Why is extremism on the rise in Europe including Central & Eastern Europe?

testing minister comment

Ironically, while extremism might be fueled by immigration from the middle east in Central and Eastern Europe, in the UK the populist movements behind Brexit (the vote to leave the European Union) have been very much fueled by immigration from EU member states (and the perceived threat of an extended EU giving the right to work and travel in and to the UK to poorer countries). While many extremist groups in the UK set themselves in opposition to extremist or political Islam (groups such as the EDL - Engish Defence League), the general public tends to be more approving of refugees from trouble spots such as Syria than it does to economic migrants. That said, attitudes are also hardening against refugees. If anything, the 2008 crash seems to have marked a dividing line between traditional politics and a rising insurgent populism, not just in the UK but across Europe and most significantly in the US which seems to have boosted both new (Golden Dawn in Greece, Alternativ Fur Deutschland in Germany) and some well established (France's National Front, the UK's British National Party) extremist and nationalist groups.

I agree that these are all valid reasons for the rise of extremism in Europe, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Democracy is still a relatively new concept for the former Soviet bloc nations, so populism is more volatile. In the countries that arose from the ethnic disintegration of Yugoslavia, nationalist sympathies are still readily exploited. Of course, the ongoing Middle Eastern crisis will ensure far-right groups have refugees to scapegoat, while European intervention in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan is ensuring jihadi militancy will continue to be a problem for Western Europe.