The Right Should Learn from Spain’s Election Results

'Many popular parties in Europe do not want to challenge the status quo ...' If they will not, how can they be called 'conservative parties'?

From The European Conservative

By Vincenzo Caccioppoli

Many popular parties in Europe do not want to challenge the status quo and will stoop to forming alliances with leftists. However, these parties fail to realize that by doing this, they are losing their conservative identity, their authority, and their voters. 

Conservative parties preparing for the 2024 EU elections should learn from the Right’s missteps in Spain’s recent elections. The failure of the Popular Party (PP) and VOX to triumph has compelled conservatives to take the Left seriously, despite the fact that left-wing parties have been suffering one defeat after another throughout Europe for a year now. Some believe that the drop in VOX’s popularity—which was widely predicted in the polls—is proof that the Right in Europe has a breach in the levee, evident in Sánchez’s politics and in Vice President Yolanda Diaz’s new Sumar group. The triumphant tones of the Spanish Left on the night of the elections inspired a collective euphoria for leftist parties throughout Europe. In light of this, the Right cannot be complacent and must actively strengthen itself against the pitfalls revealed in Spain’s elections. 

The Spanish situation is unique because there was a coordinated assault by all the parties, including the PP, against the right-wing VOX party. The Spanish Left effectively deployed the narrative that a center-right government would lead to anti-democratic extremism. However, this same tactic failed in Italy against Giorgia Meloni. Her platform resonated with voters, and her government is now respected in all major international forums. This illustrates that there is hope for right-wing parties, even in the face of fierce opposition and concerted attacks from the media and political establishment. 

Among other mistakes that may have cost the Right victory in these elections, Spanish journalist Salvador Sostre argued that PP and VOX were wrong to be excessively uncompromising on some issues. He was particularly critical of the right-wing stance on Catalan, which he believes distracted them from more relevant and important issues:

If the Right were intelligent and wanted to win rather than complain, they would drop their prickly ratchet on the destruction of Spain … If the Right had wanted to know what was happening in Catalonia, they would have realized that the war is not against Spain but between separatists, whose only goal is to win the next regional elections. Puigdemont and Junqueras [Catalan separatist activists] are the first to know that the separatist dream is impossible because they have neither the social mass nor the courage nor the money to pay the price.

While VOX’s strong positions on environmentalism and gender issues alienated left-wing voters, PP’s inconsistency on many issues left the party little energy to criticize the socialists and their policies. Feijoo’s leadership was often too moderate compared to fellow PP members like Isabel Aysuo, the president of Madrid. She is more staunchly right-wing. It is no surprise that she triumphed in May’s regional elections and can govern effectively, even without VOX.

The failure of the Right in Spain, however discouraging, should not be projected onto the Right in Europe generally. There are many instances of success to take heart from. In Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Romania, right-wing parties have the advantage in all polls. In the Netherlands, the Farmers’ Party (BBB), which was born precisely to counter the excessively ideological policies of the European Green Deal, is first place in the polls, a gain that should carry over into October’s elections. In Romania, AU (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), a conservative party born in 2020, is estimated at over 20% in all polls. 

This bodes well for the the upcoming European elections, which will reveal if Giorgia Meloni—who is likely to become a  model for all the conservative parties—will  join forces with ECR. Together, they may be able to change the balance of power in Parliament towards the right and begin to chart a new course for Europe. 

There are other opportunities in Europe for the Right to succeed. In Poland, conservative Morawiecki faces Donald Tusk, the former president of the European council (2014 to 2019), former Polish president (2007 to 2014), and leading exponent of the European People’s Party (EPP).

Even with these exemplary victories, conservatives in Spain are skittish to fully embrace right-wing positions. Instead, they seek to build alliances with the popular, leftist parties. Such condescension may be the most logical step, but considering the great decline in the last decade of almost all the major popular parties in Europe—the Spanish People’s Party, Forza Italia in Italy, the CDU in Germany, and the Republicans in France—it may also be excessive and be viewed as a sign of weakness or lack of courage. The victory of only some of the PP candidates in Spain is also partly the result of this excessive concession to socialists and efforts to deflect the hypothetical danger of the Right. 

Spain is not alone, but perhaps their recent elections stand as a warning to other countries still charting their way along the Right-Left divide. Other popular parties in Europe are plagued by the same problem; many do not want to challenge the status quo and will stoop to forming alliances with socialists and liberals. However, these parties fail to realize that by aligning with left-wing affiliates, they are losing their conservative identity, authority, and their voters.