of first time voters in Slovakia chose the People’s Party Our Slovakia - an anti-Western group whose leader Marian Kotleba openly expressed her admiration for the country’s wartime pro-Nazi regime.
Overall, the party only got eight per cent of the vote, however.
Mr Junes claims the nationalist appeal smacks with young voters, who seek a sense of community and purpose.
He claims young people are attracted to “slogans that have some historical weight without necessarily knowing what the historical events and their complexity represent”.
He added: “It allows people to imagine themselves in a community, and it’s very attractive and an easy way to come together.”
But ironically, young people in the vicegeral countries are also more likely to fly the nest than their EU counterparts - meaning they’re more likely to leave their respective countries and travel elsewhere to study or work.
Europe’s young FED UP with leftie EU old guard in switch to right-wing politics
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