Von der Leyen says ‘centre is holding’ as far right surges in EU elections – as it happened
www.theguardian.com
European commission president says ‘there remains a majority in the centre for a strong Europe’ as far right makes huge gains across continent; Emmanuel Macron makes shock election move

"Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has announced that he is dissolving the national assembly, and calling for legislative elections on June 30 and July 7.

The French president said that he can’t pretend nothing has happened, that the outcome of the EU election is not good for his government and that the rise of nationalists is a danger for France and Europe."

  • ZK686@lemmy.worldEnglish
    03·
    5 months ago

    The reason the “far right” is gaining momentum around the world because of immigration issues. It has nothing to do with “racism” and “bigotry”, like people on Lemmy and Reddit claim. The Left and Liberals are too concern with helping everyone else, and not their own. Countries are abandoning traditional goals and support for their own citizens, and focusing on helping poor immigrants from all over the place. Sooner or later, your own citizens are going to get fed up.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      LMAO at the hate on this comment.

      We can talk about immigration drivers, all night long, but the fact is that the host country is always resentful of immigrants. It doesn’t matter if that resentment is fair or true or justified, it exists.

      Buncha children in here crying, “Racism bad!” Yeah. We know. Some of us grew up on Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. That doesn’t change countries seeing a bunch of poor people flooding in and taking their resources. And whether they’re actually sucking resources doesn’t fucking matter. It looks like they are.

      And for all the whiners, how about you take in a poor immigrant family and take care of them yourself? Put your money where your mouth is?

      “Uh no. The government should do that for free, somehow, and I don’t want to actually see or deal with it. Or I’ll leave a stern downvote!”

      (And for the inbound haters, my wife is a brown immigrant, not even a citizen. Trying to get her youngest moved here.)

      • dubyakay@lemmy.caEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        You completely fell for it. The problem is not being resources sucked away by immigrants, and there not being enough left for the regular folk.

        The problem is the rich not having the same burden as the poor due to wealth not being taxed. It’s called having a shitty quality of life and high costs of living.

        • ZK686@lemmy.worldEnglish
          03·
          5 months ago

          This argument is old and tiresome. It’s the same shit they try and say in the US. “hey, who cares about the immigrant problem, let’s go after the rich!” This isn’t about the rich, this is about who’s the problem for the average, middle class citizen NOW. This is about, why are things different NOW, and what can I do to change them? Many countries are bringing in immigrants as a curtisoy, to help those in need…but it’s effecting a class of citizens differently, and now those citizens are voicing concern. The rich will always be here, and that issue will always go in circles because the rich are helping many countries sustain an economy (we always want to attack the rich in the US, but in the end, what would happen if the rich stopped paying anything, and just left?). The argument of “it’s the rich people’s fault!” has been a battling call from the Left for 100’s of years…and they will always default to this, even when it’s clear that immigration is causing problems…

          • dubyakay@lemmy.caEnglish
            0·
            5 months ago

            You are wrong and short-sighted, and I will tell you why:

            1. income disparity between rich and regular folks: if you look at graphs from studies on wealth inequality, it will show you how the rich get richer, while the poor get (especially relative to their cost of living) poorer. And by poor I mean the average folk.
            2. Immigrants have always been there: both the US and Canada have been built on the backs of immigrants, and are also kept afloat by them. Should we slow down a bit? Perhaps. Should we focus more on the regular folks that already live there? Definitely. But immigration and better social services for those already there are not mutually exclusive. Assuming there are funds for it
            3. The rich are lobbying the governments to do their bidding: The few hold all the power again, just like in feudalism. And they don’t want to give that up at any cost. This creates a perpetual cycle where they make money to gain power to make more money to gain more power to make… you get the ghist.
            4. The rich has a lower burden in taxes: A regular folk will get taxed on their income and purchases for a cumulative burden of around 45%. However someone rich will live off of their wealth creating more wealth instead, while foregoing income and thus income tax. Additionally when it comes to cost of living, even if a rich person would pay equal percentage in taxes to a regular folk, that 45% in cumulative taxes will leave the regular folk with say $5.5k to budget for everything on a 10k/mo salary, while a rich individual will have $55k to budget on a 100k/mo salary.
            5. Immigrants are not taking anyone’s job: In reality new immigrants work all the shitty jobs that no one else wants to or can take anyway. They are either low wage service workers or gig workers, or are actual skilled worker immigrants that are in high demand. Either way they are likely exploited in the low wage position or as the new hire.

            Let me know if I should continue. Or maybe someone else will chime in.

            • ZK686@lemmy.worldEnglish
              03·
              5 months ago

              So, what do you suggest countries do? Allow anyone and everyone to come in, and government should instead spend all their time and resources going after the wealthy? Are you saying, that if the rich stopped having money, and just…disappeared, everyone would be better off?