We cant think right time of crisis. And how will the European Election affect the rest of. Expert discussions have to get up your hands or we have to do it and citizens voters 1st and. Dwi has it all. Election on may 26th g. W. Holland a very warm welcome indeed to quadriga coming to you from the heart of europe and our focus is on this weekends elections to the European Parliament where it has been widely assumed that populist far right parties might grab as many as a quarter of all the seats in the parliament but then scandal in austria and the collapse of the countrys Coalition Government between conservatives and the populist right this after secretly film Video Footage emerged apparently showing the leader of the right Freedom Party promising State Contracts to a woman posing as the niece of a Russian Oligarch so on the eve of a Watershed Election for europe our question here on quadriga this week is Video Scandal election blowed to europes. And to discuss that question im joined here In The Studio by Matthew Carnage Snake chief europe correspondent for politico and he says the austrian video makes it harder for the far right to deny who they really are but also with us is george about his own man who was shot as the french born correspondent believes that its make or break for the union and its the demise of australias far right sundays Election Outcome will seal the fate. Of your sayings. Kind of very warm welcome to the currents a lot of political activists and consultants affiliated with you have a nice Social Democrats who argues that we should not be shocked when Racist Anti Constitutional and criminal right wing populist do been saying things that are racist and anti constitutional and. We just thank you all for being with her statements to the top of the show in money well i would like to begin with you and as you will be well aware here in germany the term that everybodys using to do is to talk about the the importance of this election this weekend theres a shiksa its a sort of a very heavy german term destiny and fate or you have said yourself it will seal the fate of you or what you mean well it definitely feels like its because if the populists do when a majority of seats in the European Parliament we do know that they dont intend to keep europe as it is they want to make it implode basically so we have basically whats at stake on sunday eased the fate of europe and your president mr mccraw said never before has europe been in such danger tell me a little bit more about his fears that well you know last week steve benen the former trump advisor was in france to support mine a pen so we see all the Populist Parties across europe unite and what we see there is that theres a unity of those parties in the in the the will one thing that does dismantle the dismantling of europe the thing is that they managed to show unity while any other party every other party Shows Division and that is a very dangerous method that has been a tendency in the past to sort of look or European Elections are sort of a little bit boring the people of europe dont know who their politicians are that really can vote vote very much. How is your imagination being fired up this time around have you viewing has it even proved a little bit entertaining perhaps the whole process has been different it has been a bit different its certainly been entertaining and the strength of the far right is obviously you know something that i think has made a lot of people pay more attention to this campaign than they normally would im not convinced that its going to bring the masses of voters to the ballot box that some people are hoping for and that will be a very important factor in how well the far right does i dont think that theres a danger that theyll win all the polls suggest that theyll be you know solid backing again for the for the main String Parties but the far right will do well and it will allow them presumably in the years to come to gum up the system a bit and in brussels and in the e. U. System. Before we talk lets just rewind a little bit and talk about this video that has emerged in australia tell us what in essence the story is. Well the story is basically that the video with was taken sort of to just over a 7 hour period and you had a couple of people posing as you know these shady russian figures trying to. Sways in there we see that the head of the Freedom Party has crist and straka offering to do deals with them and sort of brings a sort of mission thats true. And i think thats why he had to resign within 12 hours of the video being released Sebastian Cordes the chancellor of austria called new elections within 24 hours so if theres anything good about what happened in austria over the weekend i think we can say that it showed that in a Western European democratic country that the institutions are still working despite the influence of the far right there its important to remember that the Freedom Party was a member of the government and had more than a quarter of the of the votes in the last which is different from most of the populist right wing part of this is obviously very good in government and they are have just been much more successful over the years in austria than they have in other countries is the 2nd time in recent years that they were a member of a Governing Coalition karen taylor one of the one of the topics of our discussion today is inevitably going to be values and have a quote from the woman whos germanys Justice Minister who is the lead candidate for the Social Democrats in this European Election Katherina Bali and what she says is will europe remain liberal cosmopolitan and based on cooperation or will it become more thorough terry and nationalistic and full of hate do you share her assessment absolutely and we see that. We have this division and this polarization off people who want more integration of people who want more unity of