Nicolas Kyriakides, Executive President of the Cyprus Forum, and Danijela Nedakovic, wrote an article entitled “How should the EU handle the expected rise of far-right parties in the upcoming European elections” for the Special Edition of the electronic newsletter In Depth Volume 21– Issue 2 entitled “The EU at a Crossroad” issued by the Center for European and International Affairs.

The article highlighted that far-right populist parties become a popular topic every five years, as Europe was preparing for another round of European parliamentary elections, which were particularly interesting in light of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Brexit and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors pointed out that right-wing populist parties are gaining strength at national level in several EU countries, including Cyprus, and are expected to play a significant part in the European Parliament in the years to come. 

Furthermore, the authors state that the growth of right-wing populist parties should not necessarily be viewed as a threat especially because they represent a significant percentage of the people with opposing viewpoints on crucial issues confronting Europe. On the contrary, their viewpoints should be included in discussions and public for a to address clear disagreement with current policies and regulations.

The authors concluded by saying that it is important to distinguish between extreme populist parties and those that have programmatic flexibility. Therefore, it is important to keep the dialogue open, strengthen democracy, make the process more transparent and participatory, while preserving human rights, the rule of law and democratic values.

The article can be found here http://cceia.unic.ac.cy/wp-content/uploads/IN_DEPTH_2024_21-2.pdf.