Europe veers right

When we parted after an early breakfast last Sunday in Paris, my French friend was off to cast her vote in the European Union polls that were taking place all over Europe for the European Parliament based in Strasbourg. At breakfast, she had expressed her fears that the anti-immigration, a chauvinist Right party was stirring up people against the European Union and against foreigners - the open society that the European Union was supposed to be moving toward.

Her vote was in the minority, the rightist party of Marine Le Pen, an attractive, articulate and very good presenter of rightist ideas, won 26% of the vote. It has been called an earthquake. And it has taken place not only in France but also in England, where an anti-immigration party, has made its presence felt, just as in some Sacandinavian countries lately.