Rise of the Far Right Part 2: Immigration puts Europe at a crossroads
CGTN Europe host Jamie Owen takes you to France, Germany, and Portugal to meet immigrants striving to integrate into local communities, as well as far-right politicians who want to turn Europe into a fortress.
The debate over immigration and integration will continue to shape the political landscape, forcing Europeans to confront their values and the vision they hold for their collective future.
#riseofthefarright
The debate over immigration and integration will continue to shape the political landscape, forcing Europeans to confront their values and the vision they hold for their collective future.
#riseofthefarright
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NewsTranscript
00:00Many people in Africa make the dangerous voyage for a new life in another country, in Greece,
00:16Italy, France or the UK. But many on the far right have other ideas. They don't want free
00:24immigration. They want to turn Europe into a fortress.
00:39Marseille, on the French south coast,
00:42is where many migrants from France's former North African colonies have made a life.
00:48It's also where National Rally, which believes French and European identity is being submerged
00:54by immigration, chose to launch its election campaign for the European Parliament in March 2024.
01:04Founded and led for many years by former soldier Jean-Marie Le Pen,
01:09it was shunned for decades because of its extreme right-wing rhetoric.
01:17When his daughter Marine Le Pen took over, she expelled her father and set out to
01:27detoxify its image, gaining media attention and mainstream legitimacy.
01:34But she still issued dark warnings about immigration and Islamism,
01:39and the alleged failure of France's president to tackle them.
01:47Immigration has taken our identity by storm,
01:51and has imposed it on every village in France.
01:55In seven years, Emmanuel Macron has destabilised the pillars of the state.
02:00He has encouraged and allowed feudalism to thrive.
02:03He has bowed to the Islamist pressures that are taking hold everywhere in society today.
02:12Jordan Bardella, the National Rally's young president,
02:15also put immigration at the heart of his party's campaign for the European Parliament.
02:21If there is another area that is occupied by the European Union,
02:24and which is committed to the future of the people of France, it is immigration.
02:29Obviously, these European elections on the 9th of June
02:35constitute a referendum against immigration.
02:41Bardella is still only in his late twenties.
02:44His youth reflects and reinforces the party's appeal
02:48to the young who like the anti-immigration message.
03:18President Macron approved tough new immigration laws last year,
03:23and in January, he appointed Gabriel Attal as France's youngest ever prime minister,
03:28at the age of thirty-five.
03:37Both moves an attempt to drain support from the far right.
03:42But it didn't seem to work.
03:49The National Rally was riding high after topping the French poll in the European Parliament in June.
03:57Macron's immediate reaction to call a national election
04:03is gamble that however they vote for the relatively powerless European Parliament,
04:08French voters wouldn't want the far right actually running their country
04:12for the first time since the Second World War.
04:16They didn't.
04:19It was left-wingers from the hastily assembled Popular Front Alliance
04:31who celebrated pushing National Rally into third place.
04:37Few had expected National Rally to be beaten.
04:42It had won the first round of voting,
04:44led in the polls,
04:45and its leader Jordan Bardella had confidently talked of becoming prime minister.
04:51But now, he was left with just bitter recriminations.
04:55Tonight, by deliberately assuming to paralyse our institutions,
05:00Emmanuel Macron didn't just push the country towards uncertainty and instability,
05:05he is depriving, as a result, and for many months,
05:09the French of any response to their daily difficulties.
05:13The surprise nature of the left's win,
05:16a testament to the strength of the far right,
05:19which still gained dozens of seats,
05:22and still has its eye on the French presidency in two years.
05:52In that kind of context, Marine Le Pen could arrive and say,
05:56look guys, this is not working.
05:57I am your solution.
05:59So why has the far right grown so strong in France
06:03that it's caused upheaval in the political system
06:07and still has a chance of power?
06:11Farmers protesting against President Macron's policies
06:14certainly played into the far right's hands,
06:18as has wider opposition to the EU's environmental policies,
06:22which sparked powerful protests by farmers across Europe.
06:27But it isn't just farmers who feel angry with Emmanuel Macron.
