Le Front National. United Russia. Jobbik Hungary. Golden Dawn. These are the names of just a few of the active and increasingly popular nationalist parties in Europe. Once considered unpopular and offensive remnants of the continent’s troubled past, these political groups have reemerged as the voice of a growing population in Europe. Their policies rely on the rampant waves of anti-immigrant sentiment gaining strength throughout the region. But with the recent influx of Syrian refugees seeking shelter in countries like Hungary and Germany, nationalist parties will only garner more popular support and spread anti-immigrant sentiment across a Europe struggling with an even larger immigration issue.
The refugee crisis taking hold of Europe comes at a tense time for immigration issues in the region and its constituent countries. Far-right parties have risen in the polls, exemplified by Le Front National’s projected 30 percent of the vote in March’s first of round local elections.They preach stringent immigration restrictions and create an atmosphere of hostility towards immigrants. In Greece, members of the conservative Golden Dawn party threatened immigrants, telling them they had a week to close their shops or “we’ll burn your shop—and we’ll burn you.” Events like the Charlie Hebdo shooting and a decades-long building up of tension between native Europeans and immigrants has created the land mine of immigration issues present on the continent today.
Add to this conflict about 400,00 Syrian refugees (10 percent of the total number) and the possibility for serious harm to Europe’s immigrant population vastly increases. Since a large number of Europeans hold hostile opinions of immigrants, this influx of even more foreigners from the same places could very well lead to increased popularity for nationalist parties in countries like France and Hungary, two of the countries that are highly affected by immigration from Syria. Increased popular support for the far right would result in widespread support of bans on legal and illegal immigration. For example, far-right nationalist politician Marine Le Pen has advocated a total crackdown on immigration. But heightened support for anti-immigrant parties could also bleed over into nearby countries that haven’t seen success with ultra-conservative groups and influence their political climate.
One of these countries is Germany. As other countries have seen the rise of the far right, Germany’s political atmosphere has stayed solidly anti-nationalist. Even though the nation has seen polarization in politics, most of the extreme political parties that have emerged with popular support have been on the far left. However, the sentiment so present in France, Greece, and much of Europe—that Europe is for Europeans—has been spreading fast. With the refugee crisis, it will spread more and more quickly, intensifying the anti-immigrant sentiments that countries like Germany are already starting to see grow. This attitude has affected mainstream politics in the country, culminating in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s receiving criticism from her partners in the Christian Social Union, a center-right party, for accepting so many migrants from Hungary and Austria. With the growth of nationalist parties in the rest of Europe and the worsening nature of the refugee crisis, mainstream anti-immigrant sentiment is just set to grow in countries like Germany, that immigrants have previously been able to rely on as moderate.
Ultimately, the refugee crisis in Europe is the possibility for change or catastrophe. But when looking at the popular rise of nationalist parties and their already monumental effect on moderate policies and offices, the stage is set for the latter.