Acting Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez during his inaugural debate in the Spanish Parliament on November 15, 2023 in Madrid, Spain.
Isabel Infantes | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told CNBC that the rise of far-right political groups is the “biggest concern” for Western democracies.
“I don’t think that’s all [political] There is fragmentation, but there is some progress on the far right…I would say that [it is] That is the biggest concern for Western democracies,” Sánchez said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
His comments come in a year when voters are expected to flock to the polls in several countries around the world, including in June’s European Parliament elections.
Support for far-right groups is increasing in some European countries. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is gaining popularity in opinion polls, while Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party recorded a decisive victory in November’s Dutch general election.
Sánchez referred to trends in political fragmentation, pointing out how some right-wing parties in the European Union have been forced to form coalition agreements with far-right parties. In Spain, the conservative Popular Party formed an alliance with the far-right Vox party when Alberto Nuñez Feijú failed to win parliamentary approval to become prime minister last year.
Sánchez said the alliance was “an important decision for mass parties at European level”.
“It is important that we stick to the agreements we made earlier, the agreements of the three largest political families of the European Union: the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the People’s Parties,” the Spanish Prime Minister said. Stated.
He said it would be “easier for the European Commission, the Council and, of course, for the European Parliament” to give progressives and centrists more seats than the far-right in the European Parliament.
Sanchez secured reappointment as Spain’s prime minister in November and won parliamentary support to form a new government.