In post-war Europe political consensus kept radical forces away from state power. In Germany it became known as brandmauer — the firewall. For the French, a cordon sanitaire kept the Front National, now Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN), away from power.
In 2025, however, the far-right rules in Hungary and Italy. In recent years it has had a role - whether formally or informally - in coalitions in Sweden, Austria, Norway, Finland and Holland, and could soon govern in France, the UK, Germany, and Spain, if the latest opinion polls are anything to go by.
That there has been a wave of anti-immigration parties in Europe is undeniable — but who are these parties and what do they want?
In times of polarisation, it’s easy to view far-right parties as a monolith. Marta Lorimer, Lecturer in Politics at Cardiff University, tells The Local that there is “variation between these parties,” though she adds that “it is variations of extreme we are talking about, not a scale from moderate to extreme.”
In France throughout the turmoil that has toppled successive governments under the ever unpopular President Emmanuel Macron, the RN has loomed large in the polls. It currently polls at 33 percent, according to Opinionway, and the French parliament recently passed a bill proposed by the far-right for the first time ever.
France's two-round presidential election system, however, requires the winner to gain 50 percent in a runoff vote, which means the prospect far-right leader becoming head of state in 2027 isn't as inevitable as the polls make out.
So, what does RN actually stand for? As my colleague Genevieve Mansfield has noted: "One of the reasons it can be hard to pin down what the party stands for is the vagueness of its policies." In France and abroad, far-right politics can be a lot of very hardline but vague, vibes-based politics over policy detail.
What we do know is that RN wants to abolish France's centuries-old principle of "droit du sol", which grants nationality to people born in France to foreign parents, and to introduce a 'national priority' which would favour French citizens in jobs, housing and benefits. A
Party President Jordan Bardella stated in a recent interview that another long-term objective is banning Muslim headscarves in any public spaces. After the debacle of Brexit however, the RN no longer calls for France to leave the European Union.
In Sweden, the far-right also holds a heavy influence over government and political rhetoric. Earlier this year Green Party spokesperson Annika Hirvonen told The Local that Sweden was “very quickly racing to the bottom on immigration”, with Sweden Democrats (SD) leading the way.
The right-wing government — which depends on a parliamentary deal with far-right SD as part of the Tidö Agreement — wants to retroactively remove permanent residency from over 100,000 people and is tightening citizenship rules. The government and SD have also proposed paying refugees up to 350,000 kronor to return home.
In Germany, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has now surpassed the governing Christian Democrats (CDU) in polling and could plausibly govern Europe's largest economy. The AfD emphasises crack downs on immigration and what it views as a watering down of German citizenship.
The AfD has pledged to "regulate migration, close the 'asylum paradise' down, operate a tougher returns policy, push for integration and attract skilled migrant labour," according to Info Migrants. A key pillar of the AfD's migration policy is the return of more than one million Syrians and other foreign nationals who live in Germany.
Though there are variations of "far-right", the AfD stands out as one of the most extreme.
“Amongst the most extreme is the AfD, who has advocated openly not just for closing borders but for ‘remigration’," Cardiff University's Lorimer says.
It was hoped that the Spanish experience of dictatorship made Spaniards immune to far-right politics but hardline Vox has in recent years governed in coalitions in several regions and could soon play a role in the national government.
Hitting new heights in the polls and stealing voters from the centre-right People's Party (PP), Vox has firmly shifted the debate rightward on immigration and called for the deportation of 8 million foreigners, which would've included second-generation migrants born in Spain, and proposed measures to limit foreigners buying property and ban Islamic events in public spaces.
Polling suggests that the PP will likely win the next general election in Spain - scheduled for 2027 - but would need Vox to form a government.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy has governed since 2022. Some politicos point to Meloni as an example of right-wing populists campaigning at the extremes and moving to the political centre once in government; the announcement it will issue 500,000 visas for non-EU workers may support this thesis, though daunting demographic realities are a more likely explanation.
With Meloni, Lorimer identifies a gulf between rhetoric and policy: “one has to differentiate between what they say and what they do,” as Meloni's government is still pushing Europe's bid to offshore illegal migrant processing and tightening overseas citizenship claims.
After winning the 2023 election, the hard-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) recently set a polling record at over 30 percent. It’s also raised eyebrows with an idea to cap the population. The proposal, which would be put to a vote, stipulates that “Switzerland’s permanent resident population must not exceed ten million people before 2050." Currently, the country's population stands at just over 9 million, including nearly 2.5 million foreigners.
In Denmark, the far-right Danish People's Party is escalating rhetoric on immigration, benefits, and even voting rights for foreigners.
Professor Michelle Pace, an Associate Fellow at Chatham House and Professor in Global Studies at Roskilde University, tells The Local that the hard-right Danish People’s Party, though not in government, has "under the leadership of Morten Messerschmidt moved further to the right on immigration, calling for remigration, and for large-scale deportations of non-Western immigrants."
The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) very nearly won the last elections. The far-right party topped the polls and entered coalition negotiations but has been stuck in opposition since, though it enjoys a 16 point lead in the polls, according to Politico polling.
The FPÖ proposes, among other things, emergency legislation restricting asylum rights and making it easier to revoke citizenship from people committing certain criminal offences or for simply "showing disrespect to Austria".
What's happening across Europe?
Many of these themes have been explored in detail across The Local's sites this week.
In Germany, the team has looked at the politics of dual citizenship after conservative leaders jumped on a national debate to change Germany's dual citizenship rules.
Our colleagues in Sweden wrote a handy guide to political parties and continued looking into ongoing citizenship reforms.
For those wanting to read more about the SVP's population proposals, you can read that here, and as for whether or not voters will back it, read our analysis here.
In Spain, you can read why Vox wants to tax foreigners to give Spaniards benefits and how Catalan separatists are blocking the Socialist government from passing legislation.
The Italian team recently dug into the budget and how it could affect immigrants, notably another hike to the flat tax for wealthy foreign residents.
And finally, as French political instability continues, trade unions can always be relied on to call strikes in hopes of pressuring MPs as they vote on the precarious 2026 Budget, and an MP told The Local why he proposes charging American retirees to access healthcare.
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