the european and context and on the other side people who try to stress on their on their National Context as people and parties must say who would rather pull out of europe than continuing this yeah one must say Success Story of europe and within this frame and its not in. Half to only dismantle europe but to really put pressure and to endanger minorities to to to spread fear and to spread hate be it on social media or even on the streets so this question off have it have in this to coalition is not only. Important when we were got europe but it also regards every city sing sing us citizens within their prospective home countries the when we talk about Values Life Cosmopolitan values for example its very difficult at this point in time because there are so many ordinary voters who are increasingly proud of saying that they are not liberal indeed liberal is for them a dirty word theyre proud to say we are a liberal the question is of what to do well as they lead to candidate of the social Democratic Party its absolutely obvious why is she stressed on the on these values rather than on the conservative values are if you want to look a diverse area and maybe even the right wing values if you could call them as such so its for me its not surprising that she. Talked about these values because what weve seen in the past is that people who would consider themselves liberal and who would consider themselves being part of in or been movement they were too quiet in the past they have voices and also they have votes where not enough in order to hold back at this right Wing Movement so we need these people now to see dede that important they have in order to sustain the europe as we have it memorized you are no big yeah it was not in about. This distance makes me think of the situation in france where we have to get a Vest Movements which was quite for percentage of people having a feeling they were unheard and that is. A major impediment for india coming elections for emanuel because hes the pro european candidate which has the more chances whose party has the more chances to gather the most votes but hes not liked by a lot of french people and who is the party who shows an understanding to the problems of the citizens according to their propaganda it is a has undermined i stand of my in the band which has and thats not nationalistic agenda which is completely a paradox there run for office in the European Union which is a transnational which transcends. Does nationalism yet they want to be elected the European Parliament in order to develop their nationalist agenda ok before we move on lets just listen to an extract a short extract from that video weve been referring to where the far right Freedom Party leader talks about helping the Russian Oligarch to take over the krooman sites and that is one of australias most widely. Newspaper. She takes over the crown of paper as soon as that happens we have to talk openly we have to sit down together this this and this is what we have. 34 people we have to push them 34 people have to be dont. Bring in 5 new ones right away which will build up the deal. Common sense and suggested this video quote leaves the european Summarising Disarray and plays into the hands of centrist and leftist forces ahead of this weekends election what do you say. You know if i were i would go that far i think it might be Wishful Thinking on the part of that commentator i certainly think that it does show who these people really are what the far right really means in terms of the Democratic Values of the country there certainly will be a huge effect in Austria Reentering to see what the effect of this is in germany because the Freedom Party has had very close ties to the alternative for Germany Party here in germany theres been a lot of consultation going back and forth and there are plenty of pictures out there showing the leaders of the f. T. Together with the leaders of the Freedom Party which the other parties in germany over the past week have been very happy to send around so i think that there might be an effect there what the fact is beyond there it gets a little bit more difficult to predict because people like the tales of any in italy or Marine Le Pen in france will say well thats austria that has nothing to do with us and you know what well see well see what effect it has but there is no doubt i think that what this video shows is whats at stake for. Europe with this rise in populism in addition to a stake in terms of the Freedom Of The Press quite explicitly in that sequence that we just listened to well absolutely and i think this is one of the main reasons that struck the it was Vice Chancellor in austria there. Had to resign right away because people saw that this is just you know completely Beyond The Pale and you know that in the end another aspect of this is that the paper that we were talking about is not just one of the most popular newspaper zoster its one of the most read newspapers in the world on a per capita basis that reaches almost half of the austrian population every day and not just that but it already is a right wing paper in r. T. Supported the Freedom Party if youre wondering why would he want to take even more influence over this and it just shows that we know the way these far right minds are working he referred to viktor orban in hungary and said you know what we want to have a Media Landscape like that and hungry and hungry orban has basically taken control through his cronies of the entire Media Establishment and i think that has to be quite shocking not just the people in austria but and the rest of europe as well i mean well i know this is a crude aspect of the story very close to your home in germany its very important as people are presently these days of celebrating the post 2nd World War Constitution To germany so rightly proud of Freedom Of The Press is one of the sort of the cornerstones of