06:34This veteran observer of French politics said the far right
06:37had seized on a widely held perception that he's arrogant and out of touch.
06:43There is a sense of anger very deep in France,
06:48a sense of resentment against Emmanuel Macron.
06:53And because of the fact that the national rally
06:56is one of the parties that still plays
07:01as if they did not belong to the mainstream.
07:04So people are, I think that many people in France
07:07are eager to try something new,
07:10which isn't really new because we've seen them for 50 years,
07:14but they have managed to have a very good marketing of themselves.
07:20And I think that they are convincing in that way.
07:24But for its supporters,
07:26the far right's appeal goes beyond Macron's perceived failings.
07:31In Paris, you'll find much of European culture
07:34at its most impressive and celebrated, the immense Louvre Museum.
07:40Notre Dame Cathedral still being rebuilt after a devastating fire.
07:45And nearby, a statue of Charlemagne, the 8th century Christian ruler
07:50who was the first to try to reunite Europe since the Romans.
07:55Far right parties say it's that entire European Christian identity
07:59that's threatened by immigration.
08:05Professor Pascal Perrineau is one of France's leading political analysts.
08:10So, the fear of immigration is a fear
08:14that is linked to the loss of national identities.
08:18A lot of public opinion, in France, in Austria, in the Netherlands, in Italy,
08:24have the impression that from the moment
08:26that immigration becomes extremely important
08:29and that it also comes from countries far away from Europe,
08:33well, that this movement of immigration translates into a loss
08:37of their way of life, of what we call cultural identity,
08:41the impression that the old world is leaving
08:44and that we have nothing left,
08:45that society is becoming more and more cosmopolitan.
08:49Basically, it's a movement of nostalgia.
08:52France is no longer the same, the Netherlands are no longer the same,
08:56Italy is no longer the same,
08:58and it's this feeling that an old world is dying
09:02that feeds hostility,
09:04sometimes, and sometimes even extremely violent movements of hostility to immigration.
09:12About 10% of people in France are immigrants.
09:16Many live in suburbs like Paris's Saint-Denis.
09:20So, it's not hard to find people here who voice deep fears.
09:31And the far-right that I know of is not the far-right of Marine Le Pen or Bardella,
09:37it's the far-right where there are still quite a few small groups,
09:40even if they've cleaned up their mess,
09:41there are still small groups that are attached to these far-rights,
09:43even dangerous small groups, fascists.
09:47But even here, the far-right found supporters.
09:57Marie Le Pen's going to win?
10:00Why?
10:02Why?
10:19If it's surprising to find views like that here,
10:22it may reflect the way French political culture
10:25encourages strong identification with the idea of citizenship.
10:30For others, though, the shift to the far-right is making that idea more problematic.
10:36Does all this debate around immigration make you feel ashamed to be French?
10:44I'm not ashamed to be French, but I'm ashamed of my country.
10:48I have to say, sometimes, when I'm abroad and people ask me, you know,
10:52things about my country, I say, I didn't vote for them.
10:57Because it's so sad.
11:00Our country is, you know, has a very strong image,
11:04and is seen as the country of the Enlightenment, of the human rights,
11:08and seeing how so many people are mistreated,
11:11how we are unable to meet our principles, is a shame, for real.
11:17For some who identify with France's internationalist values, then,
11:22feelings of shame perhaps tinged with relief.
11:26For now.
11:27For others, who see their Frenchness in nationalist or even ethnic terms,
11:32a belief that their turn could yet come.
11:36The far-right is not the most important story of this election in France,
11:41because the most important story is the reconstitution of this republican France,
11:46of this idea that there is a clear border between the far-right and the rest.
11:49It doesn't mean that the far-right is finished.
11:51The far-right will still be there,
11:53every single time that people will blurry the line between far-rights
11:57and normal politics, democratic politics.
12:00Every time those lines are blurred,
12:01you will give an avenue, a boulevard for the far-right to come back.
12:05And every time the economy will be managed without thinking about trade-off,
12:10without thinking about the long term,
12:12you will give an opportunity for the far-right to come back.
