by DW Documentary
May 20, 2019
from YouTube Website
 

 

 

 

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2019 looks to be a good year for right-wing populists in Europe.

 

Be it Italy, France, Hungary, Poland or Germany, many European countries are experiencing a shift to the right. Right-wing populists are expected to make significant gains in the European Parliament elections this spring.

 

Right-leaning party representatives have an agenda:

they want to dismantle to the European Union.

Guido Reil of Germany's AfD party believes the best way to do that is by going to Brussels.

"It is easier to destroy something from the inside than from the outside."

Joseph Sauvage, a cafe owner in Denain in northern France, backs Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National party, because he doesn't want to see people in Denain abandoned.

"When the factories closed, the small shops closed. There is nothing here, economically speaking. No work. It's also changed politically. It used to be communist.

 

But that changed with the end of opportunities for the working class."

His view of migration has also changed.

"Immigrants are entitled to the same social benefits without ever having worked here."

Like Joseph Sauvage, Luca Davide, a member of Italy's Northern League party, says he's had enough of living in a run-down block in a small city full of foreigners.

"We don't need drug dealers, we don't need illegals! We just want to live here in peace and safety."

In early February 2018, a right-wing supporter targeted Africans in a drive-by shooting rampage.

 

According to Northern League leader Matteo Salvini, the EU shares,

"moral responsibility” for the act because it "filled the country with illegal foreigners."

Messages like these are met with support.

 

Evidence of just how a state's society and institutions change when right-wing populists come to power is evident in Hungary. Many judges, organizations that support refugees or human rights, scientists, and journalists speak of massive restrictions in Orban's "illiberal democracy".

 

But a lot of young Hungarians starting to push back.
 

 

 

 

In recent years, right-wing populism has assumed the spotlight on political stages throughout Europe.

 

Representatives from,

  • Italy

  • France

  • Germany

  • Hungary

  • Poland,

...are rallying behind the cries of their citizens to prioritize their needs over the strength of the whole of Europe.

 

In short, they believe that a withdrawal from the European Union would bring about more jobs and improve their quality of life.

 

'The Enemy in Brussels' examines the motivations behind this seismic political shift, and what it might spell for the long-term future of Europe.

Political organizers have hatched a scheme to successfully infiltrate the upcoming parliamentary election process in the spring of 2019, and their entry will occur in the capital city of Brussels.

 

Millions of followers are placing their hopes in them.

 

Fed up with limited economic opportunities and crumbling neighborhoods, they've associated their troubles with the rise of the European Union and an influx of immigrants.

Their movement has adopted the tone and tenor of President Donald Trump's "America First" brand of populism.

 

Political figures like,

...have the establishment firmly in their crosshairs.

 

What were once minority-held views are gaining traction among the masses.

In addition to spotlighting these new right-wing political leaders, the filmmakers collect a vast array of profiles from common citizens, including business owners, laborers and home makers.

 

We hear from those who stand in strong support of the party's views - including their strict anti-immigration policies - and others who view the movement as a threat to morality and human rights.

The extreme right-wing rhetoric has momentum, but it's also inspired troubling fissures in the culture.

 

A radical recently took it upon himself to shoot random dark-skinned bystanders. Social workers also testify to a rise in openly expressed racism.

 

The movement's leaders claim this uptick in violence is just an inevitable response to the EU's flagrant permissiveness when it comes to illegal immigration.

Handsomely produced by the DW Documentary series, 'The Enemy in Brussels' is a thoughtful and immersive portrait of one of the modern history's most consequential shifts in global politics.

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