Brexit certainly provided a shot in the arm to insurgent right wing movements, many in the US claiming the shock result gave a major boost to Donald trump's campaign. Marine Le Pen has reference both of these results in her attempt to become President of France, at the head of an expressedly anti-EU party.

The Party For Freedom in the Netherlands have already had a near miss with power in the elections there, coming in second place, and are also avowedly anti-EU. However, the make up of the Dutch parliament and electoral means that coalition governments are the norm and the likelihood of any significant parties being prepared to form a coalition with Party For Freedom very remote. Alternativ Fur Deutschland in Germany have had a rapid rise to success, and that success may have prompted changes in refugee policy but as yet no change in the Federal government's approach to the EU. In Denmark the Danish People's party have been the second largest party since 2015, suggesting the brexit vote may be part of a general trend rather than a trigger. Meanwhile the wildcard Five Start movement in Italy, which started as a protest founded by a comedian, is politically relatively progressive but wants a referendum on membership of the Eurozone (but not, as yet, the European Union). Whether the trend started before Brexit and perhaps has already peaked (with the failure of the Front National and Party for Freedom to take power) remains to be seen,

Added: May 8, 2017, 10:30 a.m. Last change: May 8, 2017, 10:30 a.m.
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