12:15But if they do take power, a warning.
12:18That's where the difficulties really start.
12:23In order to govern, you don't just have to designate emissary books.
12:27You don't just have to speak loud and clear.
12:30You have to have technical skills.
12:32You have to have the will to gather,
12:34and not to divide voters, one against the other.
12:39You have to try to be a diplomat,
12:41and not to manipulate resentment, anger, hatred.
12:46And that's where the difficulties will start,
12:49because these populist leaders,
12:51they are possibly quite capable of winning elections,
12:54but they are much less capable of governing.
13:19And they say this is only the beginning.
13:23Might the far-right in Germany copy them?
13:25Or do even better?
13:28That's where we're headed next.
13:31...and it's like, it's been a whole day of trance,
13:35like, you were getting back at half time,
13:38where I was just...
13:47Rosa, who was from Nigeria, was 20 years of age,
13:52drowned in the Mediterranean Sea,
13:55identified by the survivors of her boat.
13:59This is a 22-year-old man called Fisher from Eritrea,
14:03who was a stowaway, jumped out of a van,
14:07and was hit by several vehicles on the motorway near Calais.
14:13Someone called Blessings, who was a 26-year-old woman,
14:17her body was found on a deflating boat
14:20in the Strait of Sicily, near Italy.
14:24One baby lost her mother,
14:27and in that incident, 125 people were rescued.
14:33It's heartbreaking stuff.
14:37When you walk up the tower attached to this church
14:42and you walk up the stairs,
14:43you think this is a huge, great, big lantern
14:48hanging down four storeys.
14:51But when you look more closely,
14:53it's a list of some of the thousands of refugees
14:59and migrants who have died
15:02trying to make the journey to Europe.
15:05And those words, migrants and refugees,
15:09so often hide the story of people.
15:17There are 23,000 people on this list
15:21in the Church of the Cross in the centre of Dresden in Germany,
15:25more a recognition of common humanity
15:28than a political statement.
15:30But Germany provides plenty of evidence
15:33of how resistance to migration is shaping Europe's politics.
15:47We watched these people landing on Lampedusa
15:49just 80 miles off the North African coast,
15:53an Italian island.
15:54But with borderless travel in the EU,
15:57their ultimate destination
15:58could be thousands of miles further north.
16:02In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Deutschland Party,
16:05or AFD, wants to stop them.
16:20When millions fled the Syrian civil war in 2015,
16:24Germany's then-Chancellor, the centre-right Angela Merkel,
16:28was praised for opening the country's borders.
16:34But there were also anti-migrant and anti-Islam protests,
16:38particularly in East German cities like Dresden.
16:42And the recently formed AFD,
16:44today a major force in Germany,
16:46started its hard-right shift at that time.
16:52Nine years later, at the launch of its campaign
16:54for the 2024 European Parliament elections,
16:58it was clear Merkel's open-door policy
17:01was still a galvanising moment.
17:03The start of a policy which they say is being continued
17:06and worsened by the current three-party government
17:10known as the Traffic Light Coalition.
17:12Merkel has opened the borders.
17:14The traffic light is accelerating everything.
17:16She's turning on the turbo.
17:18And these examples of the Islamisation of German schools,
17:22that girls, who are only two,
17:24are the only German girls without a migration background,
17:29who are not Muslim at an SMA general school,
17:32and who are seen as German sluts,
17:34are the only ones who are not Muslim at an SMA general school.
17:38And who are seen as German sluts.
17:40That's a quote.
17:42That's what the girl said.
17:44Who are seen as German sluts,
17:46who are beaten,
17:48who are kicked,
17:50who don't dress in Sharia law,
17:52who can't turn to anyone,
17:54who are completely left alone
17:56by the teachers,
17:58by the justice system,
18:00by the police,
18:02who can't do anything,
18:04who all duck away.
18:06This is something that clearly resonated
18:08with the AFD supporters at the rally.
18:10This man seemed to view immigration
18:12through the prism of alleged criminality
18:14by a tiny minority.
