Brussels – At Germany’s February 23 elections, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party doubled its vote share to 20.8 percent and became the strongest party in all five former East German states.
This reflects a significant change in Germany’s political landscape – but Europe’s largest economy is not the first or only EU member state which saw a political shift to the right in recent years.
Far-right parties lead government coalitions in Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands and support governments in Sweden and Finland. If elections took place now, in late February, far-right parties would win most of the votes in France and Austria, and they would come second in at least 5 other member states
This political shift has had a direct impact on policies across the EU, particularly on migration. Measures that were once considered extreme are now mainstream and it does not matter whether those far-right parties are in government or in opposition for this shift to occur.
In this video the European Newsroom explores this surge of extremism in Germany and the EU, and how its influence is poised to grow.