From Rome to Warsaw, and from Madrid to Berlin, Europe is undergoing a turn towards conservative and nationalist currents. The rise of the Right in all its variations, from traditional conservatism to the radical far-right, is redefining the continent’s political map.
In Cyprus, political parties are already positioning themselves accordingly. The Democratic Rally (DISY), ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, appears concerned about voter leakage towards the far-right, particularly ELAM, and is taking initiatives aimed at limiting such trends. The Social Democrats (EDEK), meanwhile, have long followed ELAM’s lead, adopting a similar anti-federalist narrative.
Across Europe, the migration crisis, fears of identity loss, fatigue with globalisation, and lingering economic insecurities after the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have fuelled a culture of politics that invests heavily in the notions of “security” and “tradition.” This conservative turn is increasingly visible in Cyprus as well.
In Italy, Giorgia Meloni has normalised the rhetoric of national pride; in France, Éric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen are dragging the political centre further right; in Germany, the AfD continues to break popularity records; and in Hungary and Poland, orthodox conservatism has already become state ideology.
At the same time, even centrist and liberal governments across Europe are adopting more conservative rhetoric in an effort to retain their voters - a trend mirrored in the approach of Cyprus’s government under Nikos Christodoulides and DISY. Europe’s “cultural counter-offensive” now dominates public discourse on gender, education, and migration.
A cultural and psychological shift
This rightward drift is not merely electoral. It is cultural, even psychological - rooted in the desire for order, identity, tradition and security. After two decades of volatility, many Europeans are turning to leaders who promise stability and a return to the familiar.
European conservatism, however, is not monolithic. Sometimes it is liberal and institutional (as in the cases of Macron or Mitsotakis); other times, populist and authoritarian (as with Orbán). What unites them is a common goal - the reclaiming of control: over the economy, over borders, and over values.
Italy: The right's new normal
Giorgia Meloni’s election in 2022 marked a watershed moment. For the first time since the end of World War II, a founding member of the EU is governed by a party with post-fascist roots. Yet Meloni presents herself not as an outsider, but as a custodian of traditional values - encapsulated in the triad Fatherland – Religion – Family.
Italy has become the template for Europe’s “new Right”: less extreme in tone, but staunchly conservative in social policy and uncompromising on migration. In Cyprus, ELAM has sought to emulate Meloni’s model, attempting to shed its neo-fascist associations, despite its origins as an offshoot of Greece’s criminal organisation Golden Dawn.
France: the spectre of Le Pen
In France, Emmanuel Macron faces a weary society, tired of reforms and disillusioned with representation. Marine Le Pen, having long distanced herself from her father’s extremism, now promotes a doctrine of “patriotic realism.” Polls already place her within reach of victory in 2027.
Meanwhile, figures like Éric Zemmour push public discourse even further rightward, influencing even Macron’s own rhetoric. Issues such as migration, security and national identity dominate, overshadowing social inequality and climate policy.
This same pattern is mirrored in Cyprus, where the “patriotic realism” narrative has found followers in President Nikos Christodoulides and the Democratic Party (DIKO). DISY, too, increasingly flirts with populism.
Rational policy priorities have been distorted: instead of focusing on existential challenges such as climate change and water scarcity, with nearly empty reservoirs and farmers instructed to halt seasonal crops, the political debate is consumed by migration.
Yet, as Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou has pointed out, Cyprus needs 300,000 foreign workers to sustain economic growth. Despite this, DISY recently submitted a bill amending the Penal Code to allow deportations of foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes, effectively proposing a separate justice system for migrants. Such a measure undermines the very principle of isonomy - equality before the law - cherished since the times of Kleisthenes, Isocrates, and Aristotle.
Germany and the crisis of the centre
In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is enjoying unprecedented popularity. Once a protest party, it has evolved into a permanent political force, particularly in the eastern Länder. Successive governments have struggled to address mounting social pressures from the cost of living, migration, and energy insecurity, driving many voters back into conservative reflexes, even at the expense of Germany’s post-war liberal consensus.
The strongholds of orthodox conservatism
Poland and Hungary have become laboratories of European conservatism. Viktor Orbán has institutionalised an “illiberal democracy,” where national identity and family values are placed above minority rights. Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS) pursued a similar path, making Catholicism and anti-immigrant rhetoric key pillars of political legitimacy.
Why now?
The conservative resurgence has deep roots. Europeans feel they have lost control — of their borders, their markets, their communities. In this climate of uncertainty, conservatism offers psychological comfort and the illusion of simplicity. It provides clear, if often simplistic answers where liberal democracy offers only complex questions.
The challenge ahead
Europe is not shifting uniformly to the right, it is moving towards a new political realism. Liberal and progressive forces must now confront not only the far-right but also a deeper social nostalgia: the longing for stability, identity and belonging.
The question is no longer whether conservatism will prevail, but what form it will take:
Will it remain democratic and institutional, or slide into populism and exclusion?
The answer will determine Europe’s political future - with the Left increasingly sidelined from shaping it.
The European Left, both continentally and in Greece and Cyprus, remains trapped in a binary that has lost its meaning. The progressive versus conservative divide no longer reflects the complexity of modern societies. Conservatism offers a coherent, accessible narrative; the Left, in contrast, often projects confusion.
Who, today, is truly progressive? Surely, it is the one who learns, adapts, and evolves - not the one who clings dogmatically to ideological rigidity.
The simplistic far-right triad collapses under scrutiny. The Fatherland, bounded by geography and economy, cannot confront global or migratory challenges alone. Religion, built on ancient myths and parables, increasingly functions as a tool of political manipulation and social division. Family, though enduring as an institution, faces immense strain from economic insecurity and declining birth rates. Without stable incomes, affordable housing and childcare infrastructure, it cannot survive.
Can Europe answer back?
Europe’s response to this conservative wave must be more democracy, not less.
Right-wing populism thrives on exclusion. On the belief that “the Brussels elites” ignore ordinary citizens. The answer is not more technocracy, but deeper participation.
Conservatism wins when people feel economically or culturally insecure. To reverse that, Europe must restore social policy to the heart of its project:
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combat inequality;
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provide affordable housing for young people;
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protect work with decent wages;
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and advance the green transition to lower energy costs — not merely to serve corporate investors.
Instead of dismissing conservative narratives about roots, identity and security, Europe should reclaim them, reinterpreting them in truly progressive terms:
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as cultural education that unites, not divides;
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as transparency and accountability in EU governance;
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as human rights as Europe’s living heritage;
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as a community of shared values, not just a common market;
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and as a European patriotism of values, standing firm against nationalism.
Only then might Europe rediscover the balance between freedom and belonging, and perhaps, save itself from the excesses of its own conservatism.