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Cuts to social protection for people living in poverty have created “fertile ground” for far-right movements around the world, according to a United Nations report. Popular support for the far right has grown globally in recent years. In Europe, Giorgia Meloni became Italy’s most far-right leader since Benito Mussolini in 2022, while the far-right Alternative for Germany is now Germany’s largest opposition party. The Trump administration has endorsed far-right parties in Europe, and in Argentina far-right libertarian Javier Milei won the presidency in 2023. The UN report, unveiled Wednesday, says changes to welfare systems have made it harder to access benefits by tightening eligibility rules or imposing stricter conditions, contributing to the kind of economic precarity and alienation that drives people to the far right. “These punitive welfare systems increase economic insecurity, erode trust in public institutions and leave millions feeling humiliated and abandoned by mainstream politics,” the report’s author, Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said in a press release. “It is in this void that far-right populists thrive, presenting themselves as champions of those left behind by the ‘elite.’” But he warned: “Their agenda is not to empower people in poverty – it is to further dismantle protections for their own gain.” Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act illustrates this type of “populism of the privileged,” the report argues. The package includes historic reductions to America’s safety net programs, particularly Medicaid and food stamps, and at the same time slashes taxes, resulting “in a massive transfer” of resources from the poorest households to the richest. Growing gaps in incomes are a “major factor” explaining the rise of right-wing populism, says the 19-page report, citing several studies, including one that established “an almost perfect correlation” between income inequality and support for populist parties. The report also notes European Social Surveys – tracking public attitudes, beliefs and behavior – which show that there is a 25% chance unemployed people at the lowest levels of jobless benefits will vote for the far right versus 15% for those who are employed. Higher pension levels, better child allowances and minimum wage legislation also have a “statistically measurable impact” in reducing the likelihood of a vote for the far right. “Thousands of people in poverty I speak with tell me they feel stigmatized and monitored rather than supported,” De Schutter said. “Unless social protection is taken seriously as a human right, far-right populists will continue to reap what has been sown.”
