IndustriAll Europe’s Executive Committee adopted its first Action Plan on “Protecting our democracy against Far-Right ideas and values!”. The plan urges members to step up their work against the social injustice, hatred, division, xenophobia and racism embodied in the ideas and values of the Far Right. The danger of inaction is greater than ever, as far-right parties are increasing their seats after each election. We must act now before it is too late, and inaction destroys our democracy!
Recent developments in the United States (US) are yet another wake-up call to the very worrying rise of the Far Right across the world. In Europe, the big wake-up call came with the results of the last European Parliament elections in June 2024, when far right parties manage to increase their presence. Earlier, far-right parties have managed to enter governments with the complicity of mainstream conservative parties. In other countries, like Sweden, far-right parties are enabling governments to run. Meanwhile, where the Far Right is not (yet) in government, they are among the top three parties in countries, like France, Spain, Germany, Romania, Portugal, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom.
No country has escaped this global trend accelerated by the austerity imposed after the 2008-2009 financial crisis put in place by the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and the European Commission and neo-liberal governments. The attacks on good quality jobs and on public services, and the growing inequalities, have left unprecedented marks on people. These political decisions have helped the Far Right to triple its votes over the past decades in European and national elections. These austerity policies have allowed far-right parties to misguidedly pose as the ‘friends of working people’.
History shows that once in power, far-right parties attack trade unions and workers’ rights, supporting traditional conservatives in putting their anti-union agenda in place (like recently in Finland). The Far Right’s recipe is similar everywhere: cracking down on democratic institutions and rights, starting with the right to strike and collective bargaining, alongside media freedom and impartial justiciary. Hungary remains the playbook model for an authoritarian shift and should serve as a worrying example of the potential outcome of a far-right majority. Similar worrying developments can also be observed in the US, since January 2025. Moreover, far-right parties are also increasingly threatening democracy at work, like the German AfD’s attempt to set up yellow unions and enter works councils.
IndustriAll Europe’s Action Plan explains and denounced the economic insecurity that enabled the Far Right to rise across Europe. This has spread to the once-comfortable middle-class households, which have seen their employment prospects become uncertain and their incomes stagnate or even decrease with the cost-of-living crisis. In the absence of plausible alternatives to rising inequality, and the lack of a successful strategy to oppose austerity, the Far Right has been able to advance its own critiques and solutions. It is, therefore, essential that we develop our own trade union narrative that offers real solutions to working people.
Judith Kirton-Darling, industriAll Europe General Secretary, said: “The dangers of the breakdown of the ‘cordon sanitaire’ is greater than ever after the European elections. We have already seen that conservatives do not shy away from siding with the Far Right when it suits them. We urge democratic parties to stand up for their values and respect the ‘cordon sanitaire’, as siding with the Far Right only legitimizes them, aiding their increase in the long run. We also need the European Commission to propose initiatives that respond to people’s fears and insecurities. It is high time to end austerity and put in place policies that strengthen Europe’s economic security and social stability.”
Isabelle Barthes, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll Europe, continued: “The Far-Right’s ideas and values are successful at playing different groups of workers against each other of against vulnerable groups, in particular if they are victims of austerity policies. Here is where trade unions need to come in and unite them, not least by increasing our presence in companies. We need to (re-)start training and awareness raising programmes for our members in order to explain the dangers of Far Right values and ideas. We need to be on the offensive with a narrative based on what we are, and who we stand for. Above all we must have our own demands and preserve our independence of analysis, reflection, demands and mobilisation. Our Action Plan is a first important step in this direction.”
Action Plan on “Protecting our democracy against Far-Right ideas and values!” EN DE FR