18:16We have so many immigrants here.
18:20They are raping childs,
18:24women,
18:26and kill them in Germany.
18:28That's happening here right now.
18:30And it's going to be more and more
18:32from the immigration politics right now.
18:34And that must stop.
18:36It must stop here.
18:38Another was bothered by a perceived
18:40lack of integration.
18:42Refugees are welcome.
18:44But refugees must sign our culture,
18:48my religion,
18:50and then they are welcome.
18:52But it can be that a refugee comes
18:54and says,
18:56my culture is bad,
18:58my religion is bad,
19:00and that's our thing,
19:02why we are here.
19:04But we love our country,
19:06we love our religion,
19:08we love our culture,
19:10and this is the main thing.
19:12As the AFD gathered in the small southern town
19:16of Donauaschingen,
19:18so too, right outside,
19:20did anti-AFD protesters.
19:22They fear the party is taking Germany
19:26back towards its Nazi past.
19:32Gas Berlin! Stop the AFD!
19:34Gas Berlin! Stop the AFD!
19:36Gas Berlin! Stop the AFD!
19:38Gas Berlin! Stop the AFD!
19:40Gas Berlin! Stop the AFD!
19:42Protest really took off earlier this year,
19:44after it emerged some senior AFD members
19:46had attended a conference
19:48with other far-right extremists
19:50to discuss a master plan
19:52for re-migrating immigrants.
19:54Mass deportations, in effect.
19:56The conference took place
19:58at this villa in Potsdam,
20:00west of Berlin.
20:02The AFD said its members' presence
20:04wasn't official
20:06and didn't reflect party policy.
20:08But not far away
20:10is this villa,
20:12at Wannsee,
20:14where in 1942
20:16senior members of Hitler's Nazi party
20:18planned what became known
20:20as the final solution,
20:22the deportation and murder
20:24of millions of Jews, Romanis,
20:26and other so-called undesirables
20:28in the concentration camps.
20:30For many Germans,
20:32the echoes were too obvious,
20:34too upsetting.
20:36We're here to show
20:38that the majority of people in Germany
20:40is not in favour of the resurrection
20:42of the Nazis.
20:44We're here to show
20:46that the majority of people in Germany
20:48is not in favour of the resurrection
20:50of the Nazis.
20:52It is a protest
20:54against the far right
20:56because during 1933
20:58the Nazi party
21:00came to power
21:02through a democratic vote
21:04and my hope is that
21:06this will never be
21:08this time again
21:10where the far right party
21:12is voted in power.
21:20Adding to the fear
21:22a series of statements
21:24by leading AFD figures
21:26like the one by Björn Höcke,
21:28a regional party leader
21:30who was fined for using
21:32a Nazi-era slogan
21:34in a speech.
21:36And the AFD's demand
21:38that Germany stop apologising
21:40so much for its past.
21:42This is the memorial
21:44to European Jews
21:46who were murdered in the Second World War,
21:48a sobering place
21:50and an important
21:52official recognition of guilt
21:54in the heart of the German capital.
21:56The AFD wants to
21:58reverse what it calls
22:00this culture of shame.
22:02But is it fair
22:04to compare the whole party
22:06with Hitler's regime
22:08which started the Second World War
22:10and murdered millions of people?
22:12Your critics will say you're a bunch of Nazis.
22:14You are, aren't you?
22:16No, we're not Nazis.
22:18Because if you look at
22:20what Nazis did,
22:22Nazis attacked other countries.
22:24We stand for a peaceful
22:26compensation and mediation
22:28instead of participating
22:30in war operations abroad.
22:32We never claimed
22:34that people
22:36would be locked up in camps.
22:38We can go on
22:40as much as we want.
22:42But if you compare
22:44Nazi movements,
22:46National Socialist movements
22:48or fascist movements
22:50with today's
22:52right-wing opposition
22:54in Germany
22:56or elsewhere in Europe,
22:58you will find
23:00nothing in common.
23:02This is the number.
23:04Every prisoner has a number.
23:06The letter P
23:08is for Pole.
