Inclusion is out, hate is in — the EU’s ugly ‘new normal’

Europe’s far-right politicians are on a roll.

Wooed, courted and normalised, the once-pariah peddlars of hate and discrimination now sit at the main table in the EU and many national governments, deftly reaching into the deep inner recesses of European decision-making.

Their electoral success is cause for anger, despair and frustration — as well as reflection and resistance — for some. But others have avidly embraced the far-right rhetoric. 

Already crumbling for some time, the cordon sanitaire meant to keep out Europe’s far-right from mainstream politics, has been replaced by cold-hearted politics-as-usual.

As a result, whether in national governments and EU institutions or outside them, far-right politicians are visibly and openly reshaping the EU, putting their stamp on policies and narratives and making hate and exclusion rather than inclusion the EU’s ugly new normal.

Their toxic, eurocentric, civilisational message of division has very visibly and dangerously crept into the bloc’s deterrence-driven approach to racialised migrants and refugees (white Ukrainians are still welcome). 

It is also impacting the EU’s lack on action on the ongoing “plausible genocide” in Gaza and sabotaging efforts to combat Europe-wide structural racism, including within EU institutions.