Notes

New sway for the nationalist right in Europe. Across the continent in June and July, far-right parties kept doing better and better in major elections. In France, the United Kingdom—and throughout the European Union, in elections to the European Parliament—parties on the nationalist right won record results. Now, they have considerably more power to drive policy changes—foremost among them, tightening immigration and loosening climate-related regulation. What these parties don’t have—yet, at any rate—is control of any governments in London, Paris, or Brussels.

So what do their recent political wins mean for Europe? Today, Matthias Matthijs explores the implications—suggesting the significance may be less in what far-right politicians plan to do next and more in why people have voted for them in the first place.

—Michael Bluhm