That’s the message Europeans are taking from the crushing defeat suffered by Donald Trump’s Republicans in the U.S. midterm election. The fury over the cost of living that helped propel the U.S. president to power has now turned against him. And with elections looming in heavyweight EU countries like Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Poland, Trump’s fate is a warning for incumbents across the continent.
Growing anger over rising prices and unaffordable houses is likely to spell trouble for Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has already faced waves of protests over the cost of fuel. The blowback in the U.S. shows what happens when right-wing populist leaders take charge and then don’t deliver on their promises, said Irene Tinagli, an Italian member of the European Parliament from the opposition Democratic Party. He was attacking the previous administration for the inflation.
He promised to bring back quality jobs,” Tinagli said. In Spain, affordability is already a major issue in the campaign for an election scheduled for Nov. 29. Most polls predict the far-right Vox party, which has been accusing Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of failing to meet citizens’ basic needs, will gain enough seats to enter into government for the first time as a coalition partner to the conservative People’s Party.
Whatever their political stripes, incumbents are vulnerable, Gallard said. For insurgents like France’s Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Rally party, however, voter discontent offers opportunity. The cost of living “will be the major issue in the campaign,” said Alexandre Loubet, a lawmaker for the National Rally and a key architect of Le Pen’s economic platform.
It’s a bit like immigration — we are already in people’s minds on these subjects.” Le Pen, who is the frontrunner in next spring’s presidential race, has long made cost-of-living a central issue for her platform and is capitalizing on the government’s current economic and fiscal woes. She made affordable housing a central theme in her first campaign appearance and has doubled down on her promises to shield pensioners from upcoming budget squeezes. The far-right veteran is also campaigning on lowering taxes on energy, brushing aside criticism that her proposals are unaffordable.
At her party congress last week, Le Pen pushed a message of change and hope, lifting her rival President Emmanuel Macron’s catchword “Renaissance” for her campaign’s motto. The positive tone “was intentional,” said Loubet. We need to offer a little hope, a vision, a direction.” The recent protest movements that have swept Spain, France, Italy and, to a lesser extent, Germany, have centered around complaints about the cost of living, especially for the young.
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