Brexit Party trounces rivals in EU elections

In the UK, the newly-formed Brexit Party won a big victory in EU elections while populists gained ground in some countries but fell short of the very significant gains some had predicted. In Milan last week, leaders from several far-right parties across Europe gathered for a rain-soaked rally in front of the Italian city's gothic cathedral. Banners hung from windows declaring: "Milan is anti-fascist." Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and leader of Lega Nord, insists, "There are no extremists, racists or fascists in this square. Here you won't find the far-right, but the politics of good sense. The extremists are those who have governed Europe for the past 20 years." What is going on? In the past few days, the European Union (EU) held one of the largest elections in the world. Around 400 million people from 28 countries voted in elections to the European ParliamentThe EU's law-making body. Its members are directly elected by EU voters every five years. . The result could shape the future of the continent. Those parties that gathered in Milan are part of a nationalistA person who believes strongly that their country is better than all others.  right-wing parliamentary group called Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF). Although each party is unique to its home country, they are united in their opposition to illegal immigration and the bureaucracy of EU "elites". The ENF is currently the EU's smallest parliamentary group, with just 37 MEPs out of 751. However, this was the first EU election since then refugee crisisIn 2015, more than a million people arrived in Europe by land and by sea, leaving many countries struggling to cope with such an influx. The vast majority were escaping conflict in Syria., Brexit and Donald Trump. Eventually, the ENF hopes that other anti-immigration parties, like Hungary's Fidesz, will join them. "If it is necessary, I will give my life for Italy, for my children, for you," Salvini told crowds on Saturday. "I will stop at nothing and for nobody." Rising right? Should we be worried by the rise of far-right parties in Europe? After all, the EU was created out of the ashes of a continent that was pulled apart by fascismA political ideology that rose to power in 20th-Century Europe. It stressed militarism and order over personal freedom, and often divided society according to racial hierarchies.. And last October, the European Economic and Social Committee warned, "Fascism is on the rise again." It pointed to Germany's AfD and the far-right Swedish Democrats. "Halting this wave is fundamental, as history shows clearly where it ends," it said. But is fascism really back? The ideology is hard to pin-down but, at its core, it believes in a nation's supremacy over others. It is anti-democratic and totalitarian. As the historian Yuval Noah Harari put it last year, fascism tells us, "I don't need to care about anybody or anything other than my nation." That is not what we are facing in Europe - the ENF wants to reform the EU from within, but it does not want to destroy it. KeywordsEuropean Parliament - The EU's law-making body. Its members are directly elected by EU voters every five years.