Energy Crisis Empowers Europe’s Populists Harnessing Anger
Across the continent, parties on the far right and left are making political capital from the economic impact of the war in Ukraine.
Robert Fico during the press conference in Warsaw on May 31, 2017
Photographer: Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The crowd of about 5,000 protesters were from the far right and left, and united in their anger. Waving Slovak flags, they demanded an end to the rule of “clowns” and “traitors” they blamed for saddling them with the cost of supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
The gathering on Tuesday evening in Bratislava was the first joint demonstration by Slovakia’s opposition parties in two years, though it wasn’t just an isolated event in a small European nation next door to the war. Across the continent, hardline groups are making political capital from the economic impact of the conflict as food and energy prices soar.