23:10Everybody has
23:12a category.
23:14Again, we have this bureaucracy
23:16and taxonomies.
23:18The Germans like taxonomies.
23:20But even those
23:22like this Polish historian
23:24who take a more considered view
23:26than anti-fascist protesters
23:28can see worrying similarities
23:30in language, especially of the two
23:32conferences at Wannsee and Potsdam
23:34more than 80 years apart.
23:36If we don't
23:38call
23:40the Nazi party.
23:42Of course, I would agree
23:44that I wouldn't say
23:46it's Nazi party.
23:48But here
23:50we have
23:52a certain
23:54historical
23:56or cultural connection
23:58in this language,
24:00for example, of deportation.
24:02So this is such an ideological
24:04language of justification,
24:06of political action.
24:08Even without any mention
24:10about the past.
24:12This is something
24:14which is very worrying,
24:16and this is enough for me.
24:18I mean that
24:20I wouldn't say
24:22that AfD is Nazi party,
24:24but I would say
24:26that this is
24:28a very dangerous
24:30process now
24:32that the party
24:34with such a language
24:36and with such references
24:38is growing
24:40and it's even possible
24:42that they will be more
24:44influential in the future.
24:46About a quarter
24:48of Germany's population
24:50has a migrant background.
24:52Often from Turkey,
24:54which has strong economic links.
24:56Something that's added
24:58to German cuisine.
25:00But AfD politicians
25:02have called for restaurants
25:04that they perceive to be non-German
25:06to be pressured off the street.
25:08Some right-wing extremists
25:10have attacked food outlets
25:12directly.
25:14The owner of this cafe,
25:16a well-known meeting place
25:18in an ethnically mixed part of Berlin,
25:20believes he was targeted by fascists
25:22because of what his venue represents.
25:28Tell me about the
25:30attacks on your business.
25:32Yes, in the Corona times
25:34they were here
25:36because the store was closed.
25:38They wanted to attack me.
25:40Then there were four people
25:42in the office level.
25:44We went out
25:46against these four and ran
25:48and chased them away.
25:50Once they took out the passwords
25:52of foreigners,
25:54immigrants, asylum seekers.
25:56They broke the big window
25:58and the advertising board.
26:00There was a swastika
26:02on the wall
26:04on the outside.
26:08I'm known as a fascist.
26:10The cafe is a trans-global space.
26:12That's why
26:14these attacks,
26:16these test of courage,
26:18the fascists
26:20are testing my courage.
26:22They are the voters of the AfD.
26:24The AfD
26:26enjoys its strongest support
26:28in eastern states like Thuringia
26:30with its pretty medieval capital, Erfurt.
26:32There is an active debate
26:34in Germany about whether the AfD
26:36should be banned because it threatens
26:38democracy.
26:40Germany's constitutional
26:42watchdog classifies it
26:44as potentially extremist
26:46and its Thuringia branch
26:48as confirmed extremist,
26:50meaning it can legally be subjected
26:52to covert surveillance.
26:54The AfD say that's only because
26:56the socialist SPD-led government
26:58fears their strength.
27:26In times of a very, very strong opposition
27:28like the AfD, there's also opposition
27:30fighting.
27:56In the resistance we found Die Linke,
27:58the left party.
28:00Just weeks from the EU Parliament elections
28:02they were clear on the danger
28:04they believe the AfD represents.
28:06The right doesn't
28:08offer anything but emotions.
28:10So when
28:12we are here now talking about
28:14the conditions of work
28:16and the
28:18money that
28:20people earn when they work,
28:22the AfD,
28:24the right wing, they don't offer anything.
28:26No better work conditions.
28:28But they only
28:30pull the trigger
28:32to act against
28:34and to give pressure down
28:36to people that have
28:38less than other people.
28:40So this is their main
28:42strategy.
28:44To attack
28:46democratic institutions,
28:48attack human rights,
28:50democratic rights,
28:52against people
28:54that are poorer than others.
28:56So this is their strategy.
28:58This is how they create emotions.
