Comment: ITV News: Venetians and Catalans have had enough – it’ll be the Germans next. ‘The crisis engulfing the European economy is beginning to manifest itself it in unexpected ways, not least the growing demands for independence in the regions of Southern Europe.’ It started with Catalonia, and now with Venice. ‘Rome will, of course, resist vehemently, but in the current climate Venetian self-rule may be no less likely that independence for Catalonia or Scotland. And as in Catalonia, much of it is being driven by a perception that they have been paying too much for too long to the central Government. Venice (the region rather than the city) is, like Catalonia, a huge net contributor to the national Treasury. That was just about acceptable in the good times. In the midst of austerity, it is becoming a powerful source of resentment.’
Italy
Analysis – Demos: Populism in Europe: CasaPound. ‘Nationalist populist parties and movements are growing in support throughout Europe. These groups are known for their opposition to immigration, their ‘anti-establishment’ views and their concern for protecting national culture. One of the most difficult to classify of these groups is the neo-fascist political and cultural movement CasaPound. Unlike other far-right movements and parties in Europe for which immigration is the key issue, CasaPound’s policy positions cover a range of economic and social areas with its primary concern being the ‘housing right’ for Italian citizens. This report is the sixth in a series of country specific briefings about the online support of populist parties in 12 European countries, based on our survey of 13,000 Facebook fans of these groups.’
Comment: The Daily Beast: Niall Ferguson on Europe’s New Fascists. ‘Populism is the standard political response to financial crisis. In America we have seen two different variants—the right-wing populism of the Tea Party and the left-wing populism of the Occupy movement. But European populism takes more toxic forms. Nothing was easier to predict than this: that the crisis of the euro zone would spark a nationalist backlash. Golden Dawn is not just xenophobic; it’s also Europhobic. The same thing has happened in the Netherlands: there, Geert Wilders started out by attacking Muslim immigrants (and indeed Islam itself), but has more recently added Euro-bashing to his repertoire of his Freedom Party.’
France
Ynetnews: Hollande to Jews: We’ll fight extremism. ‘After blanks fired at synagogue near Paris, French president pledges to battle anti-Semitism ‘with the greatest firmness.’ Jewish leader warns against complacency before ‘monstrous ideology’ of radical Islamists.’ ‘President Francois Hollande sought Sunday to allay tensions between Jews and Muslims aggravated by a series of violent incidents in recent months. Leading the country with western Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, Hollande singled out hateful extremists for criticism and urged respect for all religions in a country that is officially secular.’
The Netherlands
NOS: Iraqi from Almere fighting in Syria. An Iraqi man, known as Khaled K from Almere in the Netherlands has been fighting in Syria alongside ‘an extreme Islamist movement’. During the summer of 2011, he had been ’detained on suspicion of involvement in terrorism’ for two weeks.
