In less than two years the social democratic parties of the continent suffered a historic defeat in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. In his article on Project Syndicate, he notes that on the continent, whose political life has long been determined by the democratic competition between centre-right and centre-left parties, the collapse of the left could have far-reaching consequences that go beyond the interests of individual parties.
Many factors have led to the decline of the left, including the disappearance of the traditional working class. But one of the main reasons as grim as it is simple: the European voters are increasingly opposed to immigration and do not believe that the left is able to curb.
Faced with the continuous influx of refugees and migrants, primarily from the Middle East and Africa, European voters have made a series of recent elections into a kind of referendum on the immigration issue. Movements of the extreme right populists skillfully played on the fears of voters from the working class, convincing them that the traditional labour party would allow the immigrants to arrive with virtually no restrictions.
In April, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban won a landslide victory in the elections, after a campaign in which the emphasis was placed on “threat to Christian values”, which allegedly created by the Muslims. The new coalition government of Italy, speaking against the establishment, came to power, thanks to the popularity of tough anti-immigration party “League”. It is headed by Matteo Salvini, who is now interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
In Slovenia, far-right opposition party of former Prime Minister Janez janša received a little less than 25% of the votes at the last in this month’s parliamentary elections, and it means that Jansa will form the new government. Echoing the US President Donald Trump, the Jansa did campaign on antiimmigrant platform under the slogan “Slovenia first.”
When far-right populists was just beginning to gain political force, a center-left parties of Europe hoped that they will be able to cope with this problem, thanks to its traditionally strong sides. In order to avoid the unwitting help of agitation of right-wing, center-left politicians tried to divert the topic of public debate in ideologically comfortable area – unemployment, inequality, social justice. The social democratic party of Germany (SPD) spent the entire election campaign of 2017 under the slogan “It’s time for more justice.”
However, one after another painful defeat made left-of-center parties clearly understand: the voters, which is primarily concerned with immigration, it is impossible to involve appeals to justice, whatever they may be justified. As a result, the center-left parties across Europe have begun to change course: in several key countries, the social Democrats change their long-established position on the issues of migration.
In Germany, a coalition government (this includes the SPD, the Christian democratic Union and its sister party in Bavaria – the Christian social Union) got involved in a bitter dispute over immigration, which threatens the preservation of this coalition. The SPD is committed to a pan-European decision and denies the necessity of closing the borders of Germany, however, the party leader Andrea Nales made a proposal to expedite procedures for consideration of applications for asylum, allowing the authorities to take decisions on applications from nationals of safe third countries within one week. And in may Sales initiated the debate within the SPD, clearly mimicking the far-right rhetoric: it is said that Germany “cannot accept everyone.”
Part of the leadership of the SPD and the youth wing of the party rebelled. But in response to Males only emphasized its position publicly supported by the Council composed of independent experts critical analysis of the reasons for the defeat of the party in the election. In this report, “the lack of consistent social-democratic position” on migration named one of the structural weaknesses of the party.
The social democratic party of Austria went even further in matters of immigration. The party leadership unveiled a new program that must be formally approved before the end of this year. It officially reformulated the position of the party: “integration”, not for migration. Although this program refers to “humanitarian duties” of the country, it requires the establishment of “effective protection” at the external borders of the EU.
The social Democrats of Denmark are one step ahead from their Austrian comrades. In preparation for elections next year, they adopted a new document setting out the position on the issue of immigration; it’s called “Fair and realistic”. As stated in this document, the flow of migrants to Denmark can be reduced by creating “reception centers” outside of Europe for the consideration of applications for asylum. The document also contained an appeal to cooperate with the UN and to develop a “Marshall Plan” for Africa, which is expected to persuade more migrants to stay home.
This position generally correspond to the social-Democrats of Sweden, who are trying to undermine the strong public support for far-right “Swedish Democrats” opposed to immigration. Prime Minister Stefan löfven, who leads a campaign to get re-elected in September, recently named traditionally open immigration policy of his country “unsustainable.” Offer them a program called “Safe migration policy for a new era” promises a reduction in the number of refugees accepted by Sweden twice, as well as measures, which do not allow rejected asylum seekers to social assistance. This program has been criticized by groups defending migrants.
In their critique underlines the main problem. On the one hand, the immigration shift from the social Democrats is a necessary response to the demands of voters. Attempts to restrict or control migration is not necessarily due to racism or xenophobia. The main thing is to ensure that this policy response has remained morally acceptable.
At the same time, too abrupt a change can be disastrous for the ailing centre-left parties. They obviously can’t copy the recipes hardline nationalist radical right, which would be not only economically counterproductive, but openly contradicted progressive values, rejecting cosmopolitan supporters of these parties.
Instead, center-left parties of Europe must find a balance between national and international solidarity, using a triple strategy: effective limitation of immigration, the integration and humanitarian efforts to alleviate mass human suffering. This approach will allow to avoid the use of inflammatory rhetoric, offering instead, real, visionary and morally coherent solution to that not being populist, definitely can become popular.
This approach was chosen Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and the President of France Emmanuel macron. Experiencing difficulties centre-left parties of Europe should follow their example, recognizing that such repositioning may be the key to their political survival.
