23.10.2026
Just how serious a threat to democracy in Europe is the far-right’s rise in support? Should the far-right be isolated or accommodated?
Debate with Dr Sabine Volk by Bleeding Heart Radicals on YouTube
"So that was summer. The heatwaves before the storm – of elections in Europe (and elsewhere) over the next 12 months against a backdrop of popular protests erupting in France, Spain and elsewhere and declining support for democracy, especially among the young.
After contests in Israel and the US (and a run-off in Brazil), involving characters who belong in jail rather than in office, Spain will go to the polls on 29 November, the French presidential election is set for 18 April and 2 May, we will have more German state elections, Italy will go to the polls again some time in 2027, as will Finland, Greece, Estonia and Slovakia. The stakes have arguably not been higher in our lifetimes.
With real, common, problems to be addressed across Europe, including the UK, the nightmare scenario of Le Pen winning the French presidency (which is far from assured, despite the polls), Meloni retaining power in Italy, Weidel heading a government in Germany, plus a right-wing coalition in Spain, is increasingly relevant for the UK as its path to rejoining the EU becomes clearer each day. Just what kind of EU do we in the UK want to rejoin? And what are we prepared to do to defend democratic pillars and principles from the threat?
This is the backdrop for the latest Bleeding Heart Radicals Experts Debate: ‘Just how serious a threat to democracy in Europe is the far-right’s rise in support? Should the far-right be isolated or accommodated?’.
The debate features Dr Sabine Volk, MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Helsinki and affiliated with the Institute for Research on Far-right Extremism at the University of Tübingen, and Dr. Andrej Zaslove, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of Political Science, Radboud University."
The Video is now available to watch on YouTube or via the Bleeding Heart Radicals website.