29:00Because there is someone
29:02who maybe is fleeing from a country
29:04from war
29:06and this one is responsible
29:08that I feel
29:10not good in my home country.
29:16In the main square
29:18we found the AfD themselves
29:20as well as the protesters
29:22who try to disrupt them wherever they go.
29:26Among the AfD speakers
29:28was Maximilian Krah,
29:30its lead candidate for the EU
29:32parliament elections.
29:34A member of his staff had just been
29:36accused of spying for China
29:38and Krah later withdrew from
29:40campaigning after saying that
29:42not all members of Hitler's
29:44notoriously brutal SS
29:46were criminals.
29:48This led to the AfD being
29:50expelled from the European Parliament's
29:52most right-wing party grouping.
29:58Despite the surveillance,
30:00the protests and controversies,
30:02the AfD celebrated
30:04surging into second place
30:06in Germany in the EU
30:08parliamentary election,
30:10with its strongest support still coming
30:12from the eastern part of the country.
30:14The question is,
30:16is the AfD stronger in the eastern part
30:18than the western part?
30:20This, for my idea,
30:22or I think, has something to do
30:24with the transformation phase
30:26after 1990.
30:28Before the eastern part of Germany
30:30was GDR,
30:32it became a post-socialist state
30:34and it meant many transformations.
30:36These transformations
30:38created losers,
30:40or people lost jobs,
30:42lost standing in society,
30:44all these things,
30:46and so they started to vote
30:48for a protest party.
30:50In the beginning it was the left party,
30:52the post-communist left party,
30:54and now it is more the AfD.
30:56The AfD is now
30:58hoping to take control
31:00of eastern German states,
31:02holding elections in the autumn
31:04and make gains in national elections
31:06next year.
31:08But in some other parts of Europe,
31:10the far right didn't do quite so well
31:12in the European Parliament vote,
31:14among them the last country
31:16on our tour across the continent.
31:20Portugal is on the western fringe
31:22of Europe, but has played
31:24a central role in its history.
31:26The capital, Lisbon,
31:28is filled with reminders of that,
31:30like this 800-year-old church,
31:32twice rebuilt following earthquakes,
31:34and the nearby square
31:36where thousands of Jews
31:38were massacred in the 16th century.
31:40Portugal's past
31:42provides some of the clues
31:44to explain why the far right
31:46is gaining support there,
31:48and also why
31:50it didn't happen sooner.
31:52Prime Minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar,
31:54one-time candidate
31:56for the priesthood,
31:58who rescued Portugal from bankruptcy
32:00and became in 1928
32:02its dictator.
32:06Since the fall of the Salazar dictatorship
32:08in 1974,
32:10Portugal has not had
32:12a successful political party
32:14of the hard right.
32:20Until now.
32:22Chega means
32:24enough, the party's name
32:26and a clever populist slogan
32:28designed to unite the disaffected
32:30under one umbrella.
32:32Its leader,
32:34former television football pundit
32:36Roberto Bantura,
32:38used to be in a mainstream
32:40conservative party,
32:42but he struck out on his own
32:44by first attacking Portugal's
32:46long-standing Romani community.
33:07In a population of 10 million,
33:09there are an estimated
33:1130 to 70 thousand Roma
33:13in Portugal.
33:15Susana Mea Silveira is one of them,
33:17and an outspoken campaigner
33:19for Roma rights.
33:36Portugal is going through
33:38a very difficult political phase.
33:40People want to find someone to blame.
33:42As a Portuguese,
33:44I am ashamed that other countries
33:46look at us and think
33:48that this is the kind of politics
33:50that is being done in Portugal.
34:00To understand Portugal
34:02and Europe's relationship
34:04with ethnic minorities and migrants,
34:06it helps to go on a short
34:08historical journey
34:10to this tower on the shore
34:12in Lisbon,
34:14a key location in what Europeans
34:16call their age of discovery.
