There is a stark contrast between the “anti-establishment” and anti-corruption rhetoric of the “European authoritarian right-wing parties” and their concrete actions, particularly in the European Parliament, according to a report by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) published on Wednesday 15 May.
According to this NGO, while these political parties constantly resort to rhetoric based on the rejection of the existing “political or business elites”, by declaring themselves to be defenders of the “ordinary people”, their actions tell a completely different story.
This observation comes essentially from an analysis of the votes in the European Parliament, between 2014 and 2019, of fourteen of “European authoritarian right-wing parties”, including the Rassemblement national (France), Fidesz (Hungary) and the Lega (Italy), on texts intended to have an influence on working people and social rights.
On this basis, the authors of the report conclude that at the time of voting, these parties did not support policies aimed at defending the interests of working people or low-income communities.
In particular, they point out that none of the parties studied voted in favour of a minimum 25% corporate tax rate across Member States, while almost all voted against the creation of a pan-EU tax evasion authority or abstained. In addition, with the exception of the Swedish Democrats, all the parties studied opposed a proposal for a directive to promote “decent work” for all workers.
Contacted by the NGO, a MEP from AfD (Germany) - the only party to have answered its questions, - allegedly argued that his party's votes were explained by the fact that they were opposed to any EU involvement in Member States' tax sovereignty and wanted to improve subsidiarity (a principle enshrined in the Treaty on European Union, which aims to protect Member States' decision-making and action capacity).
This argument was considered unconvincing by CEO, as all the parties analysed, including AfD, voted in favour of a 3% pan-European tax on digital services, a measure which, in the name of defending national sovereignty and the principle of subsidiarity, should have been rejected by these parties.
The report also highlights the close links between many of these parties and millionaires or wealthy multinationals, as well as the many accusations of corruption surrounding some of them.
To read the report: https://bit.ly/2YxMXZc. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot - intern)