WikiLeaks logo
The Global Intelligence Files,
files released so far...

The Global Intelligence Files

Search the GI Files

The Global Intelligence Files


Re: DISCUSSION - Nationalist parties in Europe

Released on 2012-10-12 10:00 GMT

Email-ID 167149
Date 2011-11-02 16:48:51
In purple...

On 11/2/11 10:24 AM, Frank Boudra wrote:

Comments below


Link: themeData

Nationalist parties in Europe

The fear of nationalist political parties has been a constant factor
in the last two hundred years of European history. In the old
continent, geography generated peoples that were isolated from each
other for centuries. This situation produced both a very strong
feeling of belonging to "the homeland" and a deep suspicion to

After the Second World War, Europe tried to build institutions that
could soften nationalist sentiments and dilute them in a continental
sense of belonging. In return, the European Union offered prosperity
and the promise of peace. At a time when the economy grows at a slow
pace, unemployment rises throughout the continent and the future of
the European Union is at stake, that agreement seems to weaken.
Therefore, the question is how influential are the ideas that propose
a new era of strong, sovereign nation-states.

thought of as a set of ideas that seek to defend the "national
identity" against the threats of globalization. For the Europeans, the
present stage of globalization has at least two main characteristics:
the arrival of a flood of immigrants and the loss of national
sovereignty to the institutions of the EU. In response to these two
factors, many political parties propose measures to protect the
national culture.

Parties, ideologies and popular support

Regarding immigration, the main concern in Western Europe is Islam.
Most nationalist parties highlight the continent's Christian origins,
and the incompatibility with Muslim customs and beliefs. Episodes such
as the rejection of the construction of minarets in Switzerland and
the rise of nationalist politics under the late Pim Fortyun and Geert
Wilders in the Netherlands show the discomfort that those parties feel
against Islam. In Eastern Europe, the main concern is the presence of
minority populations -in particular, Roma ethnicity. Hungary's Jobbik
party, for instance, warns about the growth of "gypsy crime" in the
country and there have been violent demonstrations by the Magayr Garda
(Hungarian Guard Movement), the paramilitary wing of the Party
(registered as a cultural organization in 2008), in military-style
uniforms and WWII fascist regalia.

These parties frequently criticize the abuse of the welfare state made
that the welfare state is at risk of disappearing with the constant
arrival of immigrants, while the National Union Attack of Bulgaria
criticizes the country's ethnic and religious minorities -particularly
Turks and Muslim Bulgarians, or Pomaks- for allegedly being too

a general rule, all the parties feel that their countries are giving
too much sovereignty to the Union. Organizations such as the Freedom
Party of Austria and the Danish People's Party show a long history of
in the Union but refuse to its expansion, in particular the
incorporation of Turkey.

The electoral growth of the nationalist parties between 2009 and 2011
data goes back to elections held a decade ago-, shows that in most
countries these parties have a more moderate electoral weight.

The European country with the longest tradition of supporting
nationalist groups is Switzerland. In the last three federal
elections, the vote for these parties averaged 28%, with the Swiss
People's Party as the prime example. It is followed by France, where
the National Front holds a solid support at around 14%. Netherlands,
Austria, and Denmark show figures around 12 and 13%, while Finland has
had a strong growth in the last two elections. You mention later in
the article about how the % of voters doesn't always line up with the
% of representation in govt. But do we get more out of those numbers
by understanding their representation in their prospective
governments? Example, with mulitple parties running in Finland 13%
for one party might be make it the fourth largest etc. What I tried
to show is that % of seats doesn't necessarily mean % of popular
support, the same way that popular support doesn't always mean seats
in the Parliament.

support to nationalist groups. In between, countries like Italy,
Hungary and Bulgaria have high enough numbers for these parties to
achieve a modest presence in the legislative branch. However, popular
support doesn't always mean access to the Parliament.

Parties, political systems and elections

collapse of the USSR in Eastern Europe, European countries redesigned
much of their political systems. This often included the creation of
electoral systems that sought to prevent extremist parties from coming
Parliament. In others cases, voting systems were established in two
rounds, in order to filter out smaller parties.

In most of the European countries seats of the Parliament are
allocated in a proportional way, representing the amount of votes that
each party has received. However, countries such as Denmark,
Netherlands and Spain have low electoral thresholds (under 3%), wich
means that it is relatively easy to gain seats. On the contrary, some
Eastern countries such as Czech Republic, Eslovakia and Poland have
higher thresholds (over 5%), wich makes it harder for a small party to
make it to the national Congress.

In two countries is particularly difficult to access parliament:
England and France. In these systems, seats are not allocated on a
proportional basis but rather to the candidate who gets some kind of
majority in single-member districts. Furthermore, France has a
two-round system, which has been designed to eliminate small parties.

The consequences of those systems are notable: the French National
Front often gets support from around 15% of the population. This would
ensure a robust presence in the Parliament of almost any European
country, but in France the party has no seats in the National
Assembly. While the UK Independence Party (UKIP) is a relatively small
entity, the 3,1% of votes that it received in the last elections would
have given it some seats in Finland or Portugal, but none in the UK.
Don't forget the British BNP party, quite racisit but also very
nationalistic and while I believe they lost seats in recent elections
they had a seat in the previous session of parliament. Also this begs
the question, do most all of these disparte nationalist parties have
similar positions on immigration, Islamisation, and European
integration? Is it that easy to generalize about all of these parties?
I agree with you that BNP is one of England's most traditional
nationalist parties, and a crucial point of reference to understand
British nationalist parties. However, I mentioned UKIP because righ
now is bigger than BNP. Regarding generalization, yes, every party is
unique and we can't say they are all the same. The problem is... I
went trough the political platform of 50+ nationalist parties, and I
can't mention them all in a piece like this one.

very issues that make these groups popular tend to be absorbed into
the mainstream. In any case, each system must be examined
independently, as parties develop their political strategies according
to the environment in which they operate.


If published, the piece could include graphics with the following

Link: Main-File

Average vote to nationalist parties, last 3
Greece Finland France Switzerland
Sweden Romania Netherlands
United Hungary Austria
Germany Bulgaria Denmark
Poland Slovakia Belgium
Czech Slovenia Latvia
Lithuania Italy

Voting systems

Link: Main-File

Proportional - Proportional -
Threshold over Threshold under 5% Mixed Plurality
Czech Republic Austria Germany United
Estonia Bulgaria Hungary France
Latvia Finland Lithuania
Poland Greece
Slovakia Italy
Belgium Portugal
Romania Slovenia

Average vote to nationalist parties - top 5 countries

average votes top 5

Adriano Bosoni - ADP

Adriano Bosoni - ADP

Attached Files