The year 2017 is going to be the year of anti-establishment, populist revolts. Not in the United States—where this already happened this year—but in Europe.
As we have reported several times already, Dutch populist Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) are on track to win the Dutch elections, which will be held in March. In most polls, the gap between the PVV and the second largest party—the VVD—is around 10 seats, which is significant in the 150-seats Dutch parliament. Since there are only two and a half months left until the election, Wilders is clearly the favorite to win the elections. If he does, it’ll be a tremendous blow to the establishment, who have depicted Wilders for years as a neo-Nazi in disguise.
In Germany too, populists are preparing for a breakthrough year. Alternative für Deutschland is basically Germany’s version of the PVV, although it’s more conservative with regards to economic and social issues than Wilders’ party. Like the PVV, the AfD is best known for demanding an end to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-borders policy and her relentless support for the Grand European Project known as the EU.
And then there’s France. Although most experts don’t believe Marine Le Pen of the Front National will win the presidential elections, it is widely believed she’ll get closer to winning than any other FN leader before her. What’s more: PJ Media’s own Michael Walsh is absolutely right when he argues that Le Pen could actually win the presidential elections.
Whether she ends up winning or not, the point is that she—at the very least—has a shot. And that has never happened before for the Front National. Like Wilders and the AfD, Le Pen owes her success in the polls to voters’ outrage about terrorism, the open-borders policies of the government, and the increasingly autocratic EU leaders in Brussels. The French have had enough of the establishment—a sentiment that’s shared by Dutch and German voters.
Lastly, although there won’t be general elections in Britain, their populist party—UKIP—will likely have a great year nonetheless. As the party’s new leader Paul Nuttall (Nigel Farage‘s successor) explains in his official New Year’s address:
Yes, from the looks of it, 2017 will be the breakthrough year for populism in Europe. And the elites have only themselves to blame for it. They’ve ignored the concerns and worries of European voters for decades. A time of reckoning is coming.
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