A European political leader said he is worried about the rise of extreme-right and populist parties in Europe.
In a statement issued on Friday, Guy Verhofstadt, who chairs the Liberal political group at the European Parliament, said this evolution “worries the group a lot what the extremist and populist parties are standing for is exactly the opposite of what we believe in and what we are fighting for day after day in the European Union.”
He also expressed concern about the tendency of more and more politicians from moderate parties all over Europe to start repeating the same populist discourse.”
He noted that across Europe, Liberal parties follow different strategies in order to oppose extremist and populist parties.
Verhofstadt, a former Belgian Prime Minister, mentioned recent policies against minorities, including the Roma, a general radicalisation about religion, attacks against the open and multicultural society and a return of the discourse of national identity.
“We will not hesitate to act if necessary, as we did over the Roma issue, to condemn acts of intolerance and prejudice. We will never accept policies that conflict with fundamental liberal and democratic values,” he said.