Podcast: Donald Trump’s win bolsters Europe’s populist right

This week’s episode of World View looks at the far-right’s advance in France and Austria

On World View this week, Lara Marlowe and Derek Scally report from Paris and Berlin on how Europe's populist right, emboldened by Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, have set their sights on political office in France, Austria and Germany.

In 2002, France's left held its nose and supported the right's candidate for the presidency, Jacques Chirac.

They saw it as a necessary evil to prevent Jean-Marie Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right Front National party, from coming to power.

With a wave of populism spreading across the West, Lara Marlowe discusses how that alliance may not be able to prevent Marine Le Pen, Jean-Marie's daughter, from winning the French presidency early next year.

READ MORE

Austrian election

In Austria, a rerun of the vote for president takes place in December.

The presidency holds little power, but the symbolism of a win for Norbert Hofer would further bolster his far-right Freedom Party, which has increased its share of the vote in successive national and regional elections.

Derek Scally explains how the Freedom Party is the “granddaddy of populism” in European politics and is not afraid to use harsh rhetoric to promote its anti-immigrant agenda.

“It has slowly ground down what is considered acceptable and what is considered unacceptable when it comes to talking about migrants,” Derek says.

This week's edition of the podcast also looks at the rise of "alt-right" news site Breitbart News and its head Steve Bannon, the white nationalist media provocateur whose alliance with Donald Trump has landed him a top role in the White House, to the horror of Democrats and many moderates.

Declan Conlon

Declan Conlon

Declan Conlon is head of audio at The Irish Times