NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A handful of European nations are shifting to the right as economic woes choke the continent.
“All eyes are on Rome right now,” an EU official recently told Reuters. Italy is just hours away from what is expected to be a historic election on Sunday, as voters head to the polls to elect a new parliament and determine who will rule the country next.
Polls predict that the right-wing party, Brothers of Italy, will win 25% of the vote on Sunday and elect party leader Giorgia Meloni as the country’s first female prime minister. Meloni is a right-wing candidate who has denounced the culture of abortion, has vowed to curb illegal immigration and has campaigned for tax cuts and an overhaul of the welfare system.
Italy is the latest country in Europe to move to the right, after Sweden and Britain
FROM FRAME LEADER TO LEADER: ITALIANS ELECT FIRST FEMALE PRIME MINISTER
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy party, takes a selfie during a rally in Milan, Italy, September 11, 2022.
(Reuters/Flavio Lo Scalzo)
Europe has been suffocated by economic woes as countries brace for a prolonged energy crisis over the winter months and forecasters warn a recession will hit Europe hard.
“Given downside risks and high uncertainty, everything points to a slowdown in euro-zone economic activity in the coming quarters,” economists at Franco-German financial services firm ODDO BHF warned, according to Reuters.
Inflation in countries using the euro hit record highs of 9.1% in August 2022, the highest since such data were first collected in 1997. Eurozone inflation was largely driven by an energy and gas crisis resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Before Liz Truss becomes UK Prime Minister this month, the leader of the Conservative Party has been touting a supply-side economy to help the country’s sluggish economy.
Liz Truss arrives at the Conservative Central Office in Westminster after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest in London September 5, 2022.
(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
“Distributional discussions have dominated the economic debate for the last 20 years,” Truss said in an interview with BBC television this month
“But what happened is that we had relatively low growth, so we didn’t have more than an average growth of 1% and that held our country back.”
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER LIZ TRUSS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
It has since heralded a return to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s supply-side economic policies, which cut taxes to boost output. She has since defended the move, arguing she is willing to be unpopular to revive the economy.
“I don’t accept that argument that tax cuts are somehow unfair,” she told Sky News.
“What we do know is that people with higher incomes generally pay more in taxes. So when you cut taxes, there’s often a disproportionate benefit because those people pay more taxes in the first place,” she added.
Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Italy and Prime Minister Liz Truss at the UN General Assembly in New York City
(Reuters/Remo Casilli | Stefan Rousseau – WPA Pool/Getty)
In Italy, Meloni and a conservative bloc of politicians have vowed to cut taxes, curb illegal immigration and end the country’s current welfare system.
Planned initiatives announced by the Conservatives include a proposal to reform the country’s welfare system and scrap the “civil income” poverty policy, which gives people up to €780 a month depending on their savings and income.
The Conservatives also promised “tax cuts for families, businesses and the self-employed” with a flat tax rate for the self-employed of 100,000 euros.
INFLATION IN GERMANY REACHES NEAR A 50-YEAR HIGH DURING THE ENERGY CRISIS
Center for European Reform analyst Luigi Scazzieri told Voice of America that Meloni’s growing popularity is attributed to her political and economic views, as well as her “down-to-earth” approach to voters.
“Some of it is about their political platform, their social conservative views, their economic views — which are also quite social in a way, like in terms of raising people’s pensions or social benefits,” Scazzieri said.
“But a large part of that is also due to her personal appeal. For example, I would like to emphasize her very down-to-earth way of speaking. It is very effective for reaching out to ordinary voters,” Scazzieri added. “After all, she also benefits from not having been anywhere near the government for the last 10 years and can thus credibly say that she represents something new.”
EASTERN EUROPE’S ECONOMIC BOOM SLOWS AS REGION’S INFLATION REACHES DOUBLE-DIGITS
Sweden also experienced a political swing to the right this month as a populist rose to become the country’s second-largest political force after a national election. The rise in popularity of the Sweden Democrats has been largely attributed to their plans to curb crime and gang violence and curb immigration.
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson delivers a speech at the party’s election observatory in Nacka, near Stockholm, on September 12, 2022.
(Maja Suslin/TT News Agency via AP)
“Now the work begins to make things right for Sweden,” Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson wrote on Facebook this month.
SWEDISH RIGHT-WING COALITION READY TO WIN SMALL MAJORITY AS CRIME RISES
“We are fed up with the failed social democratic policies that have taken the country in the wrong direction for eight years. It is time to start rebuilding security, prosperity and cohesion. It’s time to put Sweden first,” he wrote.
European Union leaders at an EU summit in Sibiu, Romania, May 9, 2019.
(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Following the victory of Sweden’s nationalist party, European officials have feared a “populist front” could block EU decision-making if Italy inaugurates Meloni as prime minister, Reuters reported. Hungary and Poland are both led by conservative leaders and have often joined forces to crack down on the EU executive.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Right-wing parties are gaining more support than ever before,” Zdzislaw Krasnodebski, an MP for Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, told Reuters. “This is an opportunity to correct European politics.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
