WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Mainstream European political parties should pay more attention to their electoral basis and implement more pragmatic policies to counter the rise in popularity of the radical right in Europe, experts told Sputnik.
"The traditional political parties should…change their relevant strategy, try to adopt more pragmatic policies and turn their attention to the real problems of their voters," International Telematic University Uninettuno Professor of International Relations and European Integration Kyriakos Kouveliotis told Sputnik.
A recent poll, conducted by ICM Research exclusively for Sputnik, revealed that the majority of Europeans consider the high-level immigration to Europe and the disillusionment in the European Union to be among the main reasons behind the Eurosceptic parties’ growing popularity.
Kouveliotis noted, however, that although the spectrum of reasons unveiled by the poll is correct, the hierarchy of the points differs from country to country.
"In the European south…the disappointment with the EU is probably the main reason, although these are the countries that receive the biggest number of immigrants and one should expect to blame the immigration itself," he added.
"The economic recession is the trigger as it is the absence of economic prosperity that reveals the deficiencies of a political system," he said.
Exadaktylos noted that the mainstream European parties lack direction in their policies. This shortfall along with existing problems in the EU, he argued, have been used by the extreme right-wing parties to capture more voters.
"The main issue is that the mainstream political parties have been so much consumed in maintaining power that they forget that they need to listen to their electoral basis," Exadaktylos added.
Kouveliotis suggested that the influx of immigrants to Europe was the initial reason for the growth of far-right parties. He argued that the response of the EU to the problem was insufficient.
"Especially when less funds are now available to deal with illegal immigration, citizens started blaming the European mechanisms and then of course, local politicians," Kouveliotis said.
Kouveliotis said the EU needs to start formulate "a real common immigration policy," which currently does not exist.
In May 2015, the European Commission proposed to relocate some 40,000 asylum seekers who arrived to Italy and Greece to other EU member states as part of its agenda to tackle the migration crisis. However, several EU member states have outright opposed the plan to distribute refugees within Europe.
