European Parliament elections are to be held at the end of May, and
right-wing populist groups with parties in several states, are well positioned to profit in the coming ballot. They are being more and more open about their
wish to act as an advocate for Moscow in Brussels, stresses the German newspaper. "I think we can be a good partner for Russia in the European Parliament," said Filip Dewinter, a senior member of the Flemish Vlaams Belang in Belgium. "And Russia sees us as a potential partner," he added.
And the Russian side has been no less supportive. "We hope that the results of the coming elections will give these people more power," said Sergey Markov, a conservative political scientist with close connections in the Kremlin. "We need to move forward to further develop this cooperation", he added, referring to the European right-wing parties.
A recently held conference in the European Parliament was the most serious attempt so far, by European right-wing parties to woo Russia. Called "EU-Russia: Deescalating the Crisis-Roadmap for Peace in Europe," the conference was organized by Fiorello Provera, senior member of Italy's right-wing Lega Nord and deputy chief of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, together with David Lasar from Austria's Islamophobic Freedom Party.
According to Der Spiegel,
many parallels could be drawn between the rhetoric of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and European right-wing parties. Skepticism in terms of immigration and constant concern about the threat posed by Islamist extremism make Putin a "natural ally for xenophobic right whose political bread and butter is their vociferous attacks on European immigration policy," Der Spiegel writes.
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