European patriot politicians seek cross-border alliance to promote their anti-immigration policies.
How many blonds does it take to revolutionize Europe’s far-right politics?
Geert Wilders, the platinum-coiffed leader of the Netherlands’ anti-Islam Freedom Party, and Marine Le Pen, France’s flaxen-haired National Front supremo, believe they have the answer.
The pair linked up last week to announce the creation of a new coalition of “patriotic movements” opposed to immigration. They exhorted voters to join them in a campaign to roll back the European Union’s influence and restore power to national governments.
“Today is the start of the liberation of Europe from the monster of Brussels,” Wilders said, referring to the city that hosts the EU’s headquarters.
On a continent where economic crisis has shaken old political certainties, that anti-EU rhetoric has become a vote-winner.
Polls show Wilder’s Freedom Party and Le Pen’s National Front could emerge as their country’s largest parties for the first time in next year’s elections to the European Parliament.
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