that constitution and i know theres a sort of a Friendship Spec to this story that you can tell us about exactly well when victor obama was elected in hungary i was quite shocked by. Seeing what was happening to the press in hungary and yet if you look at the friends of the moment yesterday one of the legion that is from newspaper le monde i was going to vote by the Homeland Security office to answer for her work for the moment and she is the 5th french journalist 5th french and that is having been asked to to give an account about where shes been reporting on the big scandal so. Theres a wave of kind of intimidation from the government was janet is in a country where no one would think that the press. I was in then sure and that is quite worrying and karen id like to come back to your quote that intrigued me very much of the start of the show when you said we should not be shocked when race instances and you constitutional criminal right wing populist do and say things exactly of that nature make the case for the 50 or so the challenge that you are making of Racist Anti Constitutional and criminal well weve seen with the slogan of Freedom Party in Austria Austrian Money austrian people these are quite the structures which you could link to a far example which i would see as the constitutional weve seen and thats not only case weve seen that in germany with the alternative for german for germany the party which is also part of the talk right now the leading Opposition Party tends to be said absolutely absolutely well we also have. To watch donations illegal donations for the party weve seen it in france where european money was. Derived into the party directly so all these cases i would say its the nature of these right wing Populist Parties all these cases out there and still people. Are reluctant to see the reality behind us behind us parties and even more all. The discussions they lead if i look at the German Bundestag for example that threatening discussions for minorities in germany it doesnt only stay in the bundestag but it leads to a consequence actions on the streets if. Germany. Uses the word. He job girl. Never really deliver to the. Wait this leads to actions on the streets in the women with heat up and then. Theyd be spat out on the on the street people to tear that they had their head a pregnant woman has been punched in the stomach so if we see that the that the sentiment of the this parties is something which we already see on the streets and which is a dangerous thing for people of minorities ok lets find out a little bit about what the far right your of europes far right Euro Skeptic Leaders have to say one figure stands out of course thats italys. Video hes head of the party simply known as the league and he invited some of his populist allies to milan the Northern Italian city at the weekend in a show of strength. He loves a good show to the dulcet tunes of puccini my Tail Beanie Head of the legal north invokes his vision of a new right wing European Alliance. And he loves drama the European Election he says is a matter of life and death. Because we are experiencing a historical moment. So important step we need to do everything we can to free this country to free this confidence from the illegal occupation of brussels has been orchestrating for many years. She too wants to see a european revolution an awakening of the people in the path of frances right wing figurehead. Such as we dont want to see European Union anymore that has brought the ill winds of globalization upon europe and. They want to form a European Alliance of people and nations ideally with Poland Hungary and the u. K. But within the European Parliament the nationalist leaders are anything but unified how strong is europes right wing. County which is making the case against the far right. Of some video would make it to a battle. Between the elites the european brussels elites of the one hand and the ordinary working people of europe on the other he would say that many of those ordinary working people are being left behind that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer do you have any sympathy for that case because thats where a lot of the i guess the fear the aggression the hate is coming from absolutely a social democrat i absolutely can relate to the essence off the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting ready which reality we see in germany and in europe attach but the problem off the right thing populist is the. That they find to that question the im sad they find to that question is we need to exclude people of minorities we need to exclude people of color and we see that. People who i would call the victim in this case actually the penetrate thats actually the people we need to fight against and thats the problem here what we need is to find solutions i believe in a very strong european integration i believe fall in work for example and also a minimum wage if we talk about these issues lets talk about these ancestors and not pinpoint hate and exclusion of people who are already in that in marginalized positions matthew germanys Broadsheets Site says in the past they wanted to destroy the you know the nationalists want to take over want to make it that i dont think thats really true actually i think that they still want to destroy the e. U. But they want to take over 1st in order to destroy the e. U. Because in the past theyve been quite open about wanting to destroy the u. S. We heard in the clip of Marine Le Pen there saying that the e. U. Was kind of The Root Of All Evil and that it needed to be basically destroyed from within instead of being so explicit about it now theyre saying that they want to reform the e. U. But they leave open what that exactly means on the other hand id be careful to assume that these parties are going to be able to coordinate with one another very closely because they are quite different in