34:22This is where the Portuguese
34:24set sail from to begin
34:26exploring the world,
34:28and so began the great age
34:30of empire, not just Portugal's
34:32empire, but so many other
34:34European countries as they
34:36staked their claims in foreign
34:38lands all around the earth,
34:40and started accumulating huge
34:42wealth. But now the
34:44tide is turning,
34:46and it seems the world is
34:48arriving on Europe's shores.
34:50Our past has
34:52become our rather uneasy
34:54present, and not everyone
34:56is happy about that.
35:02For decades, people from
35:04Portugal's former East African
35:06colonies have been making a life
35:08here without a significant
35:10right-wing backlash.
35:12But now, migrants,
35:14especially Muslim migrants,
35:16are coming from beyond the
35:18old empire, from Bangladesh,
35:20from Nepal, and other
35:22Asian countries.
35:24For some Portuguese,
35:26like José Munoz,
35:28it's caused a shock, which
35:30prompted them to back Che Guevara.
35:34This is our country.
35:36It's not for people who don't like
35:38their lives there to come here and do
35:40whatever they want. No. And if they want
35:42to come here, they have to work,
35:44and they have to respect our culture.
35:46It's not you go to Lisbon downtown
35:48and you see, like, it's
35:50Bangladesh, you know? It's not
35:52Bangladesh, it's Portugal. So if you
35:54don't like how it is,
35:56just go back to your country.
35:58Hi, hello, hi.
36:00Jamie Owen, nice to meet you.
36:02Thank you so much for doing this.
36:04Rita Matias, Portugal's youngest
36:06MP and Che Guevara's youth coordinator
36:08says a tougher approach
36:10is needed.
36:12And in the topic of migration,
36:14do you think that it's fair to have
36:16what we have here in Portugal?
36:18Nowadays, we have
36:20people living,
36:2220 people,
36:2420 people living in
36:26small apartments.
36:28I think that this is not a society
36:30of human rights. People that
36:32live in the
36:34stores where they work,
36:36people that live in streets,
36:38I think that this is not
36:40the justice, the social justice
36:42that the leftists like to talk.
36:44So, have quote,
36:46which is something that countries
36:48like Canada used to have,
36:50it's being realistic, it's to understand
36:52that a poor country like Portugal
36:54can't have the doors
36:56super open and say,
36:58welcome, come on, come on, come on.
37:00But then, when people arrive, we don't have
37:02nothing to give. This is very
37:04irresponsible. Actually,
37:06it's irresponsible to Europe as well
37:08because we are the first door of Europe
37:10and if we open the door without filters,
37:12we are allowed
37:14people to use Portugal as the
37:16first country to achieve other
37:18countries as well.
37:20Where are you from originally?
37:22We are from India,
37:24Darjeeling. Darjeeling,
37:26where the tea comes from. Yes.
37:28How lovely.
37:30It's time for a coffee
37:32and a cake. You can't come to
37:34Lisbon without cake.
37:36I didn't know Lisbon was famous for cakes.
37:38Go on, after you, you go first.
37:40After you, please.
37:42Gita, who works
37:44as a childminder in Lisbon,
37:46explained why Portugal is such
37:48a draw for migrants like her.
37:50Why Portugal?
37:52If you could have gone anywhere, you could have France,
37:54Germany, the UK, Spain?
37:56If I work two years,
37:58I get
38:00residency here
38:02for the work permit
38:04and I can apply to my family, easy.
38:06So it's easier to
38:08come to Portugal in Europe
38:10than any other European country.
38:12Because here, if I get
38:14the contract, the work contract,
38:16I pay the tax
38:18and two years, for six or
38:20seven months, they give the permit
38:22for the family bringing
38:24the documents easily.
38:26So it's easy to bring your family to Europe
38:28if you come to Portugal. Yes.
38:30And settling here is easier than the other country.
38:32And do you feel welcome
38:34in Portugal? Do you regard
38:36this as home?
38:38No.
38:40First, I think I need to, my family
38:42is together, but Nepal
38:44is impossible because
38:46not good salary and I cannot
38:48comfortable there.
38:50I come in Portugal and I
38:52work slowly, slowly
38:54and I feel here is better
38:56for the life.
