Der Spiegel has a profile of Florian Philippot, chief strategist for France’s National Front party.
No matter where one goes in France these days to visit a Front National office or to accompany a candidate on his rounds, one encounters a movement full of excitement. The year 2014 is a decisive one for the party: It expects strong showings in both the local elections and in the European Parliament elections in May…
According to a recent survey, the Front National could end up with 23 percent of the vote in the European election in May, which would make it the strongest party in the country, ahead of both President François Hollande’s Socialists and the conservatives…
“Something great is taking place,” he says. “We are experiencing a popular momentum. You can feel it and the powers that be can feel it too. That is why they are so uneasy.”…
Does the following sound familiar?
The party already won a symbolic victory back in October when it emerged victorious in an essentially meaningless regional election in the southern French city of Brignoles. In the run-off election, the FN contender beat a candidate who was backed by both the Socialists and the conservatives. It was seen as an indication that the alliances of convenience between the left and right, which has long kept the FN at bay in run-off elections, are no longer working…
[Philippot] presents an image of a country in which immigrants establish parallel societies while the common French are at the mercy of globalization. He says that Socialists and conservatives — under the diktat of Brussels — pursue the exact same policies: They favor large companies at the expense of the people.
When will a U.S.-equivalent to these ‘far right’ political parties in Europe materialize?