nature theyre also very unstable as weve seen with the austrian example theyre very volatile because of the internal dynamics in the parties and on a lot of key issues they do not agree with one another for example Marine Le Pen and salvini are very sort of fond of russia and Vladimir Putin and have really tried to curry favor with him over the years whereas in a country like poland theyre very anti russia pull it also has a. Right government in place and poland for example is also very pro e. U. People dont want to leave the European Union and i think thats also true in some of these other countries even though the parties are very euro skeptic as it were theres still large majorities in most of these countries that support European Union membership so i think its going to be an interesting debate in the coming years but i dont think that europe is going to fall apart as as a result of it but it does it does make things less stable than they have to be one name we havent so far mentioned the basin is the earths well sort of most powerful woman in the world this is the most powerful woman in Europe Angela merkel she has been speaking out only europe and its future in the run up to this weekends votes and heres one thing that stood out lets listen. Our values mean that we can be proud of our country and still build up europe at the same time like patriotism and the European Union are not mutually exclusive the hope is nationalism is the enemy of the european project and in the final days before the election we need to make that clear my friend says men in lets put out by come up to me before i. Remember him saying in essence that europeans can be can be nationalists could be perpetual to make about their own country but they can also be internationalists and they can be patriotic about your of what they got to be patriotic about well what had just heard the german chancellor say is that you oppose built on come on values and those 5 years are telegrams and being open minded and cooperating with one another and the past i would be taken if nationalist parties would gain more seats in the European Parliament would be that of isolationism not only from country to country but also from europe towards to wealth and that is something that represents a great adventure for the common values that are does appear out. Also very good good the vast majority of course according to the figures the vast majority of european voters european citizens believe the system is broken the muse going to disappear within the next to newness this is a must its currency there are i think and also rightly so a lot of people are disappointed by europe to see by europe you see in friends for example farmers theres one farmer every 3 days which commits suicide because they can no longer have a viable. Viola viola bill sorry. Work project and that is because of a lot of european directives which was which were imposed on where. That dont have those european goals in mind in their everyday lives so people are rightly so disappointed but its only with changes coming from within that we can reform europe is not by completely destroying it. People are saying that europe is in turn is a right field is the future i hope not i hope that. We do take this moment we dont take this momentum to actually change the structure of the European Union as we see and lack off power. Which derives from the people so what we need to do is to strengthen the European Parliament because for now we have with the council a counterpart who has to look at and National Interests per se so what we do need is when it comes to do. We need a very strong. European parliament when she will have the. Nation. By the european people if you vision for the e. U. After the next election well i suspect that the e. U. Will continue to muddle along because theres not yet a consensus for the type of reform that karens talking about that might develop one day but i think you know what people really have to ask themselves are it is whats the alternative right now if you want to get out of europe would that really be better and even for people in france and elsewhere who might not be particularly when they look at the details of what that would mean they often conclude that the alternative is even worse than their current reality. Thank you for those thoughts nevertheless thank you for being here today on. The upcoming European Elections stay with us covering the Election Polls over the weekend thanks for joining us hope we can you. Odd. To me. 1949 grand breaking new year for gemini history. 2 german states a mansion with nasty different political systems for people on either side its a radical new beginning one front of a kind of. 9491 team geminis 75. W. Take me personally. With a little wonderful people and stories that make the game so special. For a true fan of all. The big guys more than football on mine. Some say that was born into this world alone. Though or not. Im the 2nd we came into this world were in it together and. Each of us can the human mind. There we can make a real difference as well you are a solid. Naps why we vote. Sometime in the 26th. My great granddaughter of. The like in your life time in around half a century. You were around 2 degrees moment. To believe that sea levels rise by at least one central place. Were going to have some climate impacts maternal greater than your claim its really. A triple. Play. Why are people more concerned. To the 1st. Place. Blame. Blame blame blame blame blame. Blame this is g. W. News live from berlin its day 2 of voting in the crucial European Parliament elections voters in the Czech Republic and ireland go to the polls in what could be the most important election in 4 decades also coming up hes won a Landslide Victory and now indias Prime Minister must make good on his promises after a Divisive Campaign around pledges to unite the country and quote unleashed potential