38:58Portugal, like most
39:00of Europe, has a low birth rate
39:02and needs immigrants like Gita
39:04to boost its workforce and grow
39:06its economy.
39:08But hard-headed economic arguments
39:10don't always win out.
39:12In the case of Portugal,
39:14it's recognized by Portuguese
39:16entrepreneurs, by the Portuguese
39:18economic elite, that Portugal
39:20needs immigration.
39:22But, of course, one thing
39:24is the technocratic
39:26approach towards this question.
39:28And the other one, of course,
39:30is the impact on the political
39:32system and on the political agenda.
39:34Europe
39:36tries to regulate
39:38immigration, but in the end
39:40what
39:42is important in terms of immigration
39:44are national
39:46flux of immigration
39:48towards certain economies
39:50in Europe. So, it's a problem
39:52that is, in a way,
39:54very difficult to solve
39:56and I don't think
39:58that we will have
40:00a clear European
40:02Union answer to the problem of immigration,
40:04but one thing
40:06is certain, xenophobic
40:08feelings against,
40:10especially, non-European
40:12immigration
40:14will continue it for a long
40:16time.
40:18Whether they have the answers or not,
40:20there's no denying the energy
40:22behind Andre Ventura and his party.
40:24Supporters even turning
40:26out in the driving rain on the
40:28last day of the national
40:30parliamentary elections in March.
40:32These young supporters were drawn
40:34by its willingness to say the
40:36previously unsayable.
40:38We can't say
40:40what's not
40:42politically correct,
40:44what people want to hear,
40:46what people know is intrinsically wrong
40:48in this country. And finally
40:50there's someone who's able to
40:52point the finger and say, no, we're going to change
40:54this. We have a way,
40:56we have plans, if we're given
40:58the opportunity, we'll go there, we'll get it.
41:04But as elsewhere, portraying themselves
41:06as mainstream is key.
41:10How important is today
41:12for the far right in Portugal?
41:16We are not far right, so I don't
41:18know what the importance is.
41:20Chega supporters were
41:22jubilant on their national election
41:24night in March, jumping from
41:2612 to 50 seats
41:28and becoming the third largest
41:30party. Their hardline
41:32stance on migration, coupled with
41:34campaigns on the cost of
41:36living and alleged corruption among
41:38the mainstream parties, key
41:40to their success.
41:52But in June's EU
41:54Parliament elections, their vote percentage
41:56almost halved. That
41:58made Portugal one of just a handful
42:00of countries where the EU-wide
42:02trend of the surging far right
42:04may have slowed.
42:08In the UK, though, it's sparking
42:10into life. Despite the
42:12huge win for left-of-centre
42:14Labour in July's election,
42:16the anti-immigration reform
42:18party has won seats in Parliament
42:20for the first time
42:22and looks set to be a significant
42:24force on the right.
42:26When Italy turned
42:28sharp right two years ago,
42:30there were fears it was returning
42:32to its fascist past.
42:34Those fears have not
42:36been realised so far
42:38that after Italy,
42:40France, Germany, Portugal, the UK
42:42and others have all
42:44seen a growth in the far right.
43:00But she says yes to what?
43:02If you will, for example,
43:04Mr Bardella, leader of the
43:06French far right, says
43:08here, no to Europe
43:10as it is. We are going to change
43:12Europe from the inside. But
43:14France is with 27
43:16countries in Europe.
43:18And it won't be enough for Mr Bardella
43:20to say, I want to change so that
43:22Europe changes. So we are
43:24a lot in the thought,
43:26in the simplistic thought,
43:28in the thought of
43:30rejection, of denunciation.
43:32But we don't see at all what the
43:34project of the far right is.
43:36Where does the far right
43:38want to take the
43:40European people? Except to bring them back
43:42to the world before,
43:44that is, to the world of the 1930s,
43:46to the world of the nations
43:48that had receded from their national interests
43:50and who had
43:52confronted, as a French
43:54politician used to say,
43:56very often, that nationalism,
43:58real nationalism, is war.
44:26There are many thousands of migrants
44:28who try to make it their home.