From AfD to Reform UK: The far right and European politics

DW

20-05-2025

At the beginning of May, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency, classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a "confirmed right-wing-extremist" party. The AfD is now challenging this decision in court. The BfV has announced that it will not use the extremism label until the court rules on the matter. The classification as right-wing-extremist has reignited debate in Germany about whether the AfD should be banned.
No other country in Europe is considering such a ban to contain the ascendant far right. In some countries, in fact, similar parties are part of the government or, in some cases, even lead it.
DW looks at where far-right parties stand in several European countries.
Freedom Party of Austria
Chancellor Christian Stocker, of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) does not consider Herbert Kickl 's Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) right-wing-extremist. Austria's other political parties have not committed themselves to avoid cooperation with the FPÖ. The ÖVP has formed coalition governments with the FPÖ twice already, the first time back in 2000. This was seen as a scandal in the European Union at the time, and, for a few months, other EU member states kept their relations with the Austrian government to a minimum.
The FPÖ is relatively young in the history of Austria's parliament. The party was founded in 1955 by a former Nazi functionary and later softened its views.
Like the AfD, the FPÖ is critical of immigration, globalization and the European Union. However, the FPÖ appears more willing to compromise and appears less ideological, perhaps due to the number of times it has been part of government, including at the national level.
Last year, it won the parliamentary elections for the first time, garnering 28.8% of the vote. Nevertheless, it was unable to form a coalition government. In the meantime, however, it is even stronger in the polls than it was during the election.
France: The National Rally (NR)
The National Rally has come a long way since it was founded in 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen under the name Front National. When his daughter Marine Le Pen took the helm, she renamed the party and moved it — somewhat — towards the center.
Although the party is still critical of immigration and Islam, it is no longer openly antisemitic. This approach helped it attract a new group of voters. Le Pen has run for president three times, most recently losing in the runoff, while still managing to secure more votes each time.
Following a court ruling for misappropriation of public funds, Marine Le Pen was recently barred from running in elections for five years. Current polls show that if either she or the party leader, Jordan Bardella, were to run again, they would have a good chance of at least making it past the first round. In the 2024 parliamentary elections, the RN was the strongest party.
The RN's penchant for protectionism and statism — in other words: the belief that the state can solve major problems — stands in stark contrast to the AfD's viewpoints. In any case, Le Pen has distanced herself from the AfD. The German party is allegedly too radical for her, but this could be a domestic political strategy to appear more respectable.
Brothers of Italy
Giorgia Meloni stands at the helm of the Brothers of Italy party, making her probably Europe's most successful far-right head of state. Many in the Brothers of Italy have a positive view of fascism, the Italian version of National Socialism. Giorgia Meloni once said that she had "an untroubled relationship with fascism" and that the former fascist head of government and Hitler ally Benito Mussolini was "a good politician."
In the 2022 election campaign, which brought her party to power, her slogan was "God, Family and Fatherland."
Meloni and her party campaign against abortions, LGTBQ+ people and, of course against migrants.
In contrast to many similar politicians in Europe, Meloni has taken a clear stance against Russia in the Ukraine war. This is the main reason why she spoke of "irreconcilable differences" with the AfD. At the same time, Meloni has a close relationship with US President Donald Trump and is therefore valued in Brussels as a transatlantic mediator.
Sweden Democrats
The roots of the Sweden Democrats lie in the right-wing-extremist movement Bevara Sverige Svenskt (Sweden should remain Swedish). Shortly before the turn of the millennium, the party tried to distance itself from its roots and adopted a more moderate stance.
The current party leader, Jimmie Akesson, is continuing this strategy and was successful in making the Sweden Democrats the second-strongest party in the 2022 parliamentary elections. Since then, the party has backed the minority government of conservative Prime Minister Ulf Hjalmar Kristersson.
As with far-right parties in other countries, the most important issue for the Sweden Democrats is immigration. Widespread gang crime in Sweden's major cities has been instrumental in the Sweden Democrats' electoral success. While unusual for a party on the far right, the party has declared its support for climate protection.
Netherlands: Party for Freedom (PVV)
Since the 2023 parliamentary elections, Geert Wilders ' Party for Freedom has been the strongest party in the Netherlands and leads a coalition government together with three other parties. Because Wilders was too radical for the coalition partners, Dick Schoof, who has no party affiliation, became prime minister. The PVV is unique in that Wilders is the only party member; even MPs and ministers are officially only supporters of the party. This means that Wilders can also determine the party program alone and nominate candidates for elections himself.
The PVV's priority is fighting irregular immigration and, above all, Islam. With his aim of banning the Koran and all new mosque buildings, Wilders takes the issue a step further than most. Before the recent election, however, Wilders said that he would put his views on Islam "in the freezer" in order to be able to govern. In addition, he campaigns against climate protection and the EU, which he sees as intrusive.
Reform UK Party
Reform UK has undergone several transformations: After breaking away from the UK Independence Party, whose main objective was withdrawing the UK from the EU, it became the Brexit Party. Once Brexit was achieved, the party renamed the Reform UK Party. At each step, the leading figure was Nigel Farage, the spectre of established British politics.
In the meantime, the party has taken up the cause of drastically reducing the number of immigrants — and using this to pressure the ruling Labour Party as well as the Conservatives. Farage has been successful at accusing both parties of inaction.
Just days after Reform UK performed well in regional elections, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to drastically reduce both unauthorized migration and migration for work. According to the latest national polls, Reform UK is just ahead of Labor and the Conservatives. Deputy party leader Richard Tice calls the official British goal of climate neutrality "absurd."