“Farmers’ anger has become a major issue for the far right across Europe,” said Kevin Cunningham, a political scientist who has studied the surge in support for the far right for the European Council on Foreign Relations. “It may not be the number one issue, it is surprisingly effective at crystalizing resentment over economic problems.”
As campaigning for the European election in June kicks off, polls suggest the farmer-populist tie-up is helping to supercharge the appeal of far-right parties among the bloc’s nearly nine million farmers. The referendum against governments eschewing local production for cheaper imports from Ukraine and spikes in diesel taxes both coupled with inflation means growing discontent among farmers is spreading across the Continent.
On Wednesday, a survey carried out by the European Council on Foreign Relations showed far-right parties placing first in nine EU countries and significantly expanding their number of seats in the European Parliament. That chimes with POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, which shows the right-wing Identity and Democracy group gaining seats to become the third largest political group in the European Parliament.
While farmers’ outrage was once dominated by the political left — with mustachioed leaders like Frenchman José Bové targeting free trade deals and multinational firms — this time it’s co-opted by right-wingers bent on bringing down Brussels and its Green Deal environmental reforms.
Everyone’s pushing right
Pressure from the right is already pushing more mainstream conservative groups like the center-right European People’s Party to go on the attack against the Green Deal, which was a signature policy of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her erstwhile environment czar, Frans Timmermans. The EPP led a rebellion against a so-called Nature Restoration law late last year, narrowly falling short of killing the bill — and now calls for unwinding a 2035 ban on the combustion engine.
Yet far-right groups like Identity and Democracy are looking to go much further. At an event hosted by the Viktor Orbán-linked MCC think tank in Brussels, right-wing EU lawmaker Patricia Chagnon openly praised the hardline farmer protest movement “Farmers’ Defense Force,” which she said had played a key role in “overthrowing” the Dutch government.