Illiberal Challengers of Liberal Democracy in Europe

Participants

• Laurenz Ennser-Jedenastik – Professor, University of Vienna (online)
• Petra Guasti – Associate Professor, Charles University (online)
• Marlene Wind – Director, Center for European Politics; Professor, University of Copenhagen
• Moderator: Zsuzsanna Végh – Program Officer, The German Marshall Fund of the United States

Main takeaways:

• During the 2024 European Parliamentary Elections both the extreme left and the extreme right achieved significant results. This trend was common in eastern states, but in the 2024 election it became common for western countries like Germany and France.
• The growth of extremist parties might result in the growing fear of danger in the EU. This tendency is likely favored by Vladimir Putin, because seemingly he is successful in interfering in EU politics.
• The illiberal far right party, Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) most likely will accomplish a significant result at the next Austrian legislative election on 29 September 2024, but will not be able to form a new government individually.
• According to Laurenz Ennser-Jedenastik, the support of FPÖ grew with central issues like the Covid-19, Ukraine, the EU and migration, in which the far-right party has a really strong point of view. FPÖ may benefit from the lack of moderation in the currect Austrian campaign too.
• Regional elections also will be held in the Czech Republic on 20-21 September 2024, in which the right-wing populist party of the former prime minister Andrej Babis, ANO will compete.
• Petra Guasti highlighted that ANO does not have a clear ideology, rather it follows the public opinion and makes profit from the frustration of the voters. The party relies on four pillars: a performative strong leadership; an anti- establishment rhetoric, in which Babis fights against the corrupt elite; economic pragmations and technocracy / audience democracy
• Overall populist illiberal democracies are working in a „top-down” manner, which means that the power coming from above shapes the public opinion heavily, which results in polarizing. The top-down perspective also grants an opportunity for oligarchs of the regime to control the entire economy.

Policy recommendations:

• Marlene Wind believes that the Skandivanian countries do not favor courts and other law-makers and this trend is getting more prevalent in illiberal democracies. However, while Scandinavian governments rely on coalitions, autocratic / hybrid regimes start to turn over to majoritarian „democracies”. The solution for this is to strengthen checks and balances, which are significant parts of western liberal regimes since WWII.
• Being critical of democracy does not mean that a regime should change into an illiberal democracy. Constructive criticism might be useful in securing and improving democracies.
• Democratic regimes should not be just acting as democracies, for example current Hungary and Poland during PIS, but the „substances” like institutions should work on a democratic scale too.