I read your reports on the European elections, including your assessment that the political landscape has moved to the right (EU elections 2024: how did key countries vote and what does it mean?, 10 June). Although this is correct, I feel that it doesn’t tell the whole story.
The main and paramount criteria for my vote (here in Germany) was to vote for a party which proposes a diplomatic solution to the various wars that are raging. To me it is obvious that no other problems (especially the issue of climate change) can really be solved until the wars stop. I voted for Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which surged from a standing start of zero to six seats, because this party proposes a diplomatic solution to the wars. The only other viable party proposing negotiations with Russia is the AfD – so, despite everything, if BSW had not been available, I, a liberal, would have voted AfD.
It is not that I am anti-establishment, but I cannot vote for the usual suspects when they are so set on continuing the wars. My hope now is that, with Fabio De Masi, the BSW team will push for an end to the polarisation and jingoism which is stoking war and endangering the planet.
Alan Mitcham
Cologne, Germany
• Re Timothy Garton Ash’s article (Wake up! After these elections, Europe is again in danger, 10 June), I have just returned from Spain, where I now live, to the Wirral, in order to campaign for the Green party. I am spending my time leafleting, handing out flyers and chatting to people in the street. Most of my friends are activists. It’s what we do.
Back in Spain (Andalucía), my friends are of a similar Green/leftwing disposition. What do they do? Well, not much, apart from vote. Which I can’t do even though I pay taxes and have permanent residency. Apart from the odd demonstration (mostly for Palestine and arranged by students), people are oddly silent. When I ask why, no one seems to have an answer. The most any of my friends do is to organise a culture event to celebrate Republic Day, once a year.
Europe does indeed need to wake up. People who care about Europe’s drift to the right need to take the conversation to the streets and engage beyond their immediate cosy circle. The right (in the shape of Vox) are spreading through Spain like slime, and it’s up to individuals to get out there and engage with this menace now. Because mañana will be a day too late.
Gillian Homeri
Wallasey, Merseyside
• The success of the National Rally party in France and the Tories’ flirtation with Reform UK hold similar warnings of the danger of the drift to the far right. Marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage are gaining ground among the people most affected by austerity, Covid and the cost of living crisis. In desperation and frustration at the experience of living hand to mouth, blaming immigration and a “rigged” system is an attractive message.
This is a warning to Keir Starmer’s Labour party, which has no meaningful strategy to alleviate poverty. Not even a promise to remove the child benefit cap or the bedroom tax, or a commitment to the scale of investment that is needed to turn around the NHS, council services or even reduce the energy price cap. What Starmer is saying will be enough to win the election, but is it enough to move the momentum away from the far right following it? That is the risk.
Barry Kushner
Liverpool
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