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When extremists fall out

The disintegration of the far-right bloc of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) within ten months of its formation is a welcome augury for peace and democracy in the region. Parties across the political mainstream should seize upon the development to expose the dangerous and divisive agenda of the fringe element spread across the European Union in the context of the seventh European Parliament elections due in 2009 and the forthcoming adoption of the Reform Treaty fo r the union. The show of transnational unity among the sectarian groups began when, following the accession of Bucharest and Sofia to the EU in 2007, the far-right gained the requisite minimum number of seats in Parliament to qualify as a caucus and coalesced under the banner of “Identity, Sovereignty and Tradition”. What triggered the breakup of the alliance was the Italian MEP, Alessandra Mussolini’s highly provocative remark — that all Romanians are criminals — made in the context of the row over the influx of the Roma minority from that country.

To be sure, the resurgence of the ultra-right as a force remains, by and large, a localised phenomenon, even if it has made electoral gains in several countries. The EU has responded to the threat by criminalising Holocaust denial in a 2007 law. While the move has rightly drawn criticism as undermining free expression, it is also counterproductive as a strategy to combat right-wing extremism, as curbs on democratic freedoms ultimately strengthen extremist forces. Equally, parties on the right of the political centre have sought to cover up ineffective governance and consequent voter disenchantment by cynically manipulating the populist appeal to racist, anti-minority and neo-nationalist constituencies in the run up to national elections. The EU leadership must instead address the domestic fallout of its recent enlargement and the imperatives of globalisation with greater sensitivity and maturity than the belligerent postures on migrants and widespread Islamophobia suggest.

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