Far-Right and the War in Ukraine: New Far-Right Landscapes in (Southeast) Europe?

Friedrich-Ebert Foundation Dialogue Southeast Europe (FES-SOE), and the Institute for Democratic Engagement Southeast Europe (IDESE) are organizing a 2-day workshop at the Moise Palace, Cres (Croatia) with the title “Far-Right and the War in Ukraine: New Far-Right Landscapes in (Southeast) Europe?“.

The third gathering in this framework is due from the 7th to the 11th of June 2023. The aim of this initiative is to assemble engaged experts and activists in Southeast Europe, create synergy between them, and enable them to infuse new energy into devising new progressive vision and new evidence-based sectoral policies for the region that will hamper the development of far-right and support strengthening participatory democracy in the region.

Europe is regrettably witnessing a return of war. Russia’s assault on Ukraine, a sovereign European nation, is likely to become the largest European conflict in decades, which has brought back horrors from the past, already taken a catastrophic human toll, and generated a great migration crisis on the continent. The global response has been overwhelming. Consequences of the war in Ukraine are felt well beyond its borders, and the circumstances have already caused unprecedented shifts in foreign policy across the continent.

 Radicals from extremely different backgrounds, including the far-right milieux, are asserting their stances on the conflict and deploying old and new narratives to lead recruits, followers and sympathisers to embrace a particular position over the events.

 In addition to discussing concrete proposals on how to tackle and combat the far-right on the field and in our everyday lives, this year at Cres we want to, among others, also explore most relevant positions on the war in Ukraine taken within the far-right milieux.

Understanding the heterogeneity of the radical postures surrounding the event is crucial for helping Western policymakers and analysts to recognise and interpret the relationship between the war in Ukraine and the far-right.