As the European elections approach, the far right is attacking climate measures in different countries. This cultural war against a policy accused of being elitist could derail the EU’s ambitions on the subject.
What if a heat pump made the far right win? At first glance, the question may seem laughable. However, this is one of the explanations for the strong growth of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. in the polls across the Rhine in view of the European elections of June 9. In recent months, the nationalist and populist party has made a symbol of a law aimed at reducing the installation of gas and oil boilers and favoring heat pumps. Presented by Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz as necessary for the energy transition, the text has become a new weapon for the AfD in its war against the left.
AfD elected officials fought against the law, going so far as to denounce a “heating massacre”, reported the German radio website Deutsche Welle in January. The strategy seems to have paid off. Thus, thehe number of party members increased from 29,500 to 35,000 in 2023, explains the German press agency DPA, which cites figures communicated by the party. Above all, the AfD oscillates between 17 and 20% in the polls, double its score in the 2021 legislative elections.
A similar tactic is found beyond Germany’s borders, in the run-up to the European elections. If the far-right parties have long been frontally climate skeptics, “there most gave up this speech, as concern about climate change grows, even if some remain climate skeptics” explains Lluis de Nadal Alsina, sociologist at the University of Glasgow (Scotland) specializing in the relationship between populism and social movements. “They are now focusing their criticism on the measures taken by governments and on those involved in the fight against the climate” rather than against scientific consensus, specifies the researcher. Some, like the AFD, however, continue to question the human origin of warming, notes the British daily Financial Times.
In France, the National Rally (RN) followed this same trajectory. In 2010, Jean-Marie Le Pen denounced yet another “handling” of “alleged global warming”. Today, “we see that the RN has a desire to integrate the question of global warming into its overall discourse on the decline of France, even if I am not fooled by what they really think”, observes outgoing MEP Marie Toussaint, head of the environmentalist list in the European elections.
“We want to do everything to improve the environmental situation” , assures franceinfo the outgoing RN MEP Jean-Paul Garraud. Marine Le Pen’s program for the 2022 presidential election had nevertheless been judged “very distant” of France’s objectives linked to the Paris agreement, according to an analysis by franceinfo and the Les Shifters association. The RN concentrates against certain symbolic subjects, such as the installation of wind turbines to which it is “fiercely opposed”in the words of MP Edwige Diaz on franceinfo, in November 2022. “We denounce punitive ecology [mise en place par l’UE], which burdens citizens with standards, because they will impoverish the country. This is a policy of decline”details Jean-Paul Garraud.
The European Union (EU) and its Green Deal are frequently at the heart of criticism from far-right parties. The package of measures aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 to bring them to zero in 2050. Among all the provisions, The ban on the sale of new cars with thermal engines in 2035, adopted in March by the EU, is a preferred target. “With this measure, we no longer have choice, this is an attack on our fundamental freedoms”exclaims Jean-Paul Garraud.
The invocation of “freedom” against “the technocratic monster” Brussels is frequently found in the mouths of other far-right parties. In the Nederlands, Geert Wielders, winner of the November elections and soon to be a member of the ruling coalition, has promised to get rid of pro-climate laws, judging that his country will not be impacted by the climate crisis. These movements combine “heat pumps, migrants, the euro and transgender people” to depict “a world out of control, rebuilt by globalizing elites”summarizes Politico about the AFD.
“It makes sense that the far right attacks environmentalists, because we are everything they hate.”
Marie Toussaint, EELV MEPat franceinfo
“For populists, the fight against climate change is a fight against an agenda that is linked to societal issues and pushed by global elites against the people”summarizes Lluis de Nadal Alsina. The thermal engine car thus becomes a marker of identity just like certain lifestyles. In Poland, populists have thus fought energy transition policies by opposing them to workers in mines and traditional values, report researchers on the website of the University of Bergen (Norway).
Far-right parties, helped by the energy crisis of 2022 and inflation, are riding what the English-speaking media call “backlash” (“backlash”, in French) vis-à-vis climate policies. E n February, the municipal elections in Berlin (Germany) became a referendum on the role of the car in the city, which the left then wanted to reduce, reported Euractiv. In Spain, several cities governed by the right and the far right since the spring have decided to remove cycle paths, Euronews reported in September. At In the Netherlands, it was the ban on the use of nitrogen, which is harmful to the climate, imposed on farmers which caused the populist vote to explode in the local elections in March.
“It is certain that five years ago, during the 2019 European elections, we had the wind at our backs, that is no longer the case today”analyzes Marie Toussaint, while environmentalist parties are declining in the polls in most European countries. “The problem is that we have implemented environmental policies which are unequal, such as the carbon tax at the borders which we wanted to make progressive”adds the environmentalist who remembers the revolt of the red hats against the 2013 ecotax and pleads for “affirm the attachment of the question of social justice in the transition”.
“These examples send a signal to politicians that there is resistance to the agenda that aims for carbon neutrality in the EU.”, underlines Lluis de Nadal Alsina. From then on, the question of the political cost torments European leaders. Emmanuel Macron called in May for a “European regulatory pause” in environmental matters. “In the United Kingdom, the Conservatives have largely reduced their climate ambition, in particular because of the political cost of this ‘backlash’”adds Lluis de Nadal Alsina.
“The traditional right has clearly gone back on its environmental commitments”, worries the ecologist Marie Toussaint. The decision of President Les Républicains de l’Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Laurent Wauquiez not to apply the zero artificialization law in his region caused a scandal. Part of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) thus voted against the European nature restoration law last June, narrowly adopted, in the name of the potentially negative impact for agriculture, fishing or renewable energies. In November, EPP MEPs, first party in the European Parliament, have joined their voices with those of far-right elected officials to reject new restrictions on the use of pesticides.
Should we see this as an ideological victory for the far right? “Yes, since we are at the initiative of this reversal of the situation”, proclaims Jean-Paul Garraud. A reading of the situation rejected by the main stakeholders. “It must already be said that the issue of pesticides has nothing to do with the climate, so we cannot say that we are calling into question the Green Deal”, considers Peter Liese, MEP of the EPP. The German elected official, in Parliament since 1994, points the finger “the hypocrisy of the left and environmentalists, who sometimes reject texts with the extreme right, without the press being outraged”.
“It is not at all a question of calling into question the EU’s climate objectives, but a balance must be found, because not all measures are good measures.”
Peter Liese, German EPP MEPat franceinfo
THE “traditional parties” could end up “legitimize attacks against the Green Deal” and make European voters prefer the original to the copy, the European Commissioner for the Environment was nevertheless concerned, Virginijus Sinkevičius, during an interview with Politico in early December.
Faced with the risks of going backwards, the center, the left and environmentalists are wondering about the strategy to adopt. “We must reaffirm our commitment to social justice, which is why we defend the rights of nature and humans in one piece”launches Marie Toussaint, who calls for proof “very pedagogical in the face of fake news”.
Supporters of a strong climate policy will seek to reassure themselves with opinion studies. Nearly 58% of Europeans want “an acceleration of the energy transition” and 67% believe that their government was not doing enough, according to a Eurobarometer published in July 2023. Faced with these figures, would climate inaction not risk leading to a backlash?even more important than the one we are currently observing? asks Lluis de Nadal Asilva. We will first have to convince this majority to go to the polls in June for European elections which traditionally mobilize less than national elections.
Since the 19th century, the average temperature of the Earth warmed by 1.1°C . Scientists have established with certainty that this increase is due to human activities, which consume fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). This warming, unprecedented in its speed, threatens the future of our societies and biodiversity. But solutions – renewable energies, sobriety, reduced meat consumption – exist. Discover our answers to your questions on the climate crisis.