Attacks on migration continue

As early as July 30, the Christian Democratic EPP Group in the European Parliament had spoken out in favor of further dismantling the protective mechanisms for asylum seekers and, among other things, abolishing subsidiary protection status.

The Spanish far right responded to the influx of refugees from Morocco to Ceuta with attacks—physical attacks by violent neo-Nazi gangs on the beach in Ceuta, for example, and verbal attacks on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who is accused of allowing the influx (as seen here with VOX leader Santiago Abascal on X). This led to two simultaneous rallies in front of the European Parliament against the Spanish government, at which Spain’s comparatively humanitarian immigration policy was denounced. Hand in hand, or rather side by side, some 500 "MEPs and staffers from the centre-right European People’s Party and far-right Patriots for Europe gathered in the area in front of Parliament in front of the Parliament in Brussels, waving the flags of Ceuta and Spain," writes euronews. The governments of the EU member states unanimously criticized the Spanish government and outdid one another in a display of radical measures against migration flows and the shifting of responsibilities to third countries. EPP leader Manfred Weber immediately called for the establishment of deportation centers in Africa.

The alignment of the various factions on the right—from the EPP to the ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists) and PfE (Patriots for Europe) to the AfD-led ESN (Europe of Sovereign Nations)—is thus continuing. Alberto Alemanno describes this shift in the EU in The Guardian, in an article titled “How the far right is tightening its grip over the EU—from the inside,” as follows: “This is a different Europe, one that is coercive at the border and permissive towards corporate and environmental harm. It is being built by hollowing out the union from within, using European law to repeal European protections. The far right didn’t need to take over Europe’s institutions to do this; it only needed to find a mainstream party willing to translate its priorities into European law.

The hypocrisy is structural, and events in Ceuta exposed it.”

The ECR never tires of hailing the “new era of returns”. During a visit by an ECR delegation to the U.S., attempts were made to convince the Trump administration of the European right’s loyalty to the alliance. Italian MEP Carlo Fidanza is quoted by Politico as saying that “frictions” between his Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and U.S. President Trump would certainly have to be overcome. The U.S. sees Europe as lost in a sea of “wokeness” due to its weak immigration policy and the “crazy” Green Deal. But with a new hard line—such as on the issue of immigration, which follows Meloni’s approach—Fidanza said, these concerns could be alleviated.

Redaction: Ulli Jentsch