Rise of upstart parties who reflect peoples’ views rather than treat them with contempt is starting to look unstoppable

REMEMBER when Remainers tried to make out that Britain was a racist, xenophobic hellhole drifting off into the Mid Atlantic, far away from the EU’s terribly nice social democracies with their lofty ideals of free movement? It never was the slightest bit accurate, but it is an image which is becoming even harder to sustain amid the rise of anti- migration parties across Europe. Europe’s established parties are facing growing pressure as voters turn to anti-migration movement Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats suffered a humiliating defeat in regional elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, on Germany’s Baltic coast Credit: AP The weekend’s regional elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, on Germany’s Baltic coast, were not just a defeat for the Christian Democrats and their leader Friedrich Merz. They were an utter humiliation. The CDU — which is equivalent to Britain’s Conservative Party — was reduced to just 4.9 per cent of the vote, below the five per cent required for the party to take a single seat in the regional parliament. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Remarkably, this was the home region of Angela Merkel, former leader of the CDU who served as Germany’s Chancellor for 16 years. Contrary to those who claim it is an extremist party, the right-wing Alternative For Germany — which got most votes in the elections — supports asylum for people genuinely fleeing from persecution and war, as well as Germany being open to skilled migrants. READ MORE FROM ROSS CLARK But it proposes a much tougher line on illegal arrivals of economic migrants. It wants failed asylum seekers or migrants who commit crimes to be returned to their home countries or a third country, no questions asked. The AfD has also demanded that the EU’s rules on free movement be reformed to stop migration from Eastern Europe. This is exactly what David Cameron asked for in his half-hearted renegotiation of the terms of Britain’s membership of the EU ahead of the 2016 vote. The EU is not going to be able to resist wholesale reform of its free movement and migration policies for much longer, because much of the continent is undergoing a political revolution. Most read in The Sun The surging AfD has demanded that the EU’s rules on free movement be reformed to stop migration from Eastern Europe In France, Marine Le Pen is looking a likely victor of next year’s presidential election, assuming she is not banned from standing Credit: Shutterstock Editorial In France, Marine Le Pen is looking a likely victor of next year’s presidential election, assuming she is not banned from standing. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni — who was denounced a fascist when she took office four years ago — has revived economic growth and much reduced illegal migration. In the Netherlands, the Freedom Party, which is far further to the right than any mainstream UK political party, is now the largest party in Parliament. Sweden, which until a few years ago had the most liberal migration policy in Europe, now has one of the harshest policies. You don’t have to be left-wing to think it has now flipped too far the other way, expelling UK citizens who are long-established residents of Sweden. The only exception to Europe’s rightwards turn on migration is Spain’s socialist government, which recently offered an amnesty to more than a million illegal migrants. As a result, other EU countries have threatened to suspend the Schengen agreement on open borders. Merz seems to think he can carry on as Germany’s Chancellor, but that is going to be an uphill struggle. Merz is only Chancellor thanks to his negotiating a “grand coalition” including the CDU and the Social Democratic Party. It is rather as if Labour and the Tories were in government together. It isn’t going to take much for the SPD to sniff blood, pull the plug and cause the government to collapse. Angela Merkel’s open-door migration policy transformed Germany’s approach to immigration, with more than a million migrants arriving during the 2015 refugee crisis Credit: Getty Germany’s post-war approach to democracy has been shaped by the belief that giving voters too much political freedom risks another Hitler Credit: Getty The fact the CDU and SPD were prepared to form a coalition to keep the AfD out of power tells you all you need to know about politics in Germany and other EU countries. For decades, the established parties have acted as a cartel, trying to squeeze out opposition. A shady organisation called the Society for Civil Rights, which grew out of the Green Party, has even tried to have AfD banned on the grounds its policies are unconstitutional. It doesn’t seem to occur to such people that banning a political party with mass support would cause mass anger. Voters would just flock to new parties which, inevitably, would appear in its image. Ever since World War Two, the attitude towards democracy in Germany and many other European countries is that the people need to be protected against themselves. Democracy, goes the thinking, gave us Hitler. Therefore, politics can only be allowed to operate within a narrow range of acceptable views, enforced through the European Court of Human Rights. The establishment parties see themselves as moderates or centrists, but are they really? Merkel was author of the most extreme migration policy of all: “Willkommenskultur”, which meant opening Germany’s border to any migrant who could reach the country. More than a million people swiftly took advantage before she was forced into a rethink. It didn’t seem to occur to her that there are around 7.5billion people living in countries with a lower GDP per capita than Germany, who could potentially better themselves by moving there. How did she imagine that 84million Germans would be able to support even a tiny fraction of these people? Open migration simply is not compatible with the generous welfare systems found in European social democracies. That ought to be obvious. Merz, to his credit, opposed Merkel’s open-door policies but, even so, Germans are losing patience with the political establishment. The rise of upstart parties who reflect the views of the people rather than treating them with contempt is beginning to look unstoppable. Comment now