At the time when Europe is experiencing uncertainty and constant changes, it is hard for people to wrap their heads around the difficulties they are facing. Given the constant economic crises the continent has gone through, the citizens have been growing distrust of the elite of politicians that have been promising a better life and yet never seem to take concrete action to achieve it. This creates the perfect context for populist parties to rise; in Europe we are seeing how extreme right-wing parties are finding fertile ground for expansion. In the last few months, these parties have been centring their campaigns on cracking down on immigration. This is far from the first time such a debate has emerged, but the ferocity with which it has come back makes it impossible to ignore.

The discussion over immigration is always followed by the one of security, with many people and political leaders claiming that Europe has become less safe since mass migration started, with some people going as far as saying that most crimes are committed by immigrants. This has recently been evident in the UK, at the time of writing, following the release of the police bodycam footage of the killing of Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old murdered by a Sikh man in England this December. At the beginning of June, a knife attack by a Sudanese man shook Northen Ireland and sparked violence in the streets of Belfast, where masked men attacked houses, they believe to be inhabited by immigrants. These events have polarized the British political sphere, with the far-right parties, Reform UK and Restore UK, supporting the deportation of immigrants. The leader of Reform, Nigel Farage, claimed after the Nowak case that a “two-tier policing” exists, in which immigrants receive preferential treatment. His party gained significant support in the local elections held in May. An internal split within Reform let to the creation of Restore UK, led by Rupert Lowe, who went as far as to claim that, under a government led by his party, Nowak’s killer would have been put to death.

In the run-up to the parliamentary elections in September, a similar discourse is happening in Sweden, where baby gangs and crime have spiralled out of control. Children are being recruited to sell drugs and carry weapons by organised crime gangs many of whose leaders have immigrant backgrounds. This, added to the broader concerns about immigration, has become one of the central issues in electoral debate. Here, the far-right is led by Sverigedemokraterna (SD), which has proposed measures such as lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 13 and, requiring public officials, including doctors and teachers, to report irregular immigrants. Sweden already has some of the strictest deportation policies in Europe and has recently intensified the deportations of young adults who have not yet obtained permanent residency.

Far-right parties are moving in this direction all over Europe. On 13 June, in Italy the new party Futuro Nazionale made its debut with its first congress, while a large demonstration took place in Rome in support of the deportation of immigrants convicted of crimes. The following day, in Switzerland, a referendum was held in which citizens were asked whether they supported capping population at 10 million. The referendum was proposed by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, which attributes most of the country’s problems, including the housing crisis and pressure on healthcare resources, to immigration.

Any discussion on immigration must include Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), the German nationalistic far-right party that has grown exponentially in the recent years and is arguably one of the most influential actors in the European far-right landscape. The party has been very outspoken about immigration, often in ways that have generated controversy. Consider, for instance, the flyers the party distributed in neighbourhoods with large immigrant populations, designed to resemble one-way tickets out of Germany.

At the beginning of June 2026, the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum entered into force. Approved in 2024 by the centre-right, the centre-left and the liberal groups, it was opposed by both the far right and the far left for different reasons: the former argued that the measures did not go far enough, while the latter criticized that they failed to address humanitarian concerns. The new framework strengthens border control and creates facilities in migration “hot spots” where people are screened and assessed before receiving permission to enter the European Union. Many observers suggest that the pact was partly adopted in response to growing support for far-right parties across Europe.

While it can be argued that immigrants are being used as scapegoats for broader structural problems affecting countries across Europe, and that populist parties are exploiting the issue to deepen the divide between the ordinary citizens and the political elite, a larger concern is also emerging. Even though these parties do not express it openly, some of their rhetoric echoes themes associated with white supremacist ideas: one recurring theme is the need to protect “European culture” from the influence of “the other”. A section of their supporters identifies with symbols and slogans, such as “Never mix” that have historical links to fascist and Nazi ideologies. The violence witnessed in places such as Belfast is, therefore, particularly concerning. Uncontrolled immigration can be a challenge, but politicians who turn the issue into a political tool and direct public anger toward a fragile group during difficult times risk undermining both social cohesion and fundamental rights.