(Politico) Geert Wilders may be just the tip of the iceberg.
Following the anti-Islam politician’s shock election win in the Netherlands, European elites are nervously scanning the political landscape for signs of what’s to come — including further surprise wins from far-right candidates.
What they see is enough to send shivers down the spine of any EU-loving, centrist type: In nearly a dozen European countries, including France and Germany, hardline anti-immigration parties, some of them more extreme than Wilders, are currently topping the polls, or in a close second place.
Europe’s struggle to bring irregular migration under control and the cost-of-living crisis is nothing new. What is new, however, is the Israel-Hamas war, which is inflaming civilizational tensions at the heart of many European countries with large Muslim populations, analysts and senior political operatives tell POLITICO.
