What I'm Hearing Abroad: "Europe is Unraveling" By Luke Perry
“Europe is unraveling,” my faculty host said as she drove me home following my talk in Lisbon. “I don’t know if you have felt this yet.” Her expertise is conservative populism, which has upended norms in Europe as well as the United States.
“Do you see what is happening in France?” she asked. France recently faced its worst political turmoil in decades. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu narrowly survived a no-confidence vote but still faces daunting challenges in trying to pass a budget by the end of the year.
Photo from President Macron
Far right parties are atop the polls in Europe’s four most populous democracies (Germany, Britain, France and Italy) and control governments in Italy, Hungary, and Slovakia. Patriots for Europe and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) finished third and fourth, respectively, in last year’s European Parliament elections.
The electoral situation is fluid, though the resulting political divides are deep and persisent. This week’s Dutch election was dubbed a “referendum on the far right.” The Party for Freedom lost seats, after finishing the top vote getter in 2023, yet at the moment, appears tied with Democrats 66.
Photo by Luke Perry
The 2026 parliamentary campaign in Hungary is underway. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz Party faces perhaps their toughest challenge, Peter Magyar’s Tisza Party, since coming to power in 2010. The country is divided between liberal Budapest and the rural countryside.
I listened to Tibor Kapu, famed Hungarian astronaut, talk about the outpouring of attention garnered by his recent trip to the international space station. Even Kapu recognized that we live in deeply divided times and pointed to the national pride surrounding his mission as a unifying force.
Photo from President Trump
Donald Trump’s return to the White House not only solidified his standing within American history and contemporary American politics. His remaking of the political right around his populist image helped legitimize and bolster comparable conservative movements throughout the West for the foreseeable future.
Luke Perry is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Utica University who is currently serving as a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar in Budapest, Hungary
