Social democratic parties across central Europe are suffering an almost total wipeout, as right-wing nationalism flourishes on the European Union's eastern flank. The recent historic defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungary by Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz member, was celebrated by progressives but represents no victory for the left. Magyar will lead a centre-right conservative government, with the only opposition coming from Fidesz and a small party with neo-Nazi roots.
Electoral setbacks across the region
In Bulgaria, voters last week elected a nationalist, Moscow-friendly prime minister, Rumen Radev, who will take a draconian line on migration and fiercely criticizes the EU's green deal. The country's Socialist party, a parliamentary presence since 1989, failed to win a single seat. The Czech Republic's Social Democratic party, once a political powerhouse, has been completely wiped out in two successive elections. Current Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is pursuing a Trump-style 'Czechia First' agenda. In Slovenia, another Trump admirer is on the brink of becoming prime minister. Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has seen his party expelled from the EU umbrella group of social democratic parties due to his right-wing populist views. In Poland, where the far-right Law and Justice party was ousted in 2023, the progressive left scored less than 10% in the polls.
Roots of the decline
The stark contrast with the 1990s, when former communist parties on the left took power by promising to soften the pain of marketization, is evident. However, as they largely fell in line with liberal economic orthodoxy, promises were only partially kept amid corruption and clientelism. After the 2008 financial crash and the 2015 migration crisis, blue-collar, rural, and elderly voters moved en masse to the populist right. This chronology played out across the EU, but central Europe is distinguished by the legacy of Soviet influence, conservative Christian perspectives, and disillusionment with enduring east-west inequality within the EU.
The need for a new left
In the absence of a compelling progressive alternative, right-wing nationalists continue to surf these social currents to power. The present impotence of progressive politics means the EU's eastern flank is likely to remain a breeding ground for Orbán-style populism. In Poland and now Hungary, liberal voters have chosen centre-right parties to wrest back democracies captured by authoritarian governments, safeguarding minority rights and Brussels relations. However, festering social and economic divides persist. Central Europe needs a new left that can both defend democratic values and point the way to a more egalitarian future.
