What are the economic promises of far-right politicians who stand out for their electoral success?

Last week’s election results in Argentina and the Netherlands once again revealed the reality of the far right.

In Argentina, which was going through an economic crisis, Javier Milei came to power, promising to abolish the Central Bank and the peso, while in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders, known for his racist and anti-immigrant views, came first in polls. . .

While Wilders’ social policy promises and anti-immigrant stance were on the agenda, these elections also brought to mind Italy, which is struggling with economic problems, and the election results in Hungary.

In recent years, as economic problems in the world have increased, the votes of right-wing parties have increased, while the fight against price rises, tax reforms and social aid have come to the fore in the economic program of the extreme right.

Sozcu.com.tr examined the economic programs of leading far-right politicians. The promises of the important right-wing politicians who came first in the polls were the following:

HOLLAND

Far-right leader Geert Wilders’ party came first in polls in the Netherlands, turning all eyes in Europe on the country.

The far-right leader, who made promises especially for low- and middle-income groups, who suffered a greater economic decline after the coronavirus epidemic and the war in Ukraine, emphasized that they will give more priority to issues of social security, health and asylum.

Wilders also promised to reduce the economic burden on low-income people, reduce taxes, increase the minimum wage, reduce health insurance costs, and provide better quality health services and care.

Also notable was Wilders’ promise to lower the retirement age, which had gradually risen to 70, to 65.

While Dutch pensioners can eat meat once a week, the far-right leader, who claims that refugees living on cruise ships due to lack of space live in luxury, promised to spend every penny of the country on people instead of in refugees.

Wilders, who advocates Nexit, which means the Netherlands leaving the EU and returning to its own national currency, also wants to send less money from the Dutch budget to Brussels.

DIFFICULT TO APPLY IN THE SHORT TERM

However, it is believed that Wilders, who will have to govern the country with a coalition if he manages to form a government, will not be able to implement such radical approaches in the short term.

While Dutch bank ING expects the new government to continue with old spending policies, it predicts that the party’s populist promises will lead to a structural budget deficit of around 3 percent of GDP by 2028.

Wilders, who criticizes the financial support given to Ukraine, also stands out as a strong supporter of Israel. Wilders is also critical of climate scientists and believes the government is spending too much to reduce CO2 emissions.

He advocates keeping coal and gas power plants open and suggests stopping the construction of solar parks and wind turbines. He also wants to withdraw the Netherlands from the UN’s Paris climate agreement.

Instead, Wilders, who preaches climate adaptation, advocates investing in dam-related projects.

ITALY

A far-right coalition led by Giorgia Meloni came to power in Italy last year, while struggling with issues such as economic difficulties and the immigration problem. A far-right coalition came to power last year in elections in Italy.

However, although Meloni’s program did not include many of the populist policies we are accustomed to on the far right, his liberal promises, especially tax cuts, attracted a lot of attention.

ITALY WAS NEGATIVELY AFFECTED BY THE CRISIS

The country, which was deeply affected by the Covid crisis, then struggled with the growing energy crisis due to the Ukraine war. The economy of the southern European country, where youth unemployment is already quite high, was negatively affected by political instability, short-lived coalitions and governments that could not achieve a vote of confidence.

Before the election, Meloni promised to strengthen existing measures to help businesses and households cope with rising prices in the eurozone’s third-largest economy. Voters also welcomed Meloni’s commitments to improve national and regional taxation and productivity.

FEATURED TAX REFORM AND FAMILY PLANNING

The party’s program included points such as reducing the tax burden for families, companies and professionals, reconsidering the complex tax system, tax reductions on energy products, protecting small and medium-sized businesses and fighting unfair competition. , and support for European ceiling pricing policies.

Stating that Italy’s biggest problem is not having a family or children, the 45-year-old far-right leader said that if this continues, its economy will collapse.

HUNGARY

The program known as Orbanomics is the name given to the economic policies implemented by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since 2010, when they came to power.

Following Hungary’s 2010 parliamentary elections, Orbán’s newly elected government attempted to negotiate an exemption from strict European Union regulation that imposed a 3 percent limit on budget deficits. After the request was rejected, Hungary turned to fiscal policies that the international community considered unorthodox to close the gap.

All of the country’s private pension funds, estimated at some $12 billion in total, were abolished and nationalized. In addition, quite complex and radical tax reforms and tax reductions were made.

Populist policies came to the fore

In the past period, the government stressed that a new economic period had entered and spoke of the need to create the Hungarian national capital in this new period. Furthermore, public opinion was neutralized with the help of the media, which was completely controlled.

The elections also saw increases in minimum wages and pensions, increases in social and family benefits, a ban on fuel prices and some basic foods, and the postponement of electricity and gas increases. natural and, finally, the change of direction of investments due to the elections. .

THERE ARE ALSO CRITICISM

On the other hand, other problems such as increasing corruption in Hungary, declining quality of healthcare services, and declining student success in reading, math, and science are considered problems facing the Orbanomics administration. . The opposition also argues that the country’s average salary and unemployment are worse than shown.

ARGENTINA

When we left Europe, the most important victory for the right was last week when Javier Milei came first at the polls in Argentina.

Considering applying “shock therapy” to the economy, Milei’s promises include closing the central bank, abandoning the peso, reducing public spending and economic reforms.

The economic promises of Milei, who ran for president on a promise to “destroy the status quo,” were based on his desire to dollarize the Argentine economy. Dollarization means that the country abandons the Argentine peso and uses the US dollar as its currency.

Milei’s proposal to change the Argentine currency from the peso to the US dollar is based on the argument that the dollar is stronger than the peso and, unlike the peso, cannot be printed at will, which reduces inflation, which increases through the money supply.

Dollarization also causes a country to lose its autonomy to influence the economy through monetary policy measures, such as changes in interest rates.