- Far-right parties gained their strongest European Parliament presence in the June 2024 EU elections — with ECR and ID groups collectively holding 25%+ of EP seats.
- The far-right governs or is part of ruling coalitions in Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland — representing a fundamental shift from the far-right's fringe status a decade ago.
- The defining divide among European far-right parties is Russia policy — Meloni (Italy) and Law & Justice (Poland) support Ukraine aid while Orbán (Hungary) and Le Pen (France) have historically favorable Russia postures.
- Far-right parties have moved from protest parties to governing parties — forcing mainstream conservatives to adopt harder lines on immigration, EU integration, and social issues to compete.
The Far-Right Rise in Europe: Country by Country
Across the European Union, right-wing populist and far-right parties are polling at record or near-record levels. This tracker covers the seven key countries where the trend is most pronounced — with latest polling, leader profiles, and context.
Far-Right Polling: 7 Key EU Countries
Approximate polling averages, Q1 2025. Figures represent the leading far-right/populist nationalist party in each country.
Country Profiles
Italy — Fratelli d'Italia (FdI)
Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) took power in October 2022 when Giorgia Meloni became Italy's first female prime minister and the first from a post-fascist tradition. The party descends from the Italian Social Movement (MSI), founded by veterans of Mussolini's republic. Meloni has worked hard to distance FdI from its roots, embracing NATO and EU membership while maintaining hard lines on immigration, traditional family values, and Italian sovereignty. FdI polls around 28-32%, consistently Italy's most popular party. Internationally, Meloni is the most prominent figure in the ECR group in the EU Parliament and navigates a careful balance between her domestic populist base and pragmatic EU leadership relationships.
France — Rassemblement National (RN)
The Rassemblement National (formerly Front National, renamed 2018) has been transformed by Marine Le Pen from a fringe anti-Semitic party into France's dominant political force. RN topped the 2024 EU election in France with 31%, triggering Macron's snap legislative election. While RN fell short of a parliamentary majority in July 2024, Jordan Bardella briefly appeared poised to become prime minister. Le Pen faces a corruption conviction (2025) that could bar her from the 2027 presidential race — a legal fight she is actively contesting. RN polling averages around 33-37%, far ahead of any competitor.
Germany — Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)
The AfD (Alternative for Germany) was founded in 2013 as a euro-skeptic party but has shifted dramatically rightward. Under Alice Weidel's co-leadership it focuses primarily on immigration restriction, Islam skepticism, and German identity. The party is classified as a "proven right-wing extremist organization" by Germany's domestic intelligence service (BfV) in parts of its structure. All mainstream German parties maintain a "firewall" against coalition with the AfD. At the February 2025 Bundestag election, AfD came second with around 20.8% — its best federal result ever, but still shut out of government. Weidel has cultivated ties with Elon Musk and appeared at a joint event before the election.
Netherlands — Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV)
Geert Wilders and his PVV (Party for Freedom) shocked Europe in November 2023 by winning the Dutch election outright with 37 seats — the most of any party. A coalition government including PVV was eventually formed under Prime Minister Dick Schoof in July 2024. Wilders holds no formal cabinet post (to avoid accountability for his statements) but effectively shapes government migration and asylum policy from behind the scenes. His signature policies include banning the Quran, closing mosques, and ending all asylum seekers. The PVV is a one-man party in legal terms: Wilders is the sole member, preventing internal dissent. PVV polls around 20-28%.
Austria — Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ)
Austria's FPÖ (Freedom Party) became the first far-right party to win a national election in Western Europe in the postwar era when it topped Austria's September 2024 parliamentary election with 29%. Party leader Herbert Kickl — a hardliner who served as Interior Minister 2017-2019 — was initially passed over for chancellor as mainstream parties tried to form a coalition without him. After those coalition talks collapsed in early 2025, Kickl was mandated to form a government, making Austria the first EU founding-adjacent country with a far-right chancellor. Kickl is known for his anti-immigration stance, pro-Russia sympathies, and opposition to Covid measures.
Hungary — Fidesz
Viktor Orbán has governed Hungary since 2010 and has systematically reshaped the country's institutions — judiciary, media, elections — to entrench his power. He coined the term "illiberal democracy" to describe his model. Fidesz controls around two-thirds of the Hungarian parliament and polls consistently above 35-45%, though critics argue media concentration distorts these figures. Orbán is the European politician most aligned with Donald Trump and has close ties to Vladimir Putin. He has repeatedly vetoed EU aid to Ukraine and used his EU Council veto as leverage for domestic concessions. In 2022 he was effectively expelled from the EPP group; Fidesz now sits in the Patriots for Europe group.
Poland — Prawo i Sprawiedliwošć (PiS)
Law and Justice (PiS) governed Poland from 2015 to 2023, implementing controversial judicial reforms, restricting abortion rights, and clashing repeatedly with EU institutions. In October 2023, a coalition led by Donald Tusk defeated PiS, ending eight years of right-wing government. PiS — controlled by Jarosław Kaczyński, who has never been prime minister but runs the party — remains the single largest party in opposition, polling around 28-33%. Poland under Tusk has normalized EU relations and unblocked billions in EU recovery funds. The PiS-Tusk rivalry continues to dominate Polish politics heading into the 2025 presidential election.
What These Movements Have in Common
Anti-Immigration
Restricting immigration — especially from Muslim-majority countries — is the single most consistent theme. Polling consistently shows immigration is the top issue for far-right voters across all seven countries.
Euroskepticism
Most European far-right parties want to limit EU power over national governments — on migration, climate policy, and rule of law. Few now advocate leaving the EU outright (after Brexit), but all want a looser, more intergovernmental EU.
Social Conservatism
Opposition to LGBTQ+ rights, promotion of traditional family structures, and religious (primarily Christian) national identity are consistent themes — most pronounced in Hungary, Poland, and Italy.
Anti-Establishment Populism
All these movements position themselves against a "corrupt" or "out-of-touch" elite — whether mainstream political parties, media, or EU bureaucrats. This appeal cuts across economic classes and has proven resilient even when the parties enter government themselves.
Skepticism of Climate Policy
Far-right parties broadly oppose the EU Green Deal, the 2035 combustion engine ban, and carbon taxes. They frame these policies as elite impositions that harm working people — a message that resonated strongly in the 2024 EU election amid farmer protests.
Russia Ambivalence
Several far-right parties — Orban's Fidesz, Le Pen's RN, the AfD — have historic or ongoing ties to Russia and oppose EU arms support for Ukraine. Italy's Meloni is an outlier here, firmly backing NATO and Ukraine. This division is a major fault line within the European far-right.
How Does This Compare to Trump's MAGA?
The rise of European far-right parties is frequently compared to Donald Trump's MAGA movement, and the parallels are real but limited.
Shared themes: Anti-immigration, cultural nationalism, distrust of elites and mainstream media, opposition to multilateral institutions (EU, NATO, UN), and a nostalgic appeal to national greatness. Several European far-right leaders — Meloni, Weidel, Wilders — have met Trump or expressed admiration for his political model. Elon Musk has publicly endorsed both AfD and broader European far-right parties.
Key differences: European far-right parties operate in proportional representation or two-round electoral systems, meaning they rarely win outright majorities. Coalition politics is standard, which moderates their policy agenda. European welfare states are more entrenched — most far-right parties in Europe explicitly defend public healthcare and pensions, unlike the Republican Party's traditional small-government stance. On Ukraine, the division is stark: Meloni supports NATO's Ukraine policy; Trump, Orbán, and to some extent Le Pen do not.
Orbán as the bridge: Hungary's Viktor Orbán has the closest ideological and personal relationship with Trump. He has visited Mar-a-Lago and publicly endorsed Trump's return. Orbán's "illiberal democracy" model is explicitly cited as an inspiration by some Republican strategists. The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 drew significant inspiration from Orbán's Hungary.
The bottom line: "MAGA Europe" exists as an impulse and a shared political language, but it is not a unified movement. European far-right parties compete with each other for voters and EU Parliament group leadership, have substantive policy disagreements (especially on Russia and Ukraine), and each operate within distinct national political traditions.
What to Watch Next
France 2027 Presidential Election
Marine Le Pen or Jordan Bardella could finally win the French presidency. Le Pen's corruption conviction is the wildcard: if it stands and bars her from running, Bardella (28) becomes the candidate. Either way, RN is currently polling in first place for the first round.
Germany's AfD Under New Government
The CDU/CSU-SPD coalition government formed in 2025 faces the challenge of governing as AfD leads in some eastern state polls. A key question is whether the CDU's Merz policy on migration — which involves borrowing AfD language — will blunt the AfD's rise or normalize it.
Austria Under Kickl
Herbert Kickl's chancellorship is the first major test of whether an unambiguously far-right leader can govern a Western EU state within EU rules. Brussels is watching closely. Kickl's pro-Russia history makes him a potential Orbán-type disruptor within the EU Council.
EP 2029 — Will the Right Formalize Power?
The 2029 European Parliament election will be the real test. If current polling trends hold, right and far-right parties could command enough seats to fundamentally reshape EU policy — blocking Green Deal measures, hardening migration law, and weakening EU institutional autonomy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are far-right parties fascist?
This is contested. Most European far-right parties explicitly reject the fascist label and have made efforts — with varying credibility — to distance themselves from 20th-century fascism. Scholars use terms like "radical right," "populist nationalist," or "national conservative." Fratelli d'Italia has the clearest historical lineage to Italian fascism via the MSI. The AfD contains factions classified as extremist by Germany's intelligence service. Hungary's Fidesz is authoritarian but not fascist in the classical sense. The label matters politically and legally; equating all far-right parties with fascism is analytically imprecise.
Why are young Europeans voting far-right?
In the 2024 EU election, far-right parties performed particularly well with young male voters. Research suggests several drivers: economic anxiety (housing costs, job precarity), radicalization via social media algorithms and figures like Andrew Tate, a sense that mainstream parties have failed to address immigration, and a cultural backlash against progressive identity politics. The gender gap in political preference — young men trending right, young women trending left — is widening across Europe and the US.
Can the EU stop far-right member state governments?
The EU has tools but limited power. Article 7 of the EU Treaty allows suspension of a member state's voting rights for breaches of EU values — but it requires unanimity among other states (Hungary has shielded Poland and vice versa). The EU can and has withheld funds (Hungary lost billions). EU courts can fine governments for breaking EU law. But fundamentally, the EU cannot remove or override democratically elected governments, and far-right parties have become skilled at testing and